History 167 CP
UCSB Winter 2011
Proseminar in American Working Class History: Workers and International Human Rights
Jill Jensen, Instructor
GIRV 1106, Tuesday/Thursday 11:00-12:15
Office 3239 HSSB
Office Hours Tuesdays/Thursdays 1:00-2:00, or by appointment
Course design:
In this proseminar students will write an extensive research paper (from 20-25 pages in length) relating to the broad theme of workers and human rights. Early seminar readings will offer you ideas about potential topics and, later, we will read and discuss material directly relating to your chosen topics along with short pieces chosen by the instructor.
Course aims:
The course provides an overview of the key historical events that have shaped our ideas about human rights, especially those that relate to social relations and economic responsibilities. I ask that students think about how human rights have been used in history to define the privileges of citizenship as well as to protect identifiable groups from persecution at the hands of individuals or states. We will investigate the moral and philosophical origins of the idea of human rights and their political and legal formulation through international institutions. The course begins with an examination of “global humanism.” Here, we will consider the meanings of “rights” themselves, their typologies, and how various actors from within the United States and abroad have deliberated on their significance. We will then follow historical debates linking––or dividing––the ideas of workers’ rights and human rights. During the first half of the quarter, we will examine the development of the so-called "human rights regime” in both public discourse and law. In the second, student will choose a research project relating to the course theme and the class together will consider weather certain claims fit into the realm of human rights as we have come to define them.
What do we mean when we speak of human rights? Do economic and social benefits qualify? Our focus will center specifically on the intellectual and legal debates surrounding human rights deemed important to individuals as workers. How have ideas about human rights played into discussions of coerced labor, family and social welfare provisions (such as unemployment insurance), and the rights of refugee populations––including those forced to flee their homes due to environmental degradation? What has been the role of international institutions, such as the League of Nations, United Nations, transnational trade unions, and NGO’s, in support of the human rights of workers? When have social movements advocating international human rights succeeded in influencing either national or global governance? What forms of narratives, and even counter-narratives, have used an analysis of human rights to lobby for specific approaches to workers’ welfare?
To begin to understand these dynamics, we will look at various guises of liberal reform, classic socialist critiques, and––from the right––the argument that the free market is the best protector of human rights and quality living standards. As we do, we will examine how U.S. political leaders and administers have fashioned public policy either in support of or counter to international human rights and the influences of workers and social activists on these decisions.
Course Requirements and Responsibilities:
Grade Breakdown
1. Writing assignments (see details below) 20 percent
2. 20-25 page research paper 50 percent
3. Seminar participation 30 percent
Explanation of these requirements:
Students are required to participate in the weekly seminar. Each week we will read and discuss articles or selections from books that touch on core topic of workers and human rights. Half of each class meeting will be devoted to a discussion of readings and half to connecting the readings to your research projects. Throughout, you are welcome to bring up questions or comments relating to either progress or frustrations about your paper.
The final project of this course will be a 20-25 page paper explaining and analyzing your chosen topic.
Research Paper stages (writing assignments):
1. By the third week, (Tuesday, January 25) send me by e-mail a one-page proposal of a possible research topic for your paper. We will discuss options in class and I will also keep a running list of “seed ideas.” This assignment will provide 5% of your final grade.
2. By the sixth week, (Tuesday, February 8) hand in a list of at least four secondary sources you intend to use in your paper. The list should be annotated and in proper citation format. It should also offer a brief explanation (4 or 5 sentences or longer) of the main argument of the book or article. Finally, you will need to explain how and why you have chosen this source. This assignment will provide 5% of your final grade.
For reference and citation information, see: Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide at: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html (or something comparable)
3. By the eighth week, (Thursday, March 3) turn in a detailed outline of your paper. I will offer a handout that explains what you are expected to cover two weeks before. This assignment will provide 10% of your final grade.
4. The final papers are due at the end of final examination week, Friday, March 18 at 4:00 pm. The final paper makes up 50% of your final grade.
* Attendance: Attendance is required.
* Participation: Taking part in class discussion provides 30% of your grade. Participation is really the heart and soul of the course since discussing your ideas will greatly help you clarify your thoughts and offer you the chance to get important feedback from your classmates.
* Written assignments: Due dates are firm, but I ask that you keep me informed if there is a problem before––not after––you miss a deadline.
Weekly Schedule
Part I: the idea of human rights in 20th century culture, law, and institutions
1. Human rights as both ideology and practice
Tuesday January 4: What do we think today about the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
We will read the document in class and discuss what topics are––and are not––included.
Thursday January 6: Lynn Hunt, “The Soft Power of Humanity: Why Human Rights failed only to Succeed,” in Inventing Human Rights: A History (New York: W.W. Norton, 2007), p. 176-214; Michael Ignatieff, “Introduction,” in American Exceptionalism and Human Rights (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2005), 1-28; Jerome J. Shestack, “The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly, 20 (1998), 201-234.
Discussion: Foundations and definitions of the human rights discourse
2. The Anti-slavery movement and social contradictions in reference to justice, race, and gender
What were the details involved in the debate between human rights and property rights? Were nineteenth-century slavery abolition movements in defense of/or counter to the fight for economic rights?
Tuesday January 11: Leslie Bethell, “The Mixed Commission for the Suppression of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century,” Journal of African History 79:7 (1966); and Jenny S. Martinez, “Slave Trade on Trial: Lessons of a Great Human Rights Law Success,” Boston Review, September/October 2007.
Discussion: Colonialism and the slave trade: the responsibilities of states.
Thursday January 13: “Thomas Haskell, “Capitalism and the Origins of Humanitarian Sensibility, Part 2” in Thomas Bender, Ed., The Antislavery Debate: Capitalism and Abolitionism as a Problem in Historical Interpretