Reimagining Human Rights Education: Moving Beyond Burnout and Broken Systems
By Dr. Ivana Radačić & Donaven Smith, MA
The human rights field is full of people who care deeply, fight relentlessly, and often burn out completely. Many of us enter this work with a profound sense of (in)justice, only to find ourselves exhausted—disillusioned by systems that claim to protect human rights while perpetuating harm. What does it mean to sustain a lifelong commitment to justice when the very structures we operate within are so deeply flawed? How do we continue advocating without losing ourselves in the process?
These questions brought us together—Ivana as the professor, Donaven as the student—and eventually as co-authors. Our article, “Reimagining Human Rights Education,” published in The Arrow, emerged from a shared recognition that human rights education, as it stands, is incomplete. The article appeared in an issue entitled "The Power of the Pluriverse" and below, we share two excerpts.
This work began in Ivana's UA Human Rights Practice course, Self- and Collective-Care, Well-being, and Spirituality: A Holistic Human Rights Framework, which Donaven took as part of his graduate studies in Human Rights Practice. At the time, he was working in child welfare—grappling with the ethical dilemmas of working in a system that often causes as much harm as it prevents—while also navigating personal grief. The course gave him language for something he had always felt but struggled to articulate: human rights work is not sustainable without deep inner work, spiritual grounding, and community care.
Ivana’s motivation in designing and teaching this course was to address the gap that she was observing in human rights education and practice. The dominant approach to human rights education is legalistic and neglects the links between inner and outer worlds, as well as the well-being of students and (other) human rights defenders. It teaches about oppression but not about healing. It equips us to fight for justice but doesn’t teach us how to survive that fight—or, better yet, how to work from a place of love and wholeness rather than exhaustion and despair.
We have seen the consequences of burnout in ourselves, our students, and our colleagues. We have felt the emotional weight of injustice, not just in the world but within the very institutions meant to create change. Through this piece in The Arrow, we sought to carve out space for a conversation on these topics —one that acknowledges the need for a more holistic, sustainable, and human approach to human rights work. In this piece, we critique traditional human rights education, examine how activism is often fueled by indignation rather than compassion. We also explore what it means to integrate Earth-based spirituality, well-being, and indigenous wisdom, into social justice work. More than an academic intervention, this piece is an act of care—for the self, for one another, and for everyone who has struggled under the weight of this work.
After introducing the course as an example of a holistic human rights education, we talk about our journey into human rights activism. We then discuss the link between spirituality and human rights, the role of indigenous worldview in re-imagining social justice and importance of care in our activism.
Excerpts
Ivana explains how social transformation is not possible without transformation of consciousness:
"Human rights (violations) are about the abuse of power. In this context, we operate within the paradigm of perpetrator-victim-rescuer. [This] is based on consciousness of separation… If we are to change our political and social structures, we must shift our consciousness from separation based … to unity, oneness (monadic) consciousness. And that … is an inner work of outgrowing the identification with identities, basing our identity in spirit, and attending to our traumas… I am advocating for a socially engaged and embodied type of spirituality. It is not (yet another) patriarchal path of disconnection from Earth, body, and sexuality. It is rooted in the recognition of our interconnectedness, not only to other humans, but all living beings, all creation. The care for ourselves and each other (including more than the human world), the mutual care for all life, is its central concept (p. 143)."
And Donaven shares his vision of the new types of social justice activism:
"What I believe we need is a network of human rights defenders who come together not just to work, but to support each other in spiritual growth, well-being, and collective healing. A space where we can share resources and breathe, where we can move through this work with resilience and wholeness, even in times of chaos. To build the world we dream of, I believe we need practices that sustain our visionary power—spiritual growth, community support, and reflection (p. 141)."
[It is part of his dream of] “a world that’s truly liberated from systems of oppression like capitalism, racism, sexism, and xenophobia. A world where we can live, create, and thrive without hierarchies separating us. …” He explains how “we’re all part of the same fabric, composed of atoms that evolved from pristine hydrogen through fusion in the cores of ancient stars… We are the Universe experiencing itself, and that’s why these systems feel so wrong—they’re artificial boundaries that deny our true nature." (p. 141)."
We hope this conversation invites others to rethink how we approach justice, spirituality and activism—not as separate spheres, but as interconnected forces shaping both the world and our place in it. We believe human rights work should not only teach how to dismantle oppression but also how to cultivate liberation within ourselves and our communities. According to Hopi prophecy, it is not time to take on this task, and we are the ones we have been waiting for.
When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the warriors of the rainbow.
Read the full article “Reimagining Human Rights Education” in The Arrow (Winter 2025).