Decolonizing Human Rights: Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights in Latin America

This course traces Indigenous Peoples' role in the emergence of human rights in Latin America, as well as the region’s contributions to universal human rights ideas. As issues of Indigenous, environmental, youth, migrant and gender rights receive more attention worldwide, this class asks students to center Latin America and Indigenous Peoples as they study the evolution of justice and solidarity, while also investigating long-term effects of colonialism, imperialism, authoritarianism, and neoliberalism in various territories. The course will follow a chronological approach starting with the colonial period, where students will explore texts concerned with the rights of Indigenous populations of the Americas, and move on to independence leader’s missives regarding freedom and sovereignty. It will then focus on the various demands and contributions related to political, economic and social rights that emerged during the struggles against military dictatorships in the twentieth century and that continue to this day via processes of transitional justice. The course will end by centering new voices of human rights, particularly the emergence of Indigenous populations in the human rights arena, going from subjects to actors in charge of their own empowerment.