Looping for Human Rights: An Ethnographic Theory of Expansion
How does a societal concern turn into an uncontested human rights issue? Using a pioneering approach, this book will engage with this question by developing an ethnographic theory of expansion. In everyday parlance, human rights are cast as tools for addressing social injustices. Yet not all injustices acquire prominence as recognized human rights issues in international monitoring, state policies, legislation, and NGO lobbying: while LGBTI+ rights have become mainstream, the rights of the elderly, for example, have remained marginalized. Based on prolonged, multi-sited research of UN human rights monitoring practices, state reporting, NGO activism and previously unstudied primary data at UN archives, the monograph will theorize the ‘looping’ practices through which human rights insiders maneuver within the opaque transparency of human rights bureaucracies to expand the scope of what becomes accepted under the human rights umbrella. Simultaneously, the book explores the kinds of material and knowledge capital influence requires. Building upon recent anthropological work on bureaucracy, expertise, and documents, it will make a significant contribution to human rights studies and the study of global collaboration, international organizations, and soft law. Finally, it reflects upon global power dynamics: has the conceptual expansion of human rights resulted in an unambiguous realization of their egalitarian potential or instead become a mechanism for reincarnating privilege?
Final report
Research Project Overview
During my RJ Sabbatical from August 2023 to July 2024, I focused on the development of my monograph titled “Looping for Human Rights: an Ethnographic Theory of Expansion.” The central question guiding this work is: How does a societal concern transform into an uncontested human right?
The monograph explores this transformation by developing an ethnographic theory of looping, which examines the strategies, techniques, and sentiments involved in lobbying efforts at both global and local levels. I trace how human rights concepts evolve from everyday discourse to NGO initiatives, then to widely accepted arguments in academic publications, policy guidelines, legislation, and court rulings. Additionally, I document the micro- and macro-processes of advocacy that adapt abstract human rights ideas to changing political and ideological contexts.
Progress and Development of the Monograph
Throughout my sabbatical, I made significant progress on all eight chapters of the monograph. These chapters have been revised and edited based on collegial feedback during 2024 and early 2025. The manuscript will be submitted in Spring 2025 to the Law and Society Series of Cambridge University Press, following an invitation from the series editors based on earlier correspondence about the project.
The monograph is rooted in a long-term, multi-sited research project, starting with a 2003 parliamentary hearing in Finland as its first ethnographic moment. This project has since been enriched by fieldwork at the UN Human Rights Committee, NGO networks, and documentary-making processes. During my sabbatical, I updated the ethnographic material by observing the UN Human Rights Committee’s 139th session, including the Constructive Dialogues on state reports from Iran, Kuwait, and the US.
Fieldwork and Interviews
As planned, I completed approximately 25 interviews to complement earlier interviews conducted since 2003. These interviews were conducted both online and in-person, with most being semi-structured, allowing for flexible, conversation-driven responses. I also conducted open-ended discussions with scholars who are also human rights activists. Research ethics were discussed with all interviewees, ensuring that their individual statements, unless made in an official capacity, would remain anonymous. The book’s preface will list all interviewees, with some specifically requesting to be named.
Interviewees were identified through various channels, including UN treaty bodies, CSO delegates, and representatives of single-issue and broad-mandate CSOs, particularly those engaged with LGBTIQ+ issues. Most participants were from the Global North, particularly from the US, UK, Switzerland, and Finland.
Research Visits and Presentations
I held two significant visiting research positions during my sabbatical:
1. University of Helsinki (August 2023 - May 2024)
As a visiting researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives (EuroStorie), I presented papers on my monograph in September 2023 and May 2024. Additionally, I gave a lecture in February 2024 at the course “Ideas, Ideologies and Identities in Europe” (by Kaius Tuori, Professor of European History and Center of EuroStorie Director, University of Helsinki) and delivered a keynote on the monograph’s themes at the 3rd National LLD Students' Research Seminar at the University of Lapland in March 2024.
2. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva (October 2023)
During this visit, I presented a paper on the book at the Institute’s Anthropology and Sociology Seminar. Additionally during this research visit I conducted ethnography at the UN Human Rights Committee’s 139th session, and held numerous interviews with advocates based in Geneva.
I also presented my work at my home institute Lund University’s Human Rights Research Seminar in April and December 2024. Additionally, I taught a course titled “Human Rights, Sex, and Gender” (7,5 Credits) in spring 2025 at Lund University’a Inter-disciplinary Human Rights Master Program, which provided an excellent opportunity to refine the book’s arguments and disseminate the research findings.
