Oberlin College

Spring 2007

Anthropology 278

Human Rights, Universalism and Cultural Relativism

 

 

 

 

Course Description:

Through an examination of the ways in which people in different societies of the world identify and define ethical and social standards, this course will examine the concept of universal human rights.� The course will consider the tension between universal claims and cultural relativism.� We will also document and analyze the development of international efforts to apply universal rights.� The course will focus on ethnographic case studies from a wide variety of societies that demonstrate the cultural challenges involved in defining, establishing, and implementing a set of global and universal human rights.

 

Are human rights a Western idea that should not be imposed on the rest of the world?

What is cultural relativism?� What is moral relativism?� What is the relationship of the field of Anthropology with the idea of universal human rights?� What are the controversies in the field around the issue?� Do anthropologists sacrifice their objectivity or scientific posture when they work to promote human rights?� What is the history of the human rights movement within the United Nations system?� In what ways was the movement bogged down by the cold war?� What is the difference between human rights and civil rights?� How do specific cases of cultural difference in Africa, Asia and Latin America challenge the notion of universal human rights?� What is the Asian Values Debate?� What are social and economic rights and why are they so controversial?� Do all societies have rights?� Do all societies agree in one way or another on certain basic rights?� Does it matter?� Are most people of the world relativistic in their thinking?� Do societies promote some version of cultural relativism?� Does this matter? �Are the world religions compatible with human rights? What is forensic anthropology?��� How can anthropologists contribute to situations in which communities are recovering from widespread violence and/or genocide?� What is CEDAW?� What is the relationship between women's rights and human rights?� What are the mechanisms through which human rights are spread throughout the world?� What is the relationship between national governments and the international human rights movement?� How can human rights, in one or more of its manifestations, contribute to positive social change in the world?

 

The above list represents the main issues and questions that we will be exploring in this class.� The goals of the course are 1) to promote in students an understanding of the complexities involved in each of these questions and 2) to provide students with the bibliographic, factual and conceptual tools with which to form an informed opinion on these matters 3) to promote the development of key basic skills (critical thinking, writing, public speaking) through a consideration of these issues.

 

Assignments and Grading:���������

Students will be evaluated on the basis of: 1) class attendance/participation - 10% 2) Blackboard 15% 3) 2 essays - 15% each 4) final paper 25% 5) class presentation 5% 6) final exam 15%

 

Attendance/Participation:

Students are expected to come to class having read the selections for that day.� Students are expected to knowledgably participate in class discussions.� Students who have more than two unexcused absences will not be eligible for an "A" or "A-" grade in the class.� Students who have more than 4 unexcused absences will not be eligible for a "B+" or "B" grade.� This rule applies above and beyond the weight of absences in the overall attendance/participation grade.� Students are responsible for all assignments, instructions, lectures notes etc. that they miss during an absence.� Absences will only be excused when students have so requested/notified IN ADVANCE of the class session in question.� Students may communicate with the instructor about missed classes by e-mail, phone message or in person.� These are examples of absences that will be excused: 1) emergency medical treatment 2) serious/contagious illness.� These are examples of absences that will not necessarily be excused 1) travel plans 2) medical visits that are not emergencies and can be rescheduled.

 

Essays:� Students will write 2 essays of 5 pages in length.� They will be turned in by e-mail at midnight on the day that they are due.� No late papers will be accepted and it will be assumed that e-mail messages never become lost.� If you wish to confirm receipt of your paper then you must "cc" to yourself a copy of the file that you send to the instructor.� The message that you send to yourself (which indicates that your instructor was the recipient) will serve as your receipt.� All files must be sent as attached documents in Microsoft Word or in .rtf format (using any other word processing program)�0o

 

#1: The field of Anthropology has a troubled relationship with the idea of human rights.� Why have many anthropologists been against universal human rights as defined in the UDHR and other international documents?� Why has the field moved away from earlier anti-universal positions?� What does anthropology have to offer to the debate between universalism and relativism?� Due 3/3

 

#2: Is a male perspective and male domination institutionalized in law?� Is a male perspective and male domination protected by religion and �culture.�� What are some of the challenges to achieving equality for women in the world?�� Do you believe that the human rights movement can play an important role in addressing sexism and male domination on a global level?� How can an understanding of cultural difference contribute to devising and implementing strategies for combating sexism?� Due 4/7

 

 

 

"�a little cultural imperialism is better than a lot of oppression" � Ruth Anna Putnam quoted in Michael Freeman, �Human Rights and Real Cultures: Towards a Dialogue on �Asian Values�, Netherlands Human Rights Quarterly, 1998.

 

Situate this quotation in the context of the scholarship and global politics of human rights.� Do you agree?

