(core courses:)

98067

HR 101 Introduction to Human Rights

Thomas Keenan

. T . Th .

1:00-2:20 pm

OLIN 205

HUM/DIFF

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, SRE, Human Rights Core Course An intensive introduction to contemporary discussions of human rights in a broad context. The course mixes a basic historical and theoretical investigation of these contested categories, 'human' and 'right,' with some difficult examples of the political, social, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions of claims made in these terms. What are humans and what count as rights, if any? We will ask about the foundations of rights claims; about legal, political, non-violent and violent ways of advancing, defending and enforcing them; about the documents and institutions of the human rights movement; and about the questionable 'reality' of human rights in our world. Is there such a thing as 'our' world? The answers are not obvious. They are most complicated when we are talking, as we will for most of the semester, about torture (from the ancient world to Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib), so-called humanitarian intervention (from Somalia and Bosnia to Iraq and Darfur), truth commissions and war crimes tribunals (Milosevic, Hussein, South Africa, Peru), testimony and information (from Shoah to the CNN effect) and the challenges to human rights orthodoxy posed by terrorism and the wars against it. Using The Face of Human Rights (Walter Kalin) as our primary text, along with work in philosophy, history, literature, politics, and with the contemporary news flow, we will examine some tricky cases and troubled places, among them our own.

98431

HR 221 Perspectives in LGBT Studies

Robert Weston

. T . Th .

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 308

HUM

Cross-listed: Gender and Sexuality Studies Over the past decade, preliminary discourse-shaping debates between proponents of Gay & Lesbian Studies and proponents of Queer Theory have proliferated into a rich array of subfields in the research on gender and sexuality. This course will introduce students to the core issues that have shaped the widening field of sexuality studies. The course will be organized into a series of units, each devoted to one "perspective" in the study of sexuality and gender: The History of (Homo)Sexuality ; Homosexuality & the Law; Homosexuality in Other Cultures; Sexuality & Race; Transgender Studies; AIDS.

98548

HR 230 Dreaming Utopia: The Theory and Practice of Ideal Worlds

Mark Danner

M . . . . . T . . .

1:30-2:50 pm 1:00 – 2:20 om

RKC 101 RKC 102

SSCI

Since Plato and before, writers and thinkers have conjured pictures of ideal society and contrasted these glittering dreams with the reality they found around them. Such "utopias" - or "no places," to use the word coined by Sir Thomas More nearly two millenia after Plato - served as a philosophical critique of the present and millenarian aspiration for the future, and, in the hands of some more ambitious, charismatic and sometimes ruthless dreamers, as a model for radical social experiments in the here and now. In this class we will study some of the landmark works in the history of utopia and dystopia, including writing by More, Owen, Fourier, Marx, Bellamy, Welles, London and Orwell, and examine the provocative and sometimes catastrophic embodiment of the utopian ideal in the so-called "real world" (from the Oneida Community and Jonestown to the Soviet Gulags, the reeducation camps of Pol Pot and the New Caliphate of the Islamists).

98549

LIT / HR 325 Roguery, Debauchery & War: A Thieves’ Journey through the Picaresque

Mark Danner

. T . . .

9:30-11:50 am

PRE 110

ELIT

The novel is a motley form and in its modern incarnation was spawned in thievery and disrepute: rogues spinning tall tales of roguery; hapless, cunning heroes conniving their way through the most violent, war-torn landscapes as they contrive the most preposterous adventures. We will trace these tales - to which we have given the broad name picaresque - back to their start in the late sixteenth century on the Iberian peninsula, in the hands of the anonymous author of Lazarillo de Tormes. We will follow their spread, in the first great popular publishing phenomenon, northward through Europe. Finally, we will have a look at the picaresque in its modern form, peculiarly adapted as it is to telling the fragmented story of the war-torn twentieth century. Readings will include works by Petronius, Cervantes, Quevedo, Grimmelshausen, Defoe, Celine, Grass, Bellow and Kosinski, among others.

98306

ARTH 289 Rights and the Image

Susan Merriam

M . W . .

