Past Donia Human Rights Center Directors

DHRC Director 2013-2020
Kiyoteru Tsutsui

Kiyoteru Tsutsui was Professor of Sociology, Director of the Donia Human Rights Center and Director of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research interests lie in political/comparative sociology, social movements, globalization, human rights, and Japanese society. More specifically, he has conducted (1) cross-national quantitative analyses on how human rights ideas and instruments have expanded globally and impacted local politics and (2) qualitative case studies of the impact of global human rights on Japanese politics. His projects examine (a) changing conceptions of nationhood and minority rights in national constitutions and their impact on actual practices, (b) global expansion of corporate social responsibility and its impact on corporate behavior, (c) experimental surveys on public understanding about human rights, and (d) campus policies and practices around human rights.

His research on globalization of human rights and its impact on local politics has appeared in American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Social Problems, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and other social science journals. His book publications include "Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan" (Oxford University Press 2018), and a co-edited volume (with Alwyn Lim) "Corporate Social Responsibility in a Globalizing World" (Cambridge University Press 2015). He has been a recipient of National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, National Science Foundation grants, the SSRC/CGP Abe Fellowship, Stanford Japan Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship, and other grants as well as awards from American Sociological Association sections on Global and Transnational Sociology (2010, 2013, 2019), Human Rights (2017, 2019), Asia and Asian America (2018, 2019), Collective Behavior and Social Movements (2018), and Political Sociology (2019).  

Education/Degree

PhD, Sociology, Stanford University, 2002
MA, Sociology, Stanford University, 1996
MA, Sociology, Kyoto University, 1995
BA, Sociology, Kyoto University, 1993