 

Response Questions on Blackboard:� Once per week students will write a three paragraph response to questions based on the readings.� These questions will be posted by the instructor on Blackboard.� The answers will be graded on a scale of 1-10.� Your responses should 1) respond directly to the question in an insightful manner and 2) demonstrate your understanding of the readings at hand.� You must make specific reference to the readings.

 

Final Exam:� On May 16th students will take a final exam that consists of short answer questions and one essay.� Students will prepare for the final exam through the course of the semester by working with the instructor in class on sample questions.� Students will be given a final exam study guide well in advance of the final.

 

Final Paper:� Human Rights: Making a Difference?� This is a 10 page research paper that will be due on May 16th.

 

Conduct research on a case somewhere in the world in which the human rights movement, or just the idea of human rights, is either succeeding or failing in bringing about positive social change.� What is the problem?� Who are the people involved?� What are they like?� What are the opportunities and obstacles, cultural and otherwise, with regard to the implementation of human rights in this case? How has anthropology or social science contributed, if at all.� How could it conceivably contribute? �Relate this case to the major themes of the class.

 

Final Presentation:� In the last week of class students will deliver a multi-media presentation about their final paper (the final version of which is not due until the following week).� Students will speak for approximately 5 minutes each.

 

Paper Grading:� All papers will be evaluated on the basis of 1) clarity of argument and writing 2) effective use of sources 3) ability to make insightful connections between the subject at hand and the major themes and questions of the class.�

 

Honor Code:� With the exception of Blackboard postings, students will write the Honor Pledge after each assignment: "I affirm that I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment."� It is assumed that all students are familiar with the Oberlin College honor code and honor system.� You can review it at:��

 

http://www.oberlin.edu/students/student_pages/honor_code.html

 

 

Books and Articles:

 

A) Richard Pierre Claude and Burns H. Weston.� 2006.� Human Rights in the World Community: Issues and Action (3rd edition).� University of Pennsylvania Press.

 

B) Sally Falk Moore.� 2005.� Law and Anthropology: A Reader.� Blackwell Publishing.

 

C) journal articles in .pdf format to be distributed via Blackboard and/or available through databases accessible through the Oberlin library web site.

 

Readings

 

Week 1: Introduction to Culture and Human Rights

 

Tuesday (2/6) ����������� no readings

 

Thursday (2/8)����������� A. "International Human Rights: Issues Overview", pgs. 4-16

����������������������������������� C. �Cultural relativism and universal rights�, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1995

 

 

Week 2: The Human Rights Movement: Background and Overview

 

Tuesday (2/13)���������� A. Chs. 1 and 2, �Human Rights: Concept and Content�, Burns Weston;�Capabilities, Human Rights, and the Universal Declaration�, Martha Nussbaum

 

Thursday (2/15)��������� A. Chs. 3 and 4, "The Universality of Human Rights in a Multicultured World�, Burns Weston; �The Second Great Transformation: Human Rights Leap-Frogging in the Era of Globalization�, Rhoda Howard-Hassmann

 

 

Week 3: Anthropology and a Century of Human Rights

 

Tuesday (2/20)���������� C. "Relativism and the Search for Human Rights", Alison Dundes Renteln, American Anthropologist, 1988

C. "From Skepticism to Embrace: Human Rights and the American Anthropological Association 1947-1999", Karen Engle, Human Rights Quarterly, 2001

 

Thursday (2/22)��������� C. "Human Rights Law and the Demonization of Culture (And Anthropology Along the Way)", Sally Engle Merry, PoLAR, 2003

 

Week 4: Culture and Identity in Academic Engagements with Human Rights

 

Tuesday (2/27)���������� A.�� Ch. 12, Indigenous Peoples� Rights to Self-Determination and Territoriality�, Maivan Clech Lam

B.� Ch. 17, �Identity in Mashpee�, James Clifford

 

Thursday (3/1)����������� C.� �Activist Research v. Cultural Critique: Indigenous Land Rights and the Contradictions of Politically Engaged Anthropology�, Charles Hale, Cultural Anthropology, 2006; �Transnational Human Rights and Local Activism: Mapping the Middle�, Sally Engle Merry, American Anthropologist, 2006

 

Essay #1 Due 3/3

 

Week 5:� Individuals, Peoples and Collectivities: Are Human Rights too Western?

