Social Justice and the University: Globalization, Human Rights, and the Future of Democracy

is executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, the leading advocate organization for accessible health care for all Tennesseans. Davis is a resident of Blount County. He has worked as a community organizer and leadership trainer for over four decades and is the former executive director of the National Organizers Alliance in Washington, D.C. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-17 Front Matter....Pages 19-19 From Domination to “Buen Vivir” : Latin America and Contested Globalizations....Pages 21-48 Researching, Knowing, and Promoting Social Justice for Indigenous Americans....Pages 49-66 International Human Rights Law as a Global Foundation for Social Justice: Promise and Challenges....Pages 67-95 Front Matter....Pages 97-97 The Goal of Gender Transformation in American Universities: Toward Social Justice for Women in the Academy....Pages 99-113 Climate Change, Intergenerational Justice, and the University....Pages 114-127 Social Justice, the University, and the Temptation to Mission Creep....Pages 128-146 Front Matter....Pages 147-147 Co-constructing Democratic Knowledge for Social Justice: Lessons from an International Research Collaboration....Pages 149-174 What Law School Clinics and Universities Can Teach Each Other About the Pursuit of Social Justice....Pages 175-193 Social Justice Manifest: University-Community Outreach Research to Reduce Homelessness....Pages 194-208 University Social Engagement as Space for Resistance to the Marketization of Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study from the United Kingdom....Pages 209-228 Front Matter....Pages 229-229 Critical Engagement: Risk, Reward, and Methods in Teaching Social Justice....Pages 231-252 Teaching Human Rights in the College Classroom as a Cognitive Style....Pages 253-279 Teaching Spaces: A Critical Reflection on Spatial Exploration Exercises as Teaching Tools....Pages 280-292 Front Matter....Pages 293-293 A New Popular Movement for Social Justice in the United States and Beyond....Pages 295-308 Student Activism and the University: Resources, Challenges, and Opportunities....Pages 309-319 Teaching (for) Social Justice/Organizing for Social Justice and the University....Pages 320-332 Real Utopias and the University: An Interview....Pages 333-339 Conclusion: Barriers and Conduits to Social Justice—Universities in the Twenty-First Century....Pages 340-352 Back Matter....Pages 353-356 Can universities continue to play a major role in advancing social justice today? This volume illuminates key aspects of social justice as a theoretical project and as a set of practical challenges. Authors address related issues from the perspectives of active practitioners in the context of or from close proximity to universities. This compilation of interdisciplinary and community voices addresses issues of globalization, democracy, human rights, and how universities can act to promote steps towards greater social justice. As a relational concept, definitions of social justice reflect beliefs, values and priorities - which are neither consensually shared in modern societies, nor among social scientists who study it. This situation makes the concept exceedingly pliable and subject to ideological utilization. What implications result from efforts to advance social justice beyond the present status quo? These issues are especially pertinent to academic workers, who have been under the same kind of pressures that the rest of society has experienced. The current moment also poses a range of questions that challenge the role of the university. Can it continue to play a major role in advancing social justice when it is under severe political and public pressure to spend less, and to show concrete 'deliverables'?