The Fifth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI2009): Advancing Human Rights Through Qualitative Research

The Fifth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry will take place at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign from May 20-23, 2009. The theme of the 2009 Congress is “Advancing Human Rights Through Qualitative Inquiry.” This theme builds on recent human rights initiatives taken by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Education Research Association, previous Congresses, as well as the American Anthropological Association, the American Psychological Association, The American Nurses Association, the Center for Indigenous World Studies, Scholars at Risk, and the Society for Applied Anthropology (see webmaster@aaas.org; shr.aaas.org/scisocs/; un.org/Overview/rights; Educational Researcher, 37, 1 January/February, 2008: 56). It is clear that in these troubling political times qualitative researchers are called upon to become human rights advocates, to honor the sanctity of life, and the core values of privacy, justice, freedom, peace, human dignity, and freedom from fear.

The 2009 Congress will offer scholars the opportunity to form coalitions and engage in debate and dialogue on on how qualitative research can be used to bridge gaps in cultural and linguistic understandings. Delegates will address such topics as academic freedom, researcher safety, indigenous human rights, human rights violations, ethical codes, torture, political violence, social justice, racial, ethnic and gender and environmental disparities in education, welfare and healthcare, truth and reconciliation commissions, justice as healing. Delegates will consider the meaning of ethics, evidence, advocacy and social justice under a humane human rights agenda.
Sessions will take up such topics as: the politics of evidence; alternatives to evidence-based models; mixed-methods; public policy discourse; social justice; human subject research; indigenous research ethics; decolonizing inquiry; standpoint epistemologies. Contributors are invited to experiment with new methodologies, and new presentational formats (drama, performance, poetry, autoethnography, fiction). Such work will offer guidelines and exemplars showing how qualitative research can be used in the human rights and policy-making arenas.
May 20 will feature several special interest Congress sessions, including A Day in Spanish and Portugese, followed by professional workshops on May 21. The Congress will consist of keynote, plenary, featured, regular, and poster sessions. There will be an opening reception and barbeque as well as a closing old fashioned Midwest cook-out.

We invite your submission of paper, poster and session proposals. Submissions will be accepted online only from October 1 until January 15, 2009. Congress and workshop registration will begin December 1, 2008. To learn more about the Fifth International Congress and how to participate, please visit our website: www.icqi.org .