02 – Are Religion and Human Rights (In)Compatible Value Systems? Buddhist and Hindu Religious and Cultural Perspectives from South and Southeast Asia

October 2, 2025
2:00 pm
Neue Aula
Recent scholarship highlights a trend in which indigenous subjectivities reject the concept of human rights as universal. Largely, this rejection is based on data suggesting that ‘human rights’ language is foreign, Western, and irrelevant to local customs and concerns. This panel examines Buddhist and Hindu perspectives from South and Southeast Asia that counter this trend and, more significantly, suggest how dismissals of ‘human rights’ initiatives as products of Western imperialism fail to consider the myriad ways in which women have engaged—albeit in localized terms—in human rights activity. Through historical, anthropological and theoretical analyses, the papers in this panel will consider traditional worldviews and religious practices that inherently align with a ‘human rights’ ethos. Building on Wolterstorff’s analysis (2012), the panel argues that while certain religious traditions may not explicitly name fundamental human rights, this does not mean that these rights are irrelevant or contradictory to core religious beliefs. Presenting original, interdisciplinary research, this panel will show how religious individuals and communities not only integrate human rights into their religious and cultural norms but also offer alternative interpretations of their religions to counter prevailing narratives that portray religion and human rights as incompatible. Panelists critically examine the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘where,’ ‘when,’ ‘why,’ and ‘how’ concerning the production and instrumentalization of religion and human rights rhetoric. Understanding who interprets religion and human rights for others is just as important as recognizing the immediate and long-term impact of these interpretations on the lives of underserved communities. Thus, the panel explores the challenges and strategies that Buddhists and Hindus face in connecting human rights to their religious beliefs and in recognizing them as inherent rights granted by divine will.

Convenor

Antoinette E. DeNapoli

Presentations

(In)compatible Human Rights? The Legal and Ethical Debate over the Jain Religious Practice of Fasting to Death
Maes Claire - Department of Indology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Are the Concepts of Gender Equality and Autonomy Compatible with Hindu Religious Worldviews?: A Female Hindu Guru’s Perspective from India
DeNapoli Antoinette - Texas Christian University, TCU, Fort Worth, United States
An Ambedkarite Woman’s Perspectives on Buddhism and Human Rights: An Oral History
Jenkins Laura Dudley - School of Public and International Affairs, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Alternative Narratives as Vehicles for Social Transformation: Learning from Ambedkar’s Approach to Buddhism and Particularized Justice
Gadkar-Wilcox Sujata - Department of Justice and Law, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, United States
Buddhist Nuns’ Pursuit of Gender Justice: From Sacred Texts to Monastic Life in Himachal
Chaturvedi Neekee - Department of History and Indian Culture, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India
Unlikely Alliances: Decolonizing Religion, Feminism, and Human Rights Discourses in the Thai Buddhist Monastic Context
Battaglia Lisa - Samford University, Samford University, Birmingham, United States
Understanding (in)compatibilities between Religion and Human Rights
Malavisi Anna - Department of History, Philosophy, and World Perspectives, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, United States
Thích Nữ Diệu Không, Moral Education, and Female Leadership in Vietnam’s Buddhist Protests of 1963
Gadkar-Wilcox Wynn - History, Philosophy, and World Perspectives, Western Connecticut State University, Trumbull, United States