Emerging Research Questions
The monograph has prompted several new research questions for future exploration, including:
• A more detailed study of the actors who shape the international human rights agenda.
• An inquiry into the funding of human rights advocates and the connection between core actors and historical colonial legacies.
Contribution to the Field
Once published, the monograph will contribute valuable new knowledge to human rights studies, international law, policy-making, transnational governance, and the anthropologies of bureaucracy, documents, and international organizations. The book aims to deepen our understanding of how human rights concepts evolve and the actors and processes involved in their transformation into global norms.
Personal Website
For more information about my research, visit my personal website: https://miiahalmetuomisaari.net
During my RJ Sabbatical from August 2023 to July 2024, I focused on the development of my monograph titled “Looping for Human Rights: an Ethnographic Theory of Expansion.” The central question guiding this work is: How does a societal concern transform into an uncontested human right?
The monograph explores this transformation by developing an ethnographic theory of looping, which examines the strategies, techniques, and sentiments involved in lobbying efforts at both global and local levels. I trace how human rights concepts evolve from everyday discourse to NGO initiatives, then to widely accepted arguments in academic publications, policy guidelines, legislation, and court rulings. Additionally, I document the micro- and macro-processes of advocacy that adapt abstract human rights ideas to changing political and ideological contexts.
Progress and Development of the Monograph
Throughout my sabbatical, I made significant progress on all eight chapters of the monograph. These chapters have been revised and edited based on collegial feedback during 2024 and early 2025. The manuscript will be submitted in Spring 2025 to the Law and Society Series of Cambridge University Press, following an invitation from the series editors based on earlier correspondence about the project.
The monograph is rooted in a long-term, multi-sited research project, starting with a 2003 parliamentary hearing in Finland as its first ethnographic moment. This project has since been enriched by fieldwork at the UN Human Rights Committee, NGO networks, and documentary-making processes. During my sabbatical, I updated the ethnographic material by observing the UN Human Rights Committee’s 139th session, including the Constructive Dialogues on state reports from Iran, Kuwait, and the US.
Fieldwork and Interviews
As planned, I completed approximately 25 interviews to complement earlier interviews conducted since 2003. These interviews were conducted both online and in-person, with most being semi-structured, allowing for flexible, conversation-driven responses. I also conducted open-ended discussions with scholars who are also human rights activists. Research ethics were discussed with all interviewees, ensuring that their individual statements, unless made in an official capacity, would remain anonymous. The book’s preface will list all interviewees, with some specifically requesting to be named.
Interviewees were identified through various channels, including UN treaty bodies, CSO delegates, and representatives of single-issue and broad-mandate CSOs, particularly those engaged with LGBTIQ+ issues. Most participants were from the Global North, particularly from the US, UK, Switzerland, and Finland.
Research Visits and Presentations
I held two significant visiting research positions during my sabbatical:
1. University of Helsinki (August 2023 - May 2024)
As a visiting researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives (EuroStorie), I presented papers on my monograph in September 2023 and May 2024. Additionally, I gave a lecture in February 2024 at the course “Ideas, Ideologies and Identities in Europe” (by Kaius Tuori, Professor of European History and Center of EuroStorie Director, University of Helsinki) and delivered a keynote on the monograph’s themes at the 3rd National LLD Students' Research Seminar at the University of Lapland in March 2024.
2. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva (October 2023)
During this visit, I presented a paper on the book at the Institute’s Anthropology and Sociology Seminar. Additionally during this research visit I conducted ethnography at the UN Human Rights Committee’s 139th session, and held numerous interviews with advocates based in Geneva.
I also presented my work at my home institute Lund University’s Human Rights Research Seminar in April and December 2024. Additionally, I taught a course titled “Human Rights, Sex, and Gender” (7,5 Credits) in spring 2025 at Lund University’a Inter-disciplinary Human Rights Master Program, which provided an excellent opportunity to refine the book’s arguments and disseminate the research findings.
Emerging Research Questions
The monograph has prompted several new research questions for future exploration, including:
• A more detailed study of the actors who shape the international human rights agenda.
• An inquiry into the funding of human rights advocates and the connection between core actors and historical colonial legacies.
Contribution to the Field
Once published, the monograph will contribute valuable new knowledge to human rights studies, international law, policy-making, transnational governance, and the anthropologies of bureaucracy, documents, and international organizations. The book aims to deepen our understanding of how human rights concepts evolve and the actors and processes involved in their transformation into global norms.
Personal Website
For more information about my research, visit my personal website: https://miiahalmetuomisaari.net