Human Rights and Social Movements (INTL I204 - S&H)
Overview:  This course gives students skills that will help them place a range of human rights issues with contemporary relevance into cross-cultural and historical perspective, and to acquaint them with the diverging ways that these issues are addressed within a cluster of disciplines, ranging from philosophy to sociology, anthropology to political science.  The questions we will explore together include the following.  Are there "universal" human rights (and, if so, what are they and what does it mean to speak of them as universal)?  How did documents such as the U.N.'s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights come into being (and how are they interpreted differently in varied cultural settings)?  How are "new social movements" (a term some scholars use to describe recent struggles to create a better world, including feminist and environmental movements) similar to and different from the "classic" social movements (e.g., anti-colonialist uprisings and labor strikes)?  Why do some struggles for change remain non-violent while others become violent?  Is it ever appropriate for one country or set of countries to use force in the name of limiting the human rights abuses in a foreign land (and, more generally, is there such a thing as a "just war")?  What sorts of strategies (such as Truth and Reconciliation commissions and war crime tribunals) have been used to help the people in a country that has experienced a period of oppression move forward together and/or move their nation toward re-integration into the international order?