3:00 -4:20 pm

CAMPUS WEIS

AART

Cross-listed: Gender and Sexuality Studies, Human Rights (Core Course) This course examines the relationship between visual culture and human rights. It considers a wide range of visual media, as well as aspects of visuality (surveillance, profiling). The course is taught using case studies ranging in time from the early modern period (practices in which the body was marked to register criminality, for example) to the present day (the images at Abu Ghraib). Within this framework, we will study how aspects of visual culture have been used to advocate for human rights, as well as how images and visual regimes have been used to suppress human rights. An important part of the course will consider the role played by reception in shaping a discourse around human rights, visuality, and images. Subjects to be addressed include: evidence; documentation and witness; the aestheticization of violence; disaster pornography; censorship; surveillance; profiling; advocacy images; signs on the body; visibility and invisibility. Requirements include response papers, a research paper, and two exams. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

98134

HIST 2631 Capitalism and Slavery

Christian Crouch

M . W . .

1:30-2:50 pm

OLIN 305

HIST

Cross-listed: Human Rights (core course), STS Scholars have argued that there is an intimate relationship between the contemporary wealth of the developed world and the money generated through four hundred years of chattel slavery in the Americas and the transatlantic slave trade. Is there something essential that links capitalism, even liberal democratic capitalism, to slavery? How have struggles against slavery and for freedom and rights, dealt with this connection? This course will investigate the development of this linkage, studying areas like the gender dynamics of early modern Atlantic slavery, the correlation between coercive political and economic authority, and the financial implications of abolition and emancipation. We will focus on North America and the Caribbean from the early 17th century articulation of slavery through the staggered emancipations of the 19th century. The campaign against the slave trade has been called the first international human rights movement – today does human rights discourse simply provide a human face for globalized capitalism, or offer an alternative vision to it? Questions of contemporary reparations, rising colonialism and markets of the nineteenth century, and the 'duty' of the Americas to Africa will also be considered. Readings will include foundational texts on capitalism and a variety of historical approaches to the problem of capitalism within slavery, from economic, cultural, and intellectual perspectives. There are no prerequisites, although HIST 130, 2133, or 263 all serve as introductory backgrounds.

98130

HIST 2702 The History of Liberties, Rights and Human Rights, 1215 to present

Gregory Moynahan

M . W . .

3:00-4:20 pm

OLIN 201

HIST

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights The history of 'human rights' can formally be said to come into existence only with the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the successor conventions that ultimately formed the International Bill of Human Rights. Both the declaration and its later instantiations were created in reaction to the problems of genocide and mass population transfers (and consequent loss of citizenship) during the Second World War. This course will begin by examining the fatal gaps in the previous system of nationally instantiated “universal” rights as they were initially developed in Europe and selectively applied to or adopted by its colonies. Beginning with the pursuit of liberties in peasant communes and early modern law, we will examine the creation of national rights from the treaty of Westphalia through the British, American, and French revolutions, and the relation of these rights to colonial administration. The post-war institutions of human rights provided a new justification for a universal and 'open' standard of laws and fealty (often compared to imperial Rome) and ultimately provided new legitimation for the selective intervention of stronger powers in the affairs of weaker political or legal entities. By focusing on case studies, particularly those from the contrasting cases of the European Union and United States, the relation of human rights to hegemonic power will be examined in detail. The course will also examine the relation of politics to the infrastructures that made both widespread human rights infractions and their curtailment possible. The role of media (telegraph, radio, etc.), systems of organization (passports, criminal archives) and police (secret police, international monitors) will be considered as modern transnational phenomenon that are intimately connected with the development and fate of enforcing human rights norms. The final section of the course will look at the role of international NGO's in both monitoring human rights and criticizing the state of existing human rights law, particularly in their criticism of human rights as a product of a particular north Atlantic perspective and set of biases.

98426

HR 314 Humanitarian Action

Thomas Keenan

. . W . .

