Critique of Abstract Right - Human Rights and Property in the Time and Age of the Haitian Revolution.

Research interests

• Sociological theory and political philosophy
• Social change and social movements
• Slavery, capitalism and modernity
• Historical Sociology
• Critique

Ongoing research

Preliminary title of the thesis: Critique of Abstract Right - Human Rights and Property in the Time and Age of the Haitian Revolution.

During the last decades, a new field that studies the origins and contemporary status of human rights has emerged. The aim of Carl's thesis is to contribute with a critique of the human rights field, by means of an intervention into an on-going conflict about universal juridico-political rights in the research on the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), in which slaves and their allies abolished slavery and created an independent state.

The thesis consists of historical investigations of the Haitian Revolution as a social movement and theoretical investigations of different possibilities to formulate the relation between abstract political forms and social property relations. Together, the diverse studies aim to provide a foundation, from which a general critique of the status and limits of human rights can be offered. 

Carl is also a member of the editorial committee of the journal Fronesis and a member of the editorial of the journal Röda Rummet. 

For published and unpublished essays and articles, see https://gu-se.academia.edu/CarlWil%C3%A9n

Teaching and supervision

Carl lectures and holds seminars on the first level course in sociology, in economic sociology and in a course on theoretical and historical perspectives on the natural sciences. In addition, he teaches at the master course ”Social change” and holds seminars with a focus on classical sociology with future teachers. Carl is also a supervisor at the bachelor’s course.