Human Rights and Wrongs

Human Rights and Wrongs: Social Justice and Media
in Global Perspective
This course explores one of the most important
issues of our time - human rights. We will study
the theory and practice of human rights and
wrongs by examining key debates that have
animated the field. In today's digital and
networked world it is hard to escape the
political power of the moving images which often
bring many of these human rights issues to life
on our screens, in our homes. The course reflects
the globalized context in which any debate
regarding human rights must take place, and thus
is organized thematically. In Section One, we
will begin with some historical accounts and an
examination of the post- world war II, context
in which the contemporary human rights framework
was established. What are human rights and who
decides? Are they enforceable? Rights for whom?
Can and do states protect citizens' human rights?
In the Section Two, we'll cover the debates about
the universality of rights. How is the notion of
human rights embedded in Social, and Economic
structures of inequality? How does the discourse
of human rights create victims and saviors? In
the Section three, we will deal with post 9/11,
war on terror and torture and its world wide
impact on human rights and wrongs. In Section
Four we consider the lived experiences of people
facing genocide, ethnic cleansing and human
rights violations. How do people heal the
personal and political wounds of wars and how do
they make their stories known? In this section,
we also take up the search for justice. What is
the relation between justice, human rights and
truth? We examine the work of criminal tribunals,
the International Criminal Court and truth and
reconciliation commissions. When should the
international community intervene in sovereign
nations' treatment of their own citizens? In the
concluding section, we examine the take home
questions: What are the potentials and the
limitations of human rights as an international
regime? Besides using academic writings, the
course will also explore human rights through the
works of various groups that try to intervene in
the crisis: journalists, photographers,
filmmakers, human rights activists, scholars,
artists, and others who try to bring
international attention to the situation and help
mitigate the violence. The course will culminate
in a collective project that brings together
scholarship, art and activism.