Core courses:

99180

HR 101 Introduction to Human Rights

Thomas Keenan

M . W . .

12:00 -1:20 pm

OLIN 205

HUM/DIFF

Cross-listed: GIS, SRE 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. This course addresses Rethinking Difference by telling the story of people excluded from access to rights because they are "different" and how they have managed (if they have) to challenge that exclusion by making demands for justice. It also tries to understand this dynamic of difference and universality, exclusion and transformation, theoretically. 

99110

HR 245 Humanism and Antihumanism in 20^th Century France

Eric Trudel

. T . Th .

9:00 - 10:20 am

OLIN 201

HUM

Cross-listed: French Studies What is the legacy of humanism and its very long tradition in twentieth-Century French thought? So strong was once the belief in its values that humanism came to be equated, in France, with republicanism and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. And yet, the humanists’ affirmation of the centrality of man -- the “measure of all things” --, their faith in the dignity of man, their commitment to reason, progress and universal truth came under severe attacks throughout the century, under the influence of Marx, Nietzsche, Kojève and Heidegger, to be ultimately denounced as nothing more than a construct of “petit bourgeois” ideology. Althusser praised Marx for having reduced to ashes the “myth” of Man, Foucault celebrated its disappearance “like a face drawn in the sand at the edge of the sea”, and Derrida deconstructed the metaphysical foundation of subjectivity. What happens to ethics and politics when what appears to be their very foundation is withdrawn? Does antihumanism signal the end of responsibility? This course surveys the ongoing, contentious and often violent debate between humanism and antihumanism throughout the century. Our goal will be to understand, for instance, how Sartre, who ferociously mocked humanism in the 1930s, came to declare, after the war, that Existentialism is a Humanism; to grasp why Simone de Beauvoir could plead for an Ethics of Ambiguity while Camus, who initially tried to redefine humanism in the face of the Absurd, later sacrificed it to Irony. Along the way, we will examines how this debate is tied to a discourse on human rights, to a specific understanding of the role of the intellectual, and to issues of colonialism, humanitarianism, and political activism. Texts include fictions and essays by Antelme, Barthes, Bataille, de Beauvoir, Benda, Camus, Derrida, Fanon, Ferry, Finkelkraut, Foucault, Heidegger, Houellebecq, Kojève, Lefort, Lévinas, Malraux, Merleau-Ponty, Nizan, Rancière, Renault, Ricoeur, Sartre, Todorov and Weil.

99190

HR 256 The Limits of Freedom

Ian Buruma

M . W . .

12:00 – 1:20 pm

OLIN 309

HUM

This course will deal with freedom of speech and thought in different contexts. We will look at such contemporary issues as 'hate speech', laws on incitement to violence, common in Europe, and the First Amendment in the US. We will also look at freedom in the arts, from the Marquis de Sade to Robert Mapplethorpe: where are the limits? Should there be limits? Other discussions in this course will include Isaiah Berlin's concepts of negative and positive liberties. In sum, we will look at historical examples to illuminate the present, as well as dealing with current affairs.

99235

ARTH 240 Human Rights & Urbanism

Noah Chasin

. . W . F

1:30 -2:50 pm

RKC 103

AART

(HRP Core Course) See Art History section for description.

99167

HIST 2631 Capitalism and Slavery

Christian Crouch

M . W . .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLIN 202

HIST

(HRP Core Course) See History section for description.

99251

PS 134 Constitutional Law

Roger Berkowitz

. T . Th .

2:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 203

SSCI

(HRP Core Course) See Political Studies section for description.

Advanced seminars:

99490

HR 335 Human Rights & International Law

Alan Sussman

. T . . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 305

SSCI

Cross-listed: GIS Since the end of the Second World War, human rights have quickly gained in number and importance in the realm of international law. What are these rights and how have they been enforced? How have crimes against humanity been defined since the Nuremberg trials? How have individual rights been shaped since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations sixty years ago? What place do human rights occupy in the international legal order? These are the subjects of this course. We will endeavor to understand international human rights in their most practical sense by reading decisions of international, regional and domestic tribunals and the various authorities under which they function. Topics to be addressed include freedom from torture and slavery, rape as a crime of war, freedom from discrimination, and the extent of liberty in a time of terror. “Civil” human rights will be discussed as well, including rights of privacy, sexual autonomy, self expression, and access to material standards of life.

