This page offers a description of the special topics courses offered in the current or upcoming quarter.
Gerald Mackie POLI 119A: "Human rights in moral theory and in Field practice."
We will apply high theory to observations of face-to-face practice. First, we'll rigorously study the normative ethics of international human rights, in the analytic mode; readings could include Griffin, Talbot, Waldron. Second, we'll investigate the actual practice of human rights by local people in local communities, mostly concerning women in Africa; readings could include Appadurai, S.E. Merry, the instructor on his work in Africa, and critics of human rights practice. We won't consider international human rights instruments, New York INGOs, or cause politics, except in passing. Prior background in political theory or normative ethics strongly recommended. See http://polisci.ucsd.edu/~gmackie/page5.html