History
W 3964
MW
10:35-11:50
IntÕl
Affairs Building 417
Samuel
Moyn
Department of History
Fayerweather Hall 616
(212) 854-3009
s.moyn@columbia.edu
AOL IM: samuelmoyn
Office Hours: Tues., 10-12
1. Adam
Bronson (apb2114)
2.
Elizabeth Hinton (ekh2108)
3. Sagi Schaefer (ss2556)
Why are Òhuman rightsÓ the moral language of
today, the language in which recent generations -- include that of today's
undergraduates -- frame their idealism? How can one think about human rights as
a product of history, and as a story about the changing moral lenses through
which people look at the world and decipher its problems? This course, focused
on European and American history, looks at these questions, starting with how
the categories of "humanity" and ÒrightsÓ arose, and then turning to
how they were combined and used in the last few centuries. The language of human rights is
not a human constant. How did humanity have to be redefined in history in order
for Òhuman rightsÓ to become its operative system of moral and political
belief? Special attention is given to the rise of
international law and shifts in international politics in the 19th and 20th
centuries. An exercise in analysis rather than advocacy, the goal is to
avoid a triumphal and progressive story of where the dominant contemporary
Western morality came from in order to provide a less comforting ÒgenealogyÓ to
our views. The first goal of history studied this way is surprise: to see the
controversial nature of commitments taken for granted and to see that they
might have been (and in the future become) other than they are. The second goal
of history studied this way is to test commitments: only by confronting the
origins of moral sentiments, the course assumes, is it possible justify them
persuasively.
Course
Requirements:
1)
Lecture
Attendance
2)
One
5 pp. Paper (25%)
3)
One
7 pp. Paper (35%)
4)
Final
Examination (30%)
5)
Option
A: Attendance and Participation at Section (10%)
Option B: No Section, Long Paper
and Final Exam Each Count 5% More
(You must choose between Option A
and B when sections are organized.)
* Lecture attendance is not an optional extra, and online
lecture outlines made available to help you are no replacement for the lectures
themselves. If you consider not coming because you have trouble staying awake
or focusing (even if the professor is to blame!), just take more stimulants
before class then show up.
* It is highly
recommended that you sign up for section in order to add a more interactive
dimension to the course. Section may not meet every week, but you need to be
free weekly at the time you indicate on your section preference form (to be
filled out in the second week of the course). Your TA will determine each week
whether it is necessary to meet and will tell you what readings will come under
discussion in each session.
* The final exam,
and the final grades for the class as a whole, are done on a curve.
Vacl‡v
Havel, Open Letters (1991), ISBN # 0679738118
Jeri
Laber, The Courage of Strangers (2002), 1586482882
Sven
Lindqvist, ÒExterminate All the
BrutesÓ (1997), 1565843592
David Rieff, At the Point of a Gun (2005), 074328707X
(optional)
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others (2003), 0312422199
These
texts are available for purchase at Labyrinth Books on 112th St.
The
other readings (noted with an asterisk below) are available in the course
sourcebook, available for purchase at Columbia Copy Center, on Broadway around
108th St. It should cost about $35. You may want to call ahead since
they print the packs in response to demand: (212) 865-1212. The reader is also
on reserve.
Schedule
of Lectures and Readings:
Weds., Jan. 17:
Introduction: Studying Human Rights as a Culture
Readings: *Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of
Morals, Preface;
*Paul W. Kahn, The Cultural Study of Law, 1-6, 36-40, 91-117; complete these
methodological readings within the first few weeks of the course
Mon., Jan. 22:
Lineages of the Concept of Humanity
Reading: *Ernst Troeltsch, ÒThe Ideas of Natural Law and
Humanity in World PoliticsÓ
Weds., Jan. 24:
Backgrounds to the Concept of Rights
Reading: *Michel de Montaigne, Apology for Raymond
Sebond; *Richard
Tuck, ÒThe ÔModernÕ Theory of Natural LawÓ
Mon., Jan. 29: The
Enlightenment: ÒThe Sentimental RevolutionÓ
Reading: *Thomas Laqueur, ÒBodies, Details, and the
Humanitarian NarrativeÓ
Weds., Jan. 31:
Cruelty and Torture: The Campaign against Pain
Reading: *Pierre Clastres, ÒOf Torture in Primitive
SocietiesÓ; *Montaigne, ÒOf CrueltyÓ; *Michel Foucault, Discipline and
Punish;
Optional: *Judith Shklar, ÒPutting Cruelty FirstÓ
Mon., Feb. 5: Why
Care about Far-Flung Strangers?
Reading: *Carlo Ginzburg, ÒTo Kill a Chinese MandarinÓ;
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, ¤¤ 3 and 7; *Nicholas Kristof, ÒThe Secret
Genocide Archive,Ó New York Times, Feb. 23, 2005
Weds., Feb. 7: Rights
in the Age of Revolutions
Reading: *Lynn Hunt, ÒThe Paradoxical Origins of Human
RightsÓ; *some revolutionary documents
Mon., Feb. 12: NO CLASS
Weds., Feb. 14: The
Campaign against Slavery as a Human Rights Movement
Reading: *Laurent Dubois, ÒInsurrection and the Language
of RightsÓ etc.
