HIST 609 (1SY) - Special Topics in American Legal History

Spc Top/Int'l Law&Human Rights

Durham   Liberal Arts :: History
Credits: 4.0
Term: Spring 2021 - Full Term (02/01/2021 - 05/11/2021)
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
Class Size:   20  
CRN: 55839
In-depth thematic exploration of law in American life. Topics include race and equality in America; community, pluralism, and American law; property, liberty, and law; gender and law. May be repeated for credit with instructor's permission. Consult department listings of topics. Course meets History major requirement for Group I.
Section Comments: Full Title: International Law and Human Rights
Department Approval Required. Contact Academic Department for permission then register through Webcat.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits.
Only listed campus in section: Durham, Manchester
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course, Scheduled meeting time, Online (no campus visits), EUNH
Instructors: STAFF

Times & Locations

Start Date End Date Days Time Location
2/1/2021 5/11/2021 TR 3:40pm - 5:00pm ONLINE
Additional Course Details: 

What are “human rights”?  This course explores the development of international law and human rights from the late 1700s to the present, examining how the meaning of  “human rights” has shifted over time.  While the course is anchored in the United States, it will analyze broader global debates over “human rights” that were sparked by slavery, imperial conquest, migration, genocide, the law of warfare, the creation and disappearance of states, gender violence,  and mass expulsions.  Who defined human rights and what mechanisms were developed to address abuses? The course takes both a “bottom up” and a “top down” approach.  It pays close attention to how individuals and groups--the victims of abuses--shaped international law and human rights.  It also examines the responses of both governmental (the State Department, the United Nations, the World Court) and non-governmental organizations (e.g. Amnesty International) in negotiating treaties, holding trials and hearings, investigating and processing claims, and creating new international standards and conventions on human rights. 

Booklist

Required Books: Lynn Hunt, Inventing Human Rights (isbn: 978-0393331998), WW Norton Publishing, 2008); Lucy Salyer, Under the Starry Flag: How a Band of Irish-Americans Joined the Fenian Revolt and Sparked a Crisis in Citizenship (isbn: 9780674057630, Belknap Press, 2018) [Available online via UNH catalog]; Samantha Power, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (isbn: 978-1455879991, Basic Books, 2013) [available online via UNH catalog]