 

Tuesday (3/6)������������ A.� Chs. 18 and 27, �The Right to Take Part in Cultural Life�, Stephen Hansen; �The Promise of Regional Human Rights Systems�, Dinah Shelton

C. �Cultural Relativism and Human Rights: Reconsidering the Africanist Discourse�, Bonnie Ibhawoh, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 2001

 

Thursday (3/8)����������� A. Ch. 19, �The Right to Self-Determination in the Twenty-First Century�, Hurst Hannum

B. Ch. 25 and 27, �Multilculturalism, Individualism, and Human Rights: Romanticism, The Enlightenment, and Lessons from Mauritius�, Thomas Hylland Eriksen; �Civilization and Its Negotiations�, Laura Nader

 

Week 6 Women's Rights, and Human Rights: Critical Perspectivies

 

Tuesday (3/13)���������� C. "Searching for a Middle Path: Rights, Capabilities, and Political Culture in the Study of Female Genital Cutting", Samuel Martinez, The Ahfad Journal; �International Human Rights Law: Imperialist, Inept and Ineffective? Cultural Relativism and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child�, Sonia Harris-Short, Human Rights Quarterly, 2003

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Thursday (3/15)��������� A.� Ch. 10, �Protecting the Rights of Women�, Eva Brems

C. "Gendered States: Rethinking Culture as a Site of South Asian Human Rights Work", Kamala Visweswaran, Human Rights Quarterly, 2004

 

Week 7 The Asian Values Debate

 

Tuesday (3/20)���������� C. �Human Rights and Real Cultures: Towards a Dialogue on �Asian Values�", Michael Freeman, Netherlands Human Rights Quarterly, 1998

 

Thursday (3/22)��������� C. �Rights and Culture in the Asian Values Argument: The Rise and Fall of Confucian Ethics in Singapore�, Neil Englehart, Human Rights Quarterly, 2000; "Cultural Relativism and the Construction of Culture: An Examination of Japan", Annette Marfording, Human Rights Quarterly, 1997

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SPRING RECESS (3/24-4/1)

 

Week 8 ��������������������� Religion and Rights: The Case of Islamic LawuHu

 

 

Tuesday (4/3)������������ C. ���Globalization, sacred beliefs, and defiance: Is human rights discourse relevant in the modern world�, Mahmood Monshipouri and Reza Motameni, Journal of Church and State; Autumn 2000

 

Thursday (4/5)����������� C. �Women�s Human Rights in the Koran: An Interpretive Approach, Niaz A. Shah, Human Rights Quarterly, 2006; �Overcoming the Conflict between the Right to Freedom of Religion and Women�s Rights to Equality: A South African Case Study of Muslim Marriages�, Waheeda Amien, Human Rights Quarterly, 2006.

 

Essay #2 Due 4/7

 

Week 9 ��������������������� Torture

 

Tuesday (4/10) ��������� A. Ch. 6, �Torture and the Future�, Lisa Hajjar

C. �United States Policy toward Enemy Detainees in the �War on Terrorism��, David Forsythe, Human Rights Quarterly, 2006

 

Thursday (4/12)��������� C.� �Suffering the Winds of Lhasa: Politicized Bodies, Human Rights, Cultural Difference, and Humanism in Tibet�, Vincanne Adams, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 1998.

 

 

Week 10 ������������������� Genocide, Violence and Truth Commissions

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Tuesday (4/17)���������� A. Ch. 23, �Human Rights: Prescription and Enforcement�, Burns Weston

C. �Moral Dilemmas and Pedagogical Challenges in Teaching about Genocide�, Joyce Apsel, Human Rights Review, 2005

 

Thursday (4/19)��������� A. Chs. 24 and 25, �How is International Human Rights Law Enforced?�, Harold Hongju; �Making the Human Rights Treaties Work�, Anne Bayefsky

 

 

Week 11 ������������������� Culture, Cosmopolitanism and Anthropology Revisited

 

Tuesday (4/24)���������� C. �Talking about Culture: Globalization, human rights and Anthropology�, Fran Markowitz, Anthropological Theory, 2004

 

Thursday (4/26)��������� C. �Reclaiming modernity: Indigenous cosmopolitanism and the coming of the second revolution in Bolivia�, Mark Goodale, American Ethnologist, 2006

 

 

Week 12 Human Rights Histories and Directions

 

Tuesday (5/1)������������ B. Ch. 28, �No Exceptions? The United States Pick-and-Choose Approach to Human Rights�, Michael Ignatieff

C. �The emergence of human rights politics in the United States�, Kenneth Cmiel, The Journal of American History, 1999

 

Thursday (5/3)����������� C.� �Forging a Global Culture of Human Rights: Origins and Prospects of the International Bill of Rights�, Zehra Kabasakal Arat, Human Rights Quarterly, 2006

 

 

Week 13 In-class presentations (definitions due 5/8)

 

Tuesday (5/8)������������

Thursday (5/10)���������

 

Final Paper Due, Final Exam, Wednesday, May 16th, 2pm