Capstone Seminar in Human Rights

This seminar will investigate the efficacy of human rights discourse by studying theory in combination with case studies as exemplified in both history and literature. Students will focus on how human rights theory inherited from Enlightenment philosophy comes into conflict with local crises caused by forcing universal systems of human rights. Throughout we will be concerned with the need to study the specifics of culture in relation to human rights and the progressive potential of humanistic study.