The Anthropology of Human Rights

Catalog description

Class Hours: 3 Lab/Discussion: 0 Credits: 3 Description: Engages the concept of human rights as applied to situations in the con­temporary world. Takes an interdisciplinary approach, with an emphasis on anthropology to examine the following principal questions: (1) What are the historical origins of contemporary ideas about human rights? (2) What are some of the foremost human rights situations in the world today? (3) What are the political, economic, and cultural contexts in which human rights abuses occur? (4) What is the role of the committed (i.e., activist) anthropologist? Focuses on the interplay between the abuse of human rights, power, and culturally constructed difference, such as ethnicity and gender. Extends contemporary interpretations to existing social and political problems around the world to seek ways in which anthropologists can have a positive role to play in finding solutions to those problems.