Karin Zackari

About Karin Zackari

Research Areas

My research interests and experience revolve around the history, theory and discourse of human rights. I have worked with historiographical photography, images and visual practices, archives, nationalism and citizenship, state violence and political exile. I specialise in Thailand's contemporary politics and history from a human rights perspective.

Ongoing research

My current research focuses on images and visual practices in relation to human rights. I also conduct research on academic freedom and political dissidents in Thailand, with a particular focus on academic and cultural expression. I have lectured and organised panel discussions and seminars on global perspectives on academic freedom. 

I am part of the project  The Future of Human Rights in a Digitised Age (FRIDA), funded by the Swedish Research Council and coordinated by Lund University (1 March 2025 → 29 February 2028) 

Completed research projects

I was the PI for the project.  SSP: Identity Formation and Capitalism: Scandinavians and the Siamese Royal Elite between Empires, funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation (2021-2024), as well as a smaller project linked to this with a post-doc at Lund University funded by the Craaford Foundation. 

For just over a year (2024-2025), I participated as a researcher in a Horizon Europe-funded project coordinated by Palaçky University:  EUVIP: The EU in the volatile Indo-Pacific region

In my PhD. dissertation "Framing the Subjects: Human Rights and Photography in Contemporary Thailand "I analyzed photography and the simultaneous histories of state violence and human rights in Thailand. The temporal starting point is with the key events and photographs of the 14 October 1973 movement for democracy and the 6 October 1976 massacre, but the crises and image-movements that I traced are without end. Thailand is a place that does not figure prominently in human rights history, and thus my thesis challenges the often America- and Europe-centric nature of the field. Thailand’s political history is also relevant as it diverges from colonial Southeast Asia and can thus serve as a comparative example in global history of human rights. 

Teaching

I teach human rights theory and history, as well as methodology and essay writing on the Master's programme in human rights and on individual Bachelor's courses. I supervise student essays at Master's level in human rights and at Bachelor's level in global studies.