Winter 2024

This course familiarizes students with the perspectives, debates, and attitudes that characterize the contemporary field of postcolonial theory, with critical attention to how its interdisciplinary formation contributes to reading literary works. What are the claims made on behalf of literary texts in orienting us to other lives and possibilities, and in registering the experiences of displacement under global capitalism?

The origins of game theory in social science reach back to the arms race at the height of the cold war. Since then, its applications have expanded, to include regime change, civil war conduct, and dealing with legacies of violations of human rights in the form of transitional justice. Recognizing the importance of this method in studying human rights and the proliferation of research in this area, this class will introduce human rights majors to the toolkit of game theory.

This course will examine the role played by Marxist revolutions, revolutionary movements, and the right-wing dictatorships that have opposed them in shaping Latin American societies and political cultures since the end of World War II.

In an era in which disruptive technologies have hijacked our consciousness and computer code has woven itself into the fabric of our existence, the lines between the virtual and the physical are increasingly blurred, and the nature of human existence itself increasingly uncertain. Digitizing Human Rights invites you to ponder, question, and even reshape the future of the species. We'll consider digital surveillance, data consent, access to tech, online agency, algorithmic bias and the future of artificial intelligence, among other topics.

Climate injustice includes the disproportionate effects of climate change on people who benefit little from the activities that cause it, generally the poor, people of color, and people marginalized in other ways. Given the complex economic, physical, social, and political realities of climate change, what might climate justice entail? This course explores this complex question through an examination of classical and contemporary theories of justice; the gendered, colonial, and racial dimensions of climate change; and climate justice movements.

This two-quarter long course exists to support 4th year students who are on the practice intensive capstone track. Students will meet every other week to plan and receive help executing their projects from inception to completion. At every step, student will receive feedback from their peers and from the Director of Practice. The workshop will also likely involve training, including trauma informed research methodology, media strategy, and other topics as relevant. This course is 0 credits in Autumn Quarter and 100 credits in Winter Quarter.

The fundamental principle underlying human rights is that they are inherent in the identity of all human beings, regardless of place and without regard to citizenship, nationality, or immigration status. Human rights are universal and must be respected everywhere and always. Human rights treaties and doctrines mandate that a person does not lose their human rights simply by crossing a border. While citizens enjoy certain political rights withheld from foreigners within any given nation-state, what ARE the rights of non-citizens in the contemporary world?

The right to health is enshrined in over 130 national constitutions and many international treaties. Going beyond a right to health care, the right to health encompasses freedoms, such as privacy and informed consent, and other kinds of entitlements, like the right to accurate health information. This course will critically review the global state of the right to health in the age of pandemics and artificial intelligence (AI), examining normative developments, judicial opinions, research, and case studies from advocates worldwide.

This course prepares students to relate the academic study of human rights to human rights practice. It will provide training in human rights monitoring, analysis, documentation (including the use of photography and videography), the use of public information and records, intervention and capacity building, trauma informed research, effective storytelling in human rights advocacy, effective interview techniques, stakeholder mapping, statistical analysis in R, mapping technologies and GIS.

This course explores the history of American military power from the Spanish-American War to the end of the 1980s, focusing on the social, cultural, racial, and human rights aspects of the U.S. military and soldiering in the 20th century. This course will only lightly discuss military strategy and tactic, and instead focus on the broader array of issues which stem from American wars.