1:30-3:50 pm

OLIN 302

HUM

Cross-listed: STS This seminar will explore the practices and conceptualization of humanitarian action, from the founding of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863 to the contemporary explosion of non-governmental relief organizations. We will examine some of the central categories in humanitarian discourse -- neutrality, emergency, crisis, testimony, refugee, victim -- and pay particular attention to the dilemmas and traps in which its practitioners have found themselves caught over the last two decades (in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Chechnya, Darfur, and elsewhere). We will look at turning points in the history of the movement, from Solferino to Live Aid to Kosovo, and examine how the charitable action of concerned individuals became a multi-billion-dollar industry directed by aid professionals and famine experts. What sort of politics is non-governmental politics, or is it not a politics but an ethic pure and simple? When does the provision of relief turn into the governance of populations? We will investigate the role of celebrities and the media in the presentation of crises, the militarization of humanitarianism in the post-Cold War, and the emerging doctrine of "the responsibility to protect," all the while trying not to forget about the people who remain in dire need of protection and assistance. Readings include texts by Michael Ignatieff, David Rieff, R. Brauman, Francois Jean, Michel Agier, Giorgio Agamben, Michael Maren, Alex de Waal, David Keen, Mark Duffield, Jenny Edkins, and Hugo Slim, along with detailed field reports from Doctors without Borders and other NGOs and an extensive media archive.

98667

HR 326 Dreamworld and Catastrophe: New Orleans After

Lisa Brawley

. . W . .

4:00 – 6:20 pm

OLIN 205

SSCI

This course is an advanced seminar in critical urban theory that draws on the Bard New Orleans Initiative as a key point of entry into an exploration of the ongoing reconstruction of New Orleans. The course takes its title and key conceptual moorings from Susan Buck-Morss’s assessment of the twentieth century as framed by the emergence and subsequent abandonment of “mass utopia” as a determinant social force—as a dream with the power to construct worlds. The modern industrial city is one such “dreamworld.” As Buck-Morss clarifies, “Dreamworlds become dangerous when their enormous energy is used instrumentally by structures of power. The most inspiring mass-utopian projects . . . have left a history of disasters in their wake.” While the force of the semester’s inquiry is focused on contemporary New Orleans, the course reviews the historical geography of the city as shaped by capitalist restructuring, shifting state forms, and the social and political struggle over urban spaces and their meaning. We situate contemporary New Orleans in a system of cities and city-regions, and in relation to increasingly global flows of people, ideas, capital, and commodities. We confront neoliberalism in New Orleans as we consider questions of urban citizenship, spatial justice, and the contested meaning and direction of the NOLA recovery. Finally, we seek to discern how the waning of mass utopia reframes—if it does—the radical democratic insistence on the right to the city.

Courses cross-listed in Human Rights, see primary sections for descriptions:

98740

ANTH 279 Islam & Europe

Jeffrey Jurgens

. T . Th .

2:30 – 3:50 pm

OLIN 205

HIST

98068

ANTH 350 Contemporary Cultural Theory

Laura Kunreuther

. . . . F

9:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 305

HUM/DIFF

98037

ANTH 360 Anthropology of the Body

Diana Brown

. T . . .

1:30-3:50 pm

OLIN 305

SSCI / DIFF

98079

ECON 260 Religion and Economics

Tamar Khitarishvili

M . W . .

1:30-2:50 pm

OLIN 309

SSCI

98072

ECON 265 Community-Based Development

Sanjaya DeSilva

. . W . F

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 205

SSCI/DIFF

98227

FREN 354 Literature of Private Life

Marina Van Zuylen

. . W . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 205

FLLC/DIFF

98133

HIST 130 Origins of American Citizen

Christian Crouch

M . W . .

12:00-1:20 pm

OLIN 202

HIST

98087

HIST 190 The Cold War: Enemy / Globalism

Gennady Shkliarevsky / Mark Lytle

. T . Th .

1:00-2:20 pm

OLINLC 115

HIST

98139

HIST 2035 The Wars of Religion

Tabetha Ewing

M . W . .

6:00-7:20 pm

OLIN 201

HIST

98011

HIST 2122 The Arab-Israel Conflict

Joel Perlmann

. T . Th .

