Directory

Courses taught

• Introduction to Global Politics
• Human Rights and Global Activism
• Human Rights and Media
• The Politics of Genocide and Mass Atrocity
• Darfur: An Interdisciplinary Perspective
• Human Rights and Business (online)
• Responding to Genocide (online)
• Special Topics in Human Rights (online)
• Politics of Human Rights (online)
• Non-State Actors in Conflict Resolution

Professional activities

• Commodifying Compassion: Implications of Turning People and Humanitarian Causes into Marketable Things, Learn more (www) >
• Research Network on Celebrities and North-South Relations, Learn more (www) >
• American Political Science Association
• International Studies Association
• African Studies Association
• American Association of Geographers

Research interests

• Human Rights Advocacy and Transnational Politics
• Conflict resolution, genocide, humanitarian intervention
• Development, humanitarianism, and media
• Non-state actors: celebrities, social movements, diasporas, multinational corporations, humanitarian agencies, and private military firms

Selected publications

Dissertation

2012. Citizens' Army for Darfur The Impact of a Social Movement on International Conflict Resolution. (Ann Arbor: ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing). ISBN 9781267197382.

Refereed Journal Articles

2018

With Lisa Ann Richey. (first author). “Advocacy Narratives and Celebrity Engagement: The Case of Ben Affleck in Congo.” Human Rights Quarterly. Volume 40. Number 2: 260-286. DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2018.0015

2017

“Crafting Humanitarian Imaginaries: The Visual Story-Telling of Buy-One Give-One Marketing Campaigns.” Proceedings. Volume 1. Issue 9. Online publication. DOI : 10.3390/proceedings1090905  

With Louisa Mubanda Rasmussen and Lisa Ann Richey. (first author). “Celebrity-led development organisations: the legitimating function of elite engagement.” Third World Quarterly. Volume 38, Issue 9: 1952-1972. DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1322465.

2016   

With Joel R. Pruce. “Beyond Naming and Shaming: New Modalities of Information Politics in Human Rights.” Journal of Human Rights. Volume 15, Issue 3: 408-425. Special Issue on “Human Rights in the News” edited by Mort Winston and John Pollock. DOI: 10.1080/14754835.2016.1153412.

With Lisa Ann Richey. “Celebrities in International Affairs.” Oxford Handbooks Online. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935307.013.3.

With Lisa Ann Richey. “Celebritizing Conflict:  How Ben Affleck Sells the Congo to Americans.” Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism and Development. Volume 7, Issue 1: 27-46. Special collection on “Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Conceptualizing Development, Security, and Justice in Africa” edited by Amal Fadlalla. DOI: 10.1353/hum.2016.0005.

2015   

“Celebrities as Norm Entrepreneurs in International Politics: Mia Farrow and the Genocide Campaign.” Celebrity Studies. Volume 6, Issue 4: 399-413. Special collection on “Capitalism, Democracy and Celebrity Advocacy” edited by Dan Brockington. DOI: 10.1080/19392397.2015.1087206.

2014   

“Diasporas as Development Partners for Peace? The Alliance Between the Darfuri Diaspora and the Save Darfur Coalition.” Third World Quarterly. Volume 35, Number 1, (February): 168-180. Special edition co-edited by Stefano Ponte and Lisa Ann Richey on “New Actors and Alliances in Development.” DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2014.868996. 

2009   

“Genocide Olympics: The Campaign to Pressure China over the Darfur Conflict,” Central European University Political Science Journal, Volume 4, Issue 4 (December): 520-565. Abstract >

Book Chapters

2015   

“Documentarian, Witness, and Organizer: Exploring Celebrity Roles in Human Rights Media Advocacy.” In The Social Practice of Human Rights. Edited by Joel R. Pruce (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), 63-78. ISBN 978-1-137-50377-0. 

“Ben Affleck Goes to Washington: Celebrity Advocacy, Access, and Influence.” In Celebrity Humanitarianism and North-South Relations: Politics, Place and Power. Edited by Lisa Ann Richey (Oxford: Routledge), 131-148. ISBN: 9781138854284.

 2014   

“Diasporas as Development Partners for Peace? The Alliance Between the Darfuri Diaspora and the Save Darfur Coalition.” In New Actors and Alliances in Development. Edited by Stefano Ponte and Lisa Ann Richey (Oxford: Routledge). ISBN: 9781138854284.

 2011   

“Genocide Olympics: How Activists Linked China, Darfur, and Beijing 2008.” In Sudan Looks East: China, India and the Politics of ‘Asian' Alternatives. Edited by Daniel Large and Luke Patey (Oxford: James Currey), 139-156. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1875.7847.

