Qualitative researchers are increasingly being called upon to become human rights advocates, to help individuals and communities honor the sanctity of life, and to promote the core values of privacy, justice, freedom, peace, and human dignity. In this volume of plenary papers from the Fifth International of Qualitative Inquiry in 2009, leading qualitative researchers show the various dimensions of the human rights work being done by scholar/activists in the social sciences, education, health care, social services, cultural studies, and other fields.