Steve Parks

Parks has focused his research on the nature of public writing, democratic rights campaigns, and community-publishing. While this research was initially located within local U.S.-based communities, over the past decade, Parks has extended his focus to include international democratic and rights-based projects, specifically in the Middle East/North Africa. This work has resulted in over five single-author/collected editions as well as over 25 peer reviewed articles. He has also founded New City Community Press, Syrians for Truth and Justice, and the Twiza Project. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the The Democratic Futures Core Working Group, which is premised on an understanding that the fate of any one democracy hinges upon the general health of all existing democracies. The DFCWG’s particular focus is on how non-Western traditions are being integrated with classical Western conceptions at the local level to create new forms of democratic practices and claim-making. The DFWG then explores the extent to which the emergent (or potential) cross-hatching of such efforts are creating new “transnational” conceptions of democracy that provide the potential to form new stronger connective tissues supporting the collective strength of democratic practices in many nations. The DFCWG’s membership includes Tessa Farmer/Middle East South Asia Language and Cultures, Brian Owensby/Center for Global Inquiry and Innovation, Camilo Sanchez/UVA International Human Rights Clinic, Derek Brown, Peace Appeal, and Srdja Popovic/Center for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies (CANVAS).