ANTH 572C - Anth Approaches to HumanRights

Credits: Variable

In 1948, the United Nations approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document containing 30 articles outlining the entitlements to which every human is due. Regardless of this important first step by the international community, the list of human rights abuses worldwide in the intervening six decades is numerous and extensive, encompassing infringements to aspects of all 30 articles. In a world that is increasingly globalized, with political decisions and events happening in one corner of the globe affecting directly or indirectly every other corner of the globe, the theme of human rights is a germane one to world order and peace. This course will delve into how scholars in a variety of disciplines with emphasis on anthropology are working on questions revolving around human rights past and present. We will discuss how scholarship and civil societies contribute to solutions of sociopolitical problems that proximately and ultimately cause abuses; mitigate the suffering of victims, families, and societies where gross abuses have occurred; and analyze causes and costs of current and past abuses. This course will analyze and present what issues were and are for certain areas of the world, allowing course participants to evaluate where we have been, where we are, and where we have to go. Course topics will include how forced displacement, disasters, war, and particular socioeconomic and political realities (including poverty and institutionalized inequality) affect the full realization of human rights. Understanding human rights from a multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective is essential for promoting awareness and tolerance in addition to fostering new practical approaches towards attaining human rights for all individuals. Graduate students in all disciplines welcome. This course does not fulfill MA/PhD distributional requirements. Occasional.