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Module details for 2024/25.

30 credits

FHEQ Level 7 (Masters)

Module Outline

Human rights are often regarded as ‘the world’s secular religion’ (Eli Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and human rights advocate). And yet, they are also facing challenges from populist parties, as well as those who consider them ‘not enough’ (Samuel Moyn). What are human rights? Where do they come from? Who has contributed to their development and why do we tend to tell Eurocentric, rather than plural, stories about their emergence? And, importantly, what do they ‘do’ in world politics for those in struggle and in power? In the current context where human rights appear embattled, you will take a critical approach to human rights as a colonial, political and historical 'artefact', revisiting the history of slavery, colonialism and settler-colonialism, as well as decolonisation struggles. You will explore recent claims about the coloniality of human rights, examining particularly who the ‘human’ of human rights is in gendered and racialised terms in the prevalent assumptions of free and autonomous rights holders. Finally, you will examine in detail multiple practices of human rights in the fields of activism and advocacy, in the struggles for gender equality, in making business accountable for harms to workers and states, as well as in counter-terrorist policy and practices. You will finally consider how human rights are being extended to more-than-human and other-than-human entities like rivers, forests, and Mother Earth in efforts to halt climate change and advance climate justice

Full Module Description

Human rights are often regarded as ‘the world’s secular religion’ (Eli Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and human rights advocate). And yet, they are also facing challenges from populist parties, as well as those who consider them ‘not enough’ (Samuel Moyn). What are human rights? Where do they come from? Who has contributed to their development and why do we tend to tell Eurocentric, rather than plural, stories about their emergence? And, importantly, what do they ‘do’ in world politics for those in struggle and in power? In the current context where human rights appear embattled, you will take a critical approach to human rights as a colonial, political and historical 'artefact', revisiting the history of slavery, colonialism and settler-colonialism, as well as decolonisation struggles. You will explore recent claims about the coloniality of human rights, examining particularly who the ‘human’ of human rights is in gendered and racialised terms in the prevalent assumptions of free and autonomous rights holders. Finally, you will examine in detail multiple practices of human rights in the fields of activism and advocacy, in the struggles for gender equality, in making business accountable for harms to workers and states, as well as in counter-terrorist policy and practices. You will finally consider how human rights are being extended to more-than-human and other-than-human entities like rivers, forests, and Mother Earth in efforts to halt climate change and advance climate justice

Module learning outcomes

Develop systematic and critical understanding of this issue area

To analyse and evaluate theories of rights relevant to international relations

To conduct independent research on particular aspect of human rights in international relations

To summarise and evaluate key debates in this issue area

To develop the ability to use methodologies and knowledge from related disciplines such as international relations, anthropology and law

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Timing

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Weighting

Coursework components (if listed) total 100% of the overall coursework weighting value.

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Prof Anne-Meike Fechter

Assess convenor
/profiles/158737

Mr Fred Fordham

Assess convenor
/profiles/647713

Prof Louiza Odysseos

Convenor, Assess convenor
/profiles/200596

Dr Andrea Brock

Assess convenor
/profiles/322495