239572 Human Rights: Literature and Film in the Americas (BS) (WiSe 2011/2012)

“Human rights” refers to basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law. But these ideas have not always been a part of human thought and some scholars believe that without certain forms of literature today’s understanding of human rights would not exist. Through comparative analysis of a variety of human rights storytelling genres that reflect a range of contexts, this course will suggest that it is impossible to understand human rights without also thinking about the stories that create and sustain their idea. We will study films, photography, novels, testimonials etc. that reflect on the atrocities of slavery, human trafficking, border crossings, terrorism, genocide and more from an intercultural and dialogical (US-Europe) perspective. The course will be taught by way of co-teaching with Prof. Sophia McClennen (Penn State University, USA). The block seminar will take place from October 4-8 (ZiF Round-Table Room). During the following week there will be group sessions guided by the professors individually and related to the students’ individual projects (rooms for meetings in the second week will be announced).