4:00-5:20 pm

OLIN 201

HIST

98132

HIST 242 20th Century Russia: From Communism to Nationalism

Gennady Shkliarevsky

M . W . .

3:00-4:20 pm

OLIN 203

HIST

98136

HIST 2306 Gender, Sexuality, and Power in Modern China

Robert Culp

M . W . .

1:30-2:50 pm

RKC 200

HIST/DIFF

98142

HIST 2701 The Holocaust, 1933-1945

Cecile Kuznitz

. T . Th .

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 201

HIST/DIFF

98137

HIST 340 The Politics of History

Robert Culp

. . . Th .

1:00-3:20 pm

OLIN 303

HIST

98207

LIT 2882 Different Voices, Different Views

Justus Rosenberg

M . W . .

10:30 - 11:50 am

OLIN 307

ELIT

98164

LIT 3310 Middle Eastern Literature and Post-Colonial Theory

Youssef Yacoubi

. T . Th .

9:00 - 10:20 am

OLIN 203

ELIT

98009

PHIL 256 Environmental Ethics

Daniel Berthold

M . . . . . . W .

9:00- 11:20 am 9:00- 10:20 am

OLIN 107 OLIN 107

HUM

98008

PHIL 389 The Philosophy and Literature of Jean-Paul Sartre

Daniel Berthold

. T . . .

1:30-3:50 pm

ASP 302

HUM

98484

PS 104 International Relations

Sanjib Baruah

M.W ..

1:30-2:50 pm

HEG 102

SSCI

98485

PS 219 Politics of Civil Wars

Sanjib Baruah

M . W . .

10:30-11:50 am

RKC 102

SSCI

98063

PS 239 United Nations and Model UN

Jonathan Becker

. . W . .

4:30-5:50 pm

OLIN 201

SSCI

98050

PS 266 Religious Conflict in 21st Century

Walter Mead

. . . Th .

7:00-9:20 pm

OLIN 202

SSCI

98052

PS 267 The Quest for Justice

Roger Berkowitz

. T . Th . .

4:00-5:20 pm

OLIN 204

SSCI

98053

PS 311 Immigration & Citizenship

Elaine Thomas

M . . . .

1:30-3:50 pm

OLIN 303

SSCI/DIFF

98056

PS 345 Political Economy of Development

Nara Dillon

M . . . .

9:30-11:50 am

OLIN 101

SSCI/DIFF

98051

PS 358 Radical American Democracy

Roger Berkowitz

. T . . .

4:00-6:20 pm

OLIN 101

SSCI

98012

SOC 120 Inequality in America

Yuval Elmelech

. T . Th .

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 205

SSCI/DIFF

98013

SOC 205 Introduction to Research Methods

Yuval Elmelech

. T . Th .

1:00-2:20 pm

OLIN 202 or HDRANX 106

MATC

98199

SPAN 349 Crafting Mayan Identities: Negotiating Tradition and Modernity

Nicole Caso

. T . Th .

2:30 -3:50 pm

OLINLC 208

FLLC

98449

SST 332 The Ecological Crisis

Joel Kovel

M . . .

9:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 205

HUM

Related interest:

98039

ANTH 101 A Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Yuka Suzuki

M . W . .

1:30-2:50 pm

OLIN 203

SSCI/DIFF

98209

LIT 2007 Imagining Environment in East Asia

Hoyt Long

M . W . .

10:30 - 11:50 am

OLIN 308

FLLC

98447

LIT 2137 African-American Traditions I

Charles Walls

. T . Th .

1:00 -2:20 pm

OLIN 307

ELIT/DIFF

98064

PS 256 Politics and News Media

Jonathan Becker

M . W . .

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 202

SSCI

98033

PSY 337 Psychology of Prejudice and Stereotyping

Kristin Lane

. . W . .

1:30-3:50 pm

OLIN 303

SSCI/DIFF

98020

REL 115 Christian Moral Decision Making

Paul Murray

. T . Th .

4:00-5:20 pm

OLIN 205

HUM

98014

SOC 203 History of Sociological Thought

Michael Donnelly

M . W . .

1:30-2:50 pm

OLIN 201

SSCI