Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2000

Abstract

Sex, race, gender, sexuality, color, religion, language, nationality, ethnicity, culture, poverty - socially constructed categories, social tropes that relegate "others" to subordinated positions in the varied and various cultural and economic marketplaces of both global and local societies. Richard Delgado's transformational work engages all of these tropes insightfully, disturbingly, and illuminatingly. His rich literature conceptualizes persons as multidimensional, complex beings and exposes society as the pre-fabricated stage in which diverse interactions evolve. Delgado's epistemological stance is fluid, non-rigid, and grounded on subjectivity.

In this essay I will focus on Delgado's latest book When Equality Ends: Stories About Race and Resistance. I will develop how that work injects invaluable dimensions of international human rights law and theory into contemporary domestic jurisprudence. I will also explore the benefit that Delgado's treatment of international human rights law and theory will bring to both critical and human rights perspectives in the analysis of law, theory, and policy.

Part One of this piece will suggest how conversations about human rights law can enrich Critical Theory, as well as how Critical Theory can serve to develop, expand, and transform human rights norms. Part Two will look more specifically at Cultures, Colors, and Clashes to illustrate the value of the analysis that is suggested in Part One. The Conclusion underscores the utility of Professor Delgado's rich and creative work in guiding global understanding on multidimensionality, interconnectivity, and intersectionality.

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