Sunder on Local PBS Station on International Human Rights

PBS affiliate KVIE will air an interview with Professor Madhavi Sunder that was taped for Frontiers, a news show that highlights the contributions the UC Davis faculty is making to research, teaching, and public service. Sunder joins Keith Watenpaugh, associate professor of religious studies, and Paul Pfotenhauer, host of Frontiers, to discuss how Muslims are dealing with human rights and working to transform their societies from within. The edition will air on KVIE Channel 6 at 11 p.m. on August 27, 2007. This is the first Frontiers segment KVIE has selected to broadcast.

Sunder is an expert on women's human rights in Muslim countries and communities. With law and culture as the focus of her scholarship, Sunder says international human rights law often fails to address women's rights under even the most oppressive regimes because such law is reticent to interfere with religion and culture.

A 2006 Carnegie scholar, she is researching and writing a book about activists working for the reform of women's rights in Muslim countries.

Sunder published a leading article on women's rights activism in the Muslim world, titled "Piercing the Veil," in the Yale Law Journal in 2003. Her related article on dissent within cultural groups was published in the Stanford Law Review in 2001.

UCTV/Frontiers: Muslim Studies