Human Rights Syllabi - Collective Rights and Cultural Politics

Collective Rights and Cultural Politics
ANTHROPOLOGY 305
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
Spring 2004

Professor Richard A Wilson
Dept. of Anthropology
Email: Richard.Wilson@uconn.edu
Office Hours:

This course will introduce you to debates in 'the politics of difference' as they relate to human rights. We begin by examining the genealogy of the concept of culture in the twentieth century and look at some of the diverse political uses to which it has been put, from enforcing apartheid segregation to granting greater rights for politically marginalized minorities. We deal with the cultural relativist challenge to universal human rights which asserts the distinctiveness of each culture and the inapplicability of international rights instruments. Then we assess the view that the globalization of law and rights talk means that relativist views of societal distinctiveness no longer hold in a more interconnected world. Subsequent weeks are concerned with specific instances of rights and difference, including multiculturalism, indigenous rights, and women's human rights. We conclude by returning to the liberal tradition to ask whether or not revised forms of liberalism can provide the answer to the problem of difference in modern societies. Is constitutionalism and non-racialism the way forward, as a number of commentators have asserted since the fall of communism, or will collective formulations of culture continue to thrive in the political and public space?

Course requirements: Each student will write one term paper of 15-20 pages which will compromise 70% of your term grade. The final deadline for papers is . Class participation will constitute 30% of the grade.
Key texts [marked with an *] will be available from the bookstore and articles/chapters will be on reserve in the Library.

Session 1 Introducing the Subject
What attempts have been made to transcend the limitations of individualistic liberalism and create political philosophies and rights on the basis of ideas of community and the collective? How do we assess the relative weight of claims of individuals and collectives? What are the consequences of collective rights and communitarian discourses?

Session 2 Romanticism and the Political History of Culture

*Adam Kuper. 1999. Culture: the anthropologists' account. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Chapter 1 'Culture and Civilization' pp.23-46

*Isaiah Berlin. 2000. The Roots of Romanticism London: Pimlico, Random House. Chapter 1, 'In Search of a Definition', pp. 1-20: Chapter 2 'The First Attack on Enlightenment' pp. 21-46: Chapter 5 'Unbridled Romanticism' pp. 93-117: Chapter 6 'The Lasting Effects' pp. 118-147.

Session 3 Culture in C20 Anthropology
Adam Kuper. 1999. Culture: the anthropologists' account. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Chapter 3 'Clifford Geertz.' Pp. 75-121. Chapter 6 'Brave New World.' Pp. 201-225.

*Clifford Geertz. 1983. Local Knowledge. New York: Basic Books. Chapter 3 'From the Native's Point of View.', pp. 55-72; Chapter 8 'Local Knowledge: Fact and Law in Comparative Perspective.' pp. 167-234.

Session 4 Cultural Relativist Critiques of Human Rights
A. Pollis and P. Schwab 'Human Rights: a western construct with limited applicability' in A. Pollis and P. Schwab, eds, Human Rights: Cultural and Ideological Perspectives 1979. New York: Praeger.

A. Pollis 1996 'Cultural relativism revisited' Human Rights Quarterly 18:316-344

*Colin Samson. 'Rights as the reward for simulated sameness.' in Cowan, J., M. Dembour and R. Wilson, eds., 2001. Culture and Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 26-248

*Talal Asad. Chapter 5 'On Torture, or Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment.' Pp. 111-133, in Wilson, Richard, ed., 1997. Human Rights, Culture and Context. London: Pluto Press.

Session 5 Culture Revised, Contested and Deconstructed
Cowan, J., M. Dembour and R. Wilson, eds., 2001. Culture and Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Introduction. Pp. 1-26.

Barth, Fredrick 1992. 'Towards greater naturalism in conceptualizing societies' Chapter 1
pp., 17-33. in A. Kuper (ed) Conceptualising Society. London: Routledge.

Clifford, James 1988. 'Identity in Mashpee' in J Clifford The Predicament of Culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Rhoda Howard 'Cultural Absolutism and the Nostalgia for Community.' in Human Rights Quarterly (1993) 15:315-338.

Session 6 Intercultural Dialogues on Human Rights

Cowan, J., M. Dembour and R. Wilson, eds., 2001. Culture and Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 3 by Marie Dembour 'Following the movement of a pendulum' pp. 56-79, and Chapter 7 by Jane Cowan 'Ambiguities of an emancipatory discourse' pp. 152-176.

R. Pannikar 1982. 'Is the Notion of Human Rights a Western Concept?' Diogenes Volume 120, pp.75-102.

An-Na'im, Abdullahi, ed., 1992. Human Rights in Cross Cultural Perspectives. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Renteln, Alison. 1988. 'Relativism and the Search for Human Rights.' American Anthropologist. 90.