Mon., Feb. 19:
Explaining the Historical Function of Humanitarianism
Reading: *ÒA Note on the Marxist Interpretation of
Human Rights,Ó *Karl Marx, ÒOn the Jewish QuestionÓ; *Thomas Haskell,
ÒCapitalism and the Origins of Humanitarian SentimentÓ (Ask your TA whether MarxÕs
own text is optional for you or not.)
Weds., Feb. 21: The
Respatialization of the World and the Rise of Telescopic Philanthropy
Reading: *Charles Dickens, Bleak House, chapter 4; *Henri Dunant, ÒA
Memory of SolferinoÓ (skim anything you find boring)
Mon.,
Feb. 26: Humanity in Warfare
Reading: *The Hague Regulations Concerning the Laws and
Customs of War on Land; Start Sven Lindqvist, ÒExterminate All the BrutesÓ; optional: *Alice Conklin,
ÒColonialism and Human Rights,Ó in counterpoint to LindqvistÕs argument
PAPER 1:
DUE FEBRUARY 27
Weds., Feb. 28:
Progress and Violence: Humanitarianism, Empire, and War
Reading: Finish Lindqvist; *StŽphane Audouin-Rouzeau and
Annette Becker, 14-18: Understanding the Great War, 135-42
Mon., March 5: The Interwar Laboratory and the Horror of War and Genocide
Reading: *Jacques Maritain, Man and the State, sections; *Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, State of the Union address, January 11, 1944
Weds. March, 7:
Origins of the Universal Declaration
Reading: *ÒUniversal
Declaration of Human RightsÓ; *early drafts by RenŽ Cassin and John Humphrey of
the document
SPRING
BREAK
Mon., March 19: The
Nuremberg Trials and the Evolution of the Law of War
Reading: *Robert H. Jackson, ÒOpening Address for the United StatesÓ and other Nuremberg Documents
Weds., March 21: NO
CLASS
Mon., March 26: The
Geneva and Genocide Conventions
Reading: *ÒConvention for the Prevention of GenocideÓ; *Michael Ignatieff, ÒLemkinÕs WordÓ; * Geneva Conventions selections
Weds., March 28:
From PassŽ to Prestigious: Rights Talk in Philosophy
Reading: *Jacques Maritain, ed., Human Rights: An
IntÕl Symposium;
*Hannah Arendt, ÒThe Perplexities of the Rights of ManÓ; *Giorgio Agamben,
ÒBeyond Human RightsÓ
Mon., April 2: The Dog that Did Not Bark: Human Rights in the Early Cold War
Reading: *Amnesty International Founding Article (1961);
short excerpts from *Peter
Benenson, Persecution 1961
Weds., April 4: The
Return of Human Rights in the Later Cold War
Reading: *Helsinki Accords
Mon., April 9:
Eastern DissidenceÉ
Reading: *Charter 77 Declaration; Jiri H‡jek, *ÒThe Human
Rights Movement and Social ProgressÓ; Vacl‡v Havel, Open Letters, 109-16, 125-214, 247-71,
320-22, 355-62
Weds., April 11: É and Western Intellectual Responses (the Crisis of the Left)
Reading: *Bernard-Henri LŽvy, Barbarism with a Human
Face, selections
PAPER 2:
DUE APRIL 13
Mon., April 16:
Non-Western Responses to Human Rights -- Lecture by Adam Bronson)
Reading: None
Weds. April 18: The Rise of NGOs Ð Lecture by Jeri Laber, Human Rights Watch founding member (Sponsor: The Harriman Institute)
Reading: *Rose Styron, ÒTortureÓ; Jeri Laber, The
Courage of Strangers,
1-8, 26-7, 31-4, 53-60, 63-6, 69-88, 93-153, 167-9, 202-10, 221-3, 228-31,
247-50, 252-71, 297-301, 309-36, 347-51, 373-9
Mon., April 23: Class Canceled
Reading:
None
Weds., April 25:
America in the World from the Carter Administration to the Present
Reading: *James Earl Carter, ÒForeign Policy and Human RightsÓ; Optional: David Rieff, At the Point of a Gun (you may want to read this book about the contemporary world over break if you are as interested or more interested in the subject of humanitarianism and human rights after the course)
Mon, April 30:
Conclusion
Reading: *David
Kennedy, ÒThe International Human Rights Movement: Part of the Problem?Ó; *Mike Davis, ÒPlanet of
SlumsÓ, Mahmood
Mamdani, ÒThe Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, InsurgencyÓ; Samuel Moyn, ÒOn the
Genealogy of MoralsÓ (read two of these four in preparation for the final
exam)
Thurs., May 3, 4 p.m.,
417 IAB: SPECIAL COURSE EVENT, Paul W. Kahn, Robert Winner Professor, Yale Law
School, ÒWhy We Care About TortureÓ (Sponsor: Columbia College)