Non-Refereed Article

2016   

“Diritti Umani: La Storià e il Futuro.” (Past and Future of Human Rights). Alto Adige (Bolzano, Italy). Front Page.

 “L’Olocausto e le sue Tracce Locali” (The Holocaust and its Local Traces). Alto Adige (Bolzano, Italy). Front page.

 2015   

“La Nostra Comune Humanità” (Our Shared Humanity). Alto Adige (Bolzano, Italy). Front page.

 “La Protezione dei rifugiati e Bolzano” (The protection of refugees and Bolzano). Alto Adige (Bolzano, Italy). Front page.

 2014   

“Do Celebrity Humanitarians Matter?” Carnegie Ethics Online. Edited by Madeleine Lynn (New York: Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs). Article>

Selected presentations

Invited Talks, Presentations and Lectures

 2017 

Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies Europe, Bologna, Italy. Presented “When Digital Saviors Stand Corrected: Exploring Counter Campaigns in Hashtag Activism” for the “Politics Beyond the State: Politics in the Internet Era Seminar Series.”

2016

“Workshop: Imagining Solidarity: Visual Representations of Development in Public Campaigns Conference”, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Presented “Mobilizing Humanitarian Consumer-Activists? The Global Solidarity Efforts of Cause-related Marketing Campaigns.” Invited participant.

“Conference: “Everyday Humanitarianism: Ethics, Affects, and Practices.” Center for Civil Society, London School of Economics. Presented “Ben Affleck Goes to Washington: Celebrity Advocacy, Access, and Influence.” Invited participant.

2015

Thinktank on “De-Nationalisation – rethinking participation?” Held by Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb) in cooperation with the Regional Centre for Civic Education Berlin, the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research and the association “The World and Us - Movement for an Internationally Committed Germany.” Invited participant.

Research workshop, Department of Politics, New School for Social Research, New York, NY. Organized by Professor David Plotke. Presented “New Information Politics and Human Rights Advocacy: Public Engagement and the ICC.”

2014

“Network meeting: Humanitarianism Beyond the State: Everyday Actors in Global Do-Gooding” at University of Trento, Trento, Italy. Presented “When Access in the North Outweighs the South: Comparing Ben Affleck’s Influence in the US and Congolese Contexts.” Invited participant.

International Symposium on the Celebrity-Business-Development Nexus at Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark. Presented “When Access in the North Outweighs the South: Comparing Ben Affleck’s Influence in the US and Congolese Contexts.” Invited participant.

2013

Inaugural Seminar on “Celebrities as New Global Actors”, Dynamics of Globalization, Inequality and New Processes of International Interaction (‘Global Dynamics’), Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark. Presented “Celebrities, Congress and the Congo: The Amplification of African Conflicts.” Invited participant.

2012

Faculty of School of Economic and Management, University of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy. Facilitated research Seminar on “Are your Dollars Funding Genocide? The Case of the Divest for Darfur Campaign.”

Dayton International Peace Museum, Wright State Peace Lecture Committee, Dayton Council on World Affairs, Pi Beta Phi. Panelist for screening of “In the Land of Milk and Honey”, NEON, Dayton, Ohio, USA.

“Symposium: Capitalism, Democracy and Celebrity Advocacy,” University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Presented “Amplifying Causes: Celebrities as Norm Entrepreneurs in International Politics.” Invited participant

Conference Presentations

2017

Hertie School of Governance workshop “Global Governance in the Internet Era”, Berlin, Germany. Presented “When Digital Saviors Stand Corrected: Exploring Counter-Campaigns in Hashtag Activism.”

Association of Human Rights Institutes Conference, Leuven, Belgium. Presented paper “Framing Sexual Violence: How Advocacy Campaigns for Darfur Responded to the UNSCR 1325 Agenda on Women, Peace, and Security.”

LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security Workshop on Gender and New Wars. Presented paper “How New Wars Challenge Conflict Narratives: The Gaps in Advocacy around Sexual- and Gender-based Violence in Darfur.”

International Studies Association Annual Convention, Baltimore, Maryland. Chaired panels “Human Rights in the News: New Strategies for Press Freedom and Media Production” and “Building Dialogue between Practitioners and Academics Working on Gender Humanitarian Practices in Conflict-Affected Areas”. Presented paper “Mass Mobilization for Justice: Exploring Public Engagement through the Lens of Media Advocacy” for panel on “Human Rights and New Frontiers of Media Advocacy.” Presented paper “Mobilizing Consumer-Activists for Development? Assessing the Humanitarian Narrative of Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns” for panel “The Humanitarian in the Mirror: Producing, Consuming, and Re-using Humanitarian Representations of the Global South.”  

