Adam Rosenblatt Appointed Director of the Duke Human Rights Center

The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute has named Adam Rosenblatt, Professor of the Practice of the International Comparative Studies Program, as the new director of the Duke Human Rights Center (DHRC) at FHI. 

Rosenblatt, a prominent scholar in the fields of anthropology and death studies, will help expand the interdisciplinary perspective of DHRC’s mission of advancing human rights scholarship and practice.

“I started reading Adam’s scholarship when he was a candidate for his position in International Comparative Studies (ICS) and have always had great admiration for his thorough and surprising approach to his research,” said Ranji Khanna, Director of FHI.  

“He brings a sensitivity and realism to the theory and practice of human rights work, underscoring what is and what is not possible to think within that rubric. His research takes him both to international borders as well as local histories,” she shared. 

“It addresses the ways in which some fundamental questions concerning life and death, including historical knowledge and respect for the living and the dead, teach us about our fundamental values, ethical norms, and vision of the world.  He is perfectly situated to take us into the DHRC@FHI’s next phase, and I greatly look forward to working with him and to the closer relationship with ICS.”

As an ethnographer interested in human rights, Rosenblatt’s research intersects with grassroots activism, care, and the politics of memory. His scholarly work examines how the dead and their burial grounds matter to living people who are seeking justice–especially in the aftermath of disappearance, erasure, and racial violence, from Latin America to Uganda to the U.S. South.

His book, Cemetery Citizens: Reclaiming the Past and Working for Justice in American Burial Grounds, is an activist ethnography based on years of working with the groups reclaiming marginalized and systemically neglected cemeteries, in Durham and beyond. Rosenblatt is also a co-founder of the Durham Black Burial Grounds Collaboratory.

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A multidisciplinary center at FHI, the DHRC is dedicated to advancing human rights through research, public engagement, and an undergraduate certificate program. It fosters collaboration across academic disciplines, drawing on the expertise of scholars, students, activists, researchers, and the surrounding community to address global human rights challenges. 

Rosenblatt will be taking over from co-directors Robin Kirk, Professor of the Practice of Cultural Anthropology, and Erika Weinthal, John O. Blackburn Distinguished Professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment, who have conducted significant work in the center on many aspects of human rights. 

Kirk has been at the helm of DHRC@FHI since its inception, working on a range of topics across disciplines and internationally, and developing a popular undergraduate Certificate in Human Rights.  

The center’s initiatives explore a wide array of issues, including racial, gender, and economic justice, environmental rights, and the philosophical, legal, and historical dimensions of human rights.

“Adam brings rich experience to this role. I’m looking forward to how his work with our faculty, staff, and students will engage communities as partners, whether they be in Durham or elsewhere,” Kirk shared. “Students especially will benefit from the way he lives his scholarship, artistic work, and commitment to human rights.” 

One of the distinguishing features of the DHRC is its commitment to bridging academic scholarship with real-world advocacy. The center works to connect research with practical solutions, collaborating with both local and global communities to effect meaningful change. 

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In 2009, the DHRC launched the Pauli Murray Project, a multi-faceted suite of public programs and events at Duke and in the Durham community, that incorporates human rights thinking and techniques around the legacy of slavery and segregation and the possibility of reconciliation. The project has since evolved into the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice.

Rosenblatt’s appointment aligns with the DHRC’s commitment to addressing the complexities of historical injustice and its contemporary implications. His work and relationships with local arts, activists, and public history groups will inform the center’s research and outreach efforts, particularly as they pertain to the legacies of violence and discrimination. 

By integrating historical analysis with ongoing human rights struggles, Rosenblatt is positioned to expand the DHRC’s focus on the intersection of past and present injustices.

"Human rights are under pressure from many sides—from the violence of right-wing authoritarianism to the urgent recognition that, in a time of climate crisis, humans are not the only beings in need of rights,” Rosenblatt shared.

“These are big challenges, but I’m genuinely inspired by Robin’s vision for the center and what the DHRC has built over the years: especially the thriving undergraduate human rights certificate and partnerships with local activists and organizations, including the Pauli Murray Center." 

Beyond his anthropological work, Rosenblatt is also a cartoonist and graduate of the year-long certificate program at the Sequential Artists Workshop.  He serves as a graphic ethnographer for a team of anthropologists working in northern Uganda, and has contributed to various anthologies and advocacy zines. With co-founder Bill Fick, he runs a pop-up zine and comics-making studio for community events, called GNOME: Graphic Narrative on the Move for Everyone.

Rosenblatt’s first book was Digging for the Disappeared: Forensic Science After Atrocity. He has done research about the politics of autism, civic engagement and teaching, and human rights activism in Disability Studies Quarterly, Human Rights Quarterly, and other journals. This appointment signals a continued commitment to the values of justice, equality, human dignity, and human rights at the DHRC.

“I keep coming back to four words: courage, creativity, critique, and camaraderie. These are essential to the human rights tradition as I’ve experienced it, from the streets of Santiago to the cemeteries of Durham,” Rosenblatt said. 

“If we pursue them in our relationships and programs, the DHRC can be a place of hope—and even joy—in difficult times, and a place to imagine human rights futures none of us could envision alone.”