Academic Human Rights Education in a Transnational Perspective on the Example of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute

Abstract: In this thesis, I explore positions of power in transnational human rights education, using The Raoul Wallenberg Institute as example in a case study. I am interested to know how human rights knowledge is produced and transferred in a global system of human rights education. My research focuses on positions of power in this global system, on challenges   and practical solutions, and on if and how education can contribute to decolonisation processes. I analyse four interviews with employees at RWI, who are working with transnational human rights education. The interviews, and supporting formal documents published by RWI, are analysed through close textual analysis, organised by key topics of transnational human rights education. As a theoretical framework to understand knowledge transfer, I use Stone’s concept of policy translation. For a post-colonial perspective and as tool to understand claims for decolonising transnational human rights education, I use Spivak’s concept of the subaltern as well as her request for ethical reflection of Western privileges.   The conclusion of my thesis shows a firm commitment of RWI to localisation, with methods embedded in their concept of transnational human rights education. There are some, but few attempts by the Institute to reflect on their own position in a global system of power linked to the production and transfer of knowledge, which hinders attempts of decolonising transnational human rights education.