This unit provides a historical perspective to contemporary issues of human rights. It considers conceptions of humankind and notions of rights from the earliest times to the present, focusing on some of the following: the relationship of citizenship and slavery in the classical Greece; the role of Christianity, canon law and natural rights traditions in western Europe; common law rights in the English speaking world; religious pluralism and freedom of conscience; natural law, the law of nations and the implications of the Enlightenment; the struggle over slavery; liberal and socialist visions of rights; the rights of women; national self-determination and internationalism; the rules of war and refuge; individual and collective rights in a globalised world.
WEIGHT:
12.5%
ASSESSMENT: Class participation (10%), 1000-word exercise (20%), group project, including oral presentation and 2,000-word written report (30%); 3,000-word essay (40%).
TEACHING PATTERN: One 2 hr seminar per week and one day conference
Units are offered in attending mode unless otherwise indicated (that is attendance is required at the campus identified). A unit identified as offered by distance, that is there is no requirement for attendance, is identified with a nominal enrolment campus. A unit offered to both attending students and by distance from the same campus is identified as having both modes of study.
Campus - H Hobart, L Launceston, W Burnie. Study Centre - V Sydney, R Rozelle, P Beauty Point. Distance units may also have a campus identifier of I Isolated, N Interstate, O Overseas. Units delivered in Transnational Education (TNE) Programs have a campus identifier of A Hangzhou, F Fuzhou, G Shanghai, K KDU Malaysia, Q Kuwait or Y Hong Kong.
Special approval is required for enrolment into TNE Program units - campuses A, F, G, K, Q and Y click here for more information.
