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SoSe 18: Critical Perspectives on Human Rights: Theories and Practices of Freedom

Vera Wriedt, Matija Vlatkovic

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This interdisciplinary seminar explores a multitude of critical perspectives on human rights, as well as their impact on the theoretical framework, practical implementation and discourse surrounding human rights. Particular focus is given to various intersecting schools of thought, such as critical legal studies, postcolonial theory, feminist legal theory, anti-statist and Marxist critiques. The methodological tools acquired through the study of these critical perspectives are subsequently applied to deconstruct the role of human rights in specific topics such as colonialism, capitalism, migration, racism, state violence, gender and sexuality. The seminar carefully avoids descriptive notions based on a Eurocentric singular universalist narrative or hastened normative judgements about any essentialist characteristics of human rights. Instead it raises numerous questions about the complexities and paradoxes of human rights: What is the contested history of human rights declarations? Which philosophies and social structures build the foundations of human rights and its advocacy? Who benefits from the human rights regime? How can human rights be deconstructed in a constructive way? Furthermore, related to the specific fields of interest, the seminar will also ask: What are the entanglements between human rights and (post-)colonial practices?To what extent can capitalism and human rights co-exist, are they mutually exclusive? What are the rights of non-citizens faced with militarised borders and exclusionary practices?What are the intersections of human rights and gender, sexuality and race? What is the role of human rights vis-a-vis state violence? How can human rights law be used strategically for progressive change? Can activists and oppressed subjects rely on human rights as useful tools of (self-)empowerment, (self-)defense and resistance? The seminar aims to enable students to build a thorough critical understanding of the theoretical and practical significance of human rights. The first sessions engage with the main critical theoretical approaches to human rights, including their overlaps and contradictions. Students should gain an understanding of the useful methodological tools these schools of thought offer and subsequently be able to apply them to current political and social issues. This includes debates revolving around the intrinsic and instrumental values of human rights. The last session provides a space for (re-)imagining alternative terms of reference in a utopian society. close