99181

HR 415 Antiphotojournalism

Thomas Keenan

. . W . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

RKC 122

AART

The seminar will explore a critique and reinterpretation of photojournalism, at once ethico-political and theoretical. Photojournalism has been usually considered an empirical aesthetic, a direct witnessing of events and thus the most truthful form of information. Today, though, it is as much a matter of belief than of fact. We can only believe what pictures give us to see. In order to test those photographs brought from far away, we as consumers of images need to suspend our rational and empirical attitudes. These are images we cannot test, but they aspire to the condition of evidence or even proof in public debates. The seminar will not so much seek to propose “alternatives” or other methods and practices for reporting, but rather a critical analysis that rethinks photojournalism itself. We will investigate in particular “antiphotojournalistic” approaches that have spread among non-professionals, as a way to contend with hegemonic forms of capturing and distributing pictures. Antiphotojournalism overlaps opinion and information, keeps an open-ended attitude towards the flow of events, and reinvents the participatory nature of photography. Readings will include works by Azoulay, Ranciere, Boltanski, Ignatieff, Butler, Silverstone, and others. The course will be taught jointly for undergraduates and CCS students; Prof. Guerra will join the seminar for about half of the sessions.

Courses cross-listed in Human Rights: (see primary areas for descriptions)

99842

ANTH 264 Refugees: The Politics of Forced Displacement

Nadia Latif

. T . Th .

1:00 - 2:20 pm

OLIN 203

SSCI/DIFF

99515

ANTH 267 Middle Eastern Diasporas

Jeff Jurgens

M . W . .

3:00 - 4:20 pm

OLIN 201

SSCI/DIFF

99516

ANTH 270 Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Anthropology

Megan Callaghan

. T . Th . .

9:00 - 10:20 am

OLIN 204

SSCI/DIFF

99400

ANTH 350 Contemporary Cultural Theory

Laura Kunreuther

M . . . .

10:30 - 12:50 pm

OLIN 303

HUM/DIFF

99237

ARTH 269 Revolution and Social Change in Art of Latin America

Susan Aberth

. T . Th .

1:00 -2:20 pm

RKC 115

AART

99050

ECON 221 Economics of Developing Countries

Sanjaya DeSilva

. T . Th .

10:30 - 11:50 am

OLIN 204

SSCI

99166

HIST 130 Origins of American Citizen

Christian Crouch

M . W . .

12:00 -1:20 pm

OLIN 202

HIST

99494

HIST 2122 The Arab-Israel Conflict

Joel Perlmann

. T . Th .

4:00 -5:20 pm

OLIN 202

SSCI/DIFF

99170	HIST 3103 Political Ritual in the Modern World	Robert Culp	. . . Th .	1:00 -3:20 pm	OLIN 310	HIST/DIFF
99158	HIST 3112 PLAGUE!	Alice Stroup	M . . . .	1:30 -3:50 pm	OLIN 308	HIST

99062

LIT 2025 The Culture of Humanitarianism

Elizabeth Antrim

. T . Th .

2:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 307

ELIT

99090

LIT 2482 Narratives of Suffering

Geoffrey Sanborn

. T . Th .

10:30 - 11:50 am

OLIN 203

ELIT

99495

LIT 3215 Power, Violence and Make Believe: Revealing Politics in Fiction

Mark Danner

. T . . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 304

HUM

99196

PHIL 255 Medical Ethics

Daniel Berthold

. T . Th .

9:00 - 10:20 am

OLIN 203

HUM

99252

PS 104 A International Relations

Jonny Cristol

M . W . .

12:00 -1:20 pm

OLIN 204

SSCI

99246

PS 104 B International Relations

Sanjib Baruah

. . W . F

12:00 -1:20 pm

OLINLC 210

SSCI

99470

PS 225 West European Politics and Society

Elaine Thomas

. T . Th .

2:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 301

SSCI

99250

PS 239 United Nations and Model UN

Jonathan Becker

. . . . F

3:00- 4:20 pm

OLIN 202

SSCI

99257

PS 279 Hannah Arendt Reading Seminar

Roger Berkowitz

. . W . .

4:30 – 6:50 pm

RKC 200

99263

PS 311 Immigration & Citizenship

Elaine Thomas

M . . . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 302

SSCI/DIFF

99253

PS 349 The Nature of Power

Jonathan Cristol

. . W . .

3:00 -5:20 pm

OLIN 306

SSCI

99172

SOC 120 Inequality in America

Yuval Elmelech

. T . Th .

10:30 - 11:50 am

OLIN 202

SSCI/DIFF

99174

SOC 205 Intro to Research Methods

Yuval Elmelech

. T . Th .

1:00 -2:20 pm

OLIN 101 & HDRANX 106

MATC