Report for the academic year - Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

THE SCHOOl
CLIFFORD GEERTZ, Harold F. Under Professor
JOAN WALLACH SCOTT
MICHAEL WALZER, UPS Foundation Professor
ALBERT O. HIRSCHMAN
ADAM ASHFORTH
Nineteen scholars from the United States and abroad were invited to be part of the School's
scholarly community as Members and visitors for the 1999-2000 academic year—from a
pool of 158 individuals who applied for membership. One research assistant also partici-
pated in the year's activities. The National Endowment for the Humanities partially or fully
funded three fellows. Fields of inquiry of the group included anthropology, three; history,
three; law, one; literature, one; philosophy, four; political science, five; and sociology, two.
The theme for 1999-2000 was "the universalism of human rights." What is the history
of the idea that human rights are universal rights? What is the history of political theories
that make universalist claims? What has been the political impact of recent human
rights campaigns? What sorts of cultural (legal, religious, international) conflicts have
emerged in the name of, or in opposition to, calls for enforcement of human rights? How
have debates about the status of women or concern for the environment been articulated
in terms of human rights? Is recent (post-WWII) attention to questions of human
rights an aspect of "globalization?"
VISITING ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ADAM ASHFORTH'S book Madumo, A Man
Bewitched was published by the University of Chicago Press. A South African edition
will be published in July. In addition to conference papers presented in Mombasa (Coun-
cil for the Development of Social Research in Africa), Perth (African Studies Associa-
tion of Australasia and the Pacific), and Philadelphia (African Studies Association), Pro-
fessor Ashforth lectured at Harvard University, the University of Western Australia, and
the University of the Witswatersrand on topics relating to the political dimensions of
witchcraft and spiritual insecurity in contemporary South Africa. He also gave a talk to
the "Friends' Forum" at the Institute. His article "Reflections sur L'Insecurite Spirituelle
dans une Ville Africaine Moderne (Soweto)" was published in Politique Africaine. Tran-
sition published his "Soweto Witch Project," and "Weighing Manhood in Soweto"
appeared in Codesria Bulletin.
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