Anthropology of Human Rights

In recent years, anthropological discussions of human rights have gone beyond the traditional debate between universalism and relativism sparked by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Marginalized peoples who are the traditional subjects of anthropological research are increasingly using human rights rhetoric to advance their own causes or draw attention to their plight. This course will examine philosophical and anthropological discussions of human rights and contemporary debates and controversies surrounding human rights. In particular, we will examine the deployment of truth commissions in the aftermath of political violence, the role of human rights NGOs, contested claims of suffering, and human rights interventions.