A History of Human Rights

• • A week-by-week guide to the topics you will explore in this subject will be provided in your study materials.

Others

40cp at 1000 level or above OR (10cp in HIST or MHIS or POL or POIR or MHIX or POIX units)

Special requirements

No special requirements

This subject will provide a historical account of changing ideas of human worth, dignity and progress. Drawing upon wide departmental expertise in the history of legal systems, social movements and political action, it will explore the history of human rights language in political modernity. At the same time, it will attempt a decolonised history of human rights discourse, revealing how and why the idea of human rights have been viewed with suspicion by some as an imperialistic language and program. This unit will aid students interested in careers in international law, foreign aid, global politics, humanitarian organisations in learning the terminology and historical narratives they will need to make sense of those types of work.

• Weekly quizzes (20%)
• Article analysis (30%)
• Research Essay (50%)