Alan Friedman, a renowned professor, has come back from Sierra Leone with some surprising research on female circumcision. After students protest the controversial results, the college’s African American dean, Michaela Richards, questions whether Alan, as a white male, could have gathered accurate data. It is decided that the study will be conducted again, this time by graduate student Lydian Namandu, a member of the Kono People of Sierra Leone, in hopes that her position as a member of the community will help gather honest results. Turning western perceptions on their heads, Human Rites provides keen insight into academia and cultural divides.