Session 7 Globalization, Culture and Human Rights

Forsythe, David. 2001. Human Rights in International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 3 'Global Application of Human Rights Norms.'pp.55-83. and 'International Criminal Courts.' Pp. 84-109.

Wilson, Richard, ed., 1997. Human Rights, Culture and Context. London: Pluto Press. Chapter 1, pp. 1-27.

Sally Engle Merry Chapter 2 'Legal Pluralism and Transnational Culture.' in Wilson, Richard, ed., 1997. Human Rights, Culture and Context. London: Pluto Press. pp.28-48.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen Chapter 6 'Between universalism and relativism' pp.127-148. in Cowan, J., M. Dembour and R. Wilson, eds., 2001. Culture and Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Session 8 Multiculturalism and Minority Rights: An Alternative to Liberalism

*Taylor, Charles. 1994. Multiculturalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapters by Amy Gutmann 'Introduction', pp.1-24, and Charles Taylor 'The Politics of Recognition.' pp. 25-74.
*Kymlicka, Will. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Chapters 1-3, pp.
1-48.

Session 9 Multiculturalism: Consequences and Reactions
Turner, Terence. 1993. 'Anthropology and Multiculturalism: what is anthropology that
multiculturalists should be mindful of it?' Cultural Anthropology. 8(4):411-429.

Anthony Appiah. 1994. 'Identity, Authenticity, Survival' pp. 149-163. in Taylor, Charles. 1994. Multiculturalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ong, Aihwa 'Cultural Citizenship as Subject-Making' Current Anthropology., 1996. 37:5:737-
62.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen Chapter 3 'Multiculturalism, Individualism and Human Rights' pp.
49-69. in Wilson, Richard, ed., 1997. Human Rights, Culture and Context. London: Pluto
Press.

Romero, Francine 'The Supreme Court and the Protection of Minority Rights.' Law and
Society Review, 2000, Vol. 34, No 2, pp. 291-314.

Session 10 Theories of Gender, Difference and Human Rights

Gayle Binion 1995. 'Human Rights: a feminist perspective.' Human Rights Quarterly 17(1995):509-526

Brems, Eva 1997 'Enemies or Allies? Feminism and Cultural Relativism as Dissident Voices in
Human Rights Discourse.' Human Rights Quarterly 19: 136-164.

Phillips, Anne 'Democracy and Difference' Kymlicka, Will (ed) The Rights of Minority
Cultures

Bunting, Annie 1993 'Theorizing Women's Cultural Diversity in Feminist International Human
Rights Strategies.' Journal of Law and Society 6:6-22.

Session 11 Gender and Human Rights in Africa and Latin America

Anne Griffiths 'Gendering Culture' pp. 102-126. in Cowan, J., M. Dembour and R. Wilson, eds., 2001. Culture and Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

*E. Jelin. 1996. 'Women, Gender and Human Rights' E. Jelin and E. Hershberg, eds.,
Constructing Democracy. Boulder: Westview Press. Chapter 10, pp. 177-196.

Celestine Nyamu. 2000. 'How should human rights and development respond to cultural legitimisation of gender hierarchy in developing countries?' Harvard International Law Journal. Spring 2000. 41(2): 381-418.

Bronstein, Victoria 1998. 'Reconceptualizing the Customary Law Debate in South Africa.'
SAJHR. Vol. 14: 388-410.

Session 12 Indigenous Rights
C. Tennant. 1994. 'Indigenous Peoples, International Institutions and the International Legal
Literature.' Human Rights Quarterly, vol 16., 1994.

John Bowen. 2000. 'Should we have a universal concept of indigenous peoples' rights?' Anthropology Today. August 16(4):12-16.

Thomas Biolsi 'Bringing the Law Back in: legal rights and the regulation of Indian-
White relations on Rosebud Reservation' Current Anthropology 36(4):543-571. [And Comments!]

Stavenhagen, R. 1996. 'Indigenous Rights' in E. Jelin and E. Hershberg, eds.,
Constructing Democracy. Boulder: Westview Press. Chapter 8, pp.141-160.

Rachel Sieder and Jessica Witchell Chapter 9 'Advancing indigenous claims through the law.' Pp. 201-225 in Cowan, J., M. Dembour and R. Wilson, eds., 2001. Culture and Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Session 13 Cosmopolitanism, Or Should we Give Liberalism Another Chance?

Kuper, Adam. 1994. 'Culture, identity and the project of a cosmopolitan anthropology.'
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (Man). 29: 537-54. 1994.

Habermas, Jürgen 1992. 'Citizenship and national identity: some reflections on the future of
Europe.' Praxis International, 12(2):1-19.

Habermas, Jürgen. 1994. 'Struggles for Recognition in the Democratic Constitutional State.' 107-148. In Taylor, Charles. 1994. Multiculturalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Forsythe, David. 2001. Human Rights in International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 9 'The Politics of Liberalism in a Realist World.' Pp. 217-237.

Session 14 General Discussion: Where do you stand?
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