2016

Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) Symposium on ‘Security, Intervention and Humanitarianism: The political and moral challenges of the 21^st Century’. Barcelona, Spain. Presented “How the Gender Lens Securitizes: The Dynamics and Contestation of Naming Atrocities in Conflict” with Natalie Hudson.

European Sociological Association Midterm Conference "Friends and Foes of Social Movements", Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence, Italy. Presented “When Business Shifts from Foe to Friend: Mobilizing Consumer-activists through Cause-related marketing Campaigns.”

ISA/IPSA/ECPR/APSA Joint Conference on Human Rights and Justice, “Human Rights in an Age of Ambiguity”, Fordham University, New York. Presented “Documentarian, Witness, and Organizer: Exploring Celebrity Roles in Human Rights Media Advocacy” for a panel on the “Social Practice of Human Rights.” Presented “Mass Media and Elite Politics in Human Rights Advocacy” for a panel on “Media and Human Rights.”

European Consortium for Political Research Joint Sessions of 2016 Workshop on "Public Communication in International Politics", Scuola Normale Superiore, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna and the University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. Presented “Mass Mobilization for Justice: Exploring Public Engagement around International Courts.”

International Studies Association Annual Convention, Atlanta, Georgia. Presented “When Access in the North Outweighs the South: Comparing Ben Affleck’s Influence in the US and Congolese Contexts” for a panel on “Celebrities in International Politics: Humanitarianism, Diplomacy and Advocacy.” Presented “Reframing with a Gender Lens: The Dynamics and Contestation of Naming Atrocities” with Natalie F. Hudson for a panel on “Sexual Violence and Mass Atrocities: Critical Reflections on Advocacy, Investigation and Intervention.”

2015

Conference on the Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH. Presented paper “Crafting the Human Rights Narrative: Development Organizations and Cause-Marketing Campaigns” and chaired panel on “Humanitarian Concerns.”

International Studies Association Human Rights Joint Conference 2015, The Hague. Presented paper “Mass Mobilization for Justice: Exploring Public Engagement for Human Rights through the Lens of Media Advocacy” for a panel on “Information Politics and Justice.”

Global Humanitarianism and Media Culture, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. Chaired panel on “Audiences and Actors.” Organized plenary on “Celebrity Humanitarianism and North-South Relations” and presented “Ben Affleck Goes to Washington and Other Tales of Post Democratic Politics.”

2014

International Studies Association Annual Convention, Toronto, Canada. Presented “Diasporas as development partners for peace? The alliance between the Darfuri diaspora and the Save Darfur Coalition” for panel on “New Actors and Alliances: The Business of Development.” Presented “When Access in the North Outweighs the South: Comparing Ben Affleck’s Influence in the US and Congolese Contexts” for panel on “Celebrities, Sovereignty, and Performances of Transnational Charismatic Authority.” My co-author Joel R. Pruce presented our paper on “Exploring the Practice of Human Rights Media Advocacy: An Interdisciplinary Study of Information Politics” for a panel on “NGOs and Civil Society in the Promotion of Human Rights.”

2013

Conference on the Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH. My co-author Joel R. Pruce presented our paper on “Exploring the Practice of Human Rights Media Advocacy: An Interdisciplinary Study of Information Politics” for panel on “Witnessing Through Visual Media.” (I was on maternity leave)

American Political Science Association Annual Meeting 2013, Chicago, IL. My co-author Joel R. Pruce presented our paper on “Exploring the Practice of Human Rights Media Advocacy: An Interdisciplinary Study of Information Politics” for panel on “The Social Practice of Human Rights.” (I was on maternity leave)

International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA. Served as discussant on panel “Human Rights and Global Media: Advocacy Strategies for Norm Diffusion.” Presented papers “Crowding the Field The Expanding Roster of Non-State Actors in Conflict Resolution” and “Celebrities, Congress and the Congo: The Amplification of African Conflicts.”

2012

African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. Presented two papers: “Celebrities, Congress and the Congo:  The Amplification of African Conflicts” and “Non-State Actors and Peacekeeping: The Case of GI-Intervention Network's Engagement with the African Union Mission in Darfur.”

International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Diego, CA. Presented “Amplifying Causes: Celebrities as Norm Entrepreneurs in Global Civil Society” for the panel “Celebrities, Media and Transnational Belonging” and “The Transatlantic Effort to Save Darfur: Mobilization in the US and Britain, 2004-2008” for the panel on “Transitioning from Protracted War to Peacebuilding Efforts.