Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

This course introduces students to the problems involved in the assertion of universal moral standards across political and cultural divides. These issues will be explored at a theoretical level, and in the context of specific human rights controversies.

COURSE DETAILS:

Course Description:            

The 20th century was the “golden era” of human rights, which are an idea that has evolved since the 17th century of Enlightenment. While here, at the outset of the 21st century, we are confronting many new socio-economic and political realities and a dizzying array of global crises that require us to rethink our 20th century Human Rights theories. Amongst this list of crises includes: continuous outbreaks of pandemic diseases; the expansion of a surveillance society aligned with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence; the current “climate emergency” in this emerging period of the Anthropocene; humanitarian crises such as the explosion of refugees and migrants seeking safety in other lands; chronic crisis of hunger, poverty and malnutrition aligned with rising inequality and economic volatility under our post-1970s system of Neoliberal capitalism. All told, this myriad of simultaneous crises of our time call for a careful consideration, and perhaps a reconceptualization of our thinking about modern universal human rights.              

In this course, students will be challenged to learn and critically appraise historical, contemporary and novel human rights theories. The course is structured into three interrelated parts. Part 1 commences with an exploration of the historical evolution of human rights as legal-political discourses, practices, norms and laws. Then we move to a critical appraisal of theoretical debates pitting universalists against cultural relativists; individual rights versus group rights; and orthodox approaches in contrast to critical approaches (e.g. neo-Marxist, postmodern, postcolonial and feminist perspectives). Part 2 addresses several current crises – pandemics and public health, climate change, decolonization, poverty and hunger – with a view to assessing the relevance of our current theories. Finally, Part 3 returns to a study of novel human rights theories that attempt to reground or even radically alter our existing approaches to human rights.  

Course Organization:

The course is structured around a highly interactive, collaborative online format, involving weekly online meetings and break-out discussion groups. The teaching approach comprises a combination of short lecture reviews,  synchronous and asynchronous discussion forums, with an emphasis on self-directed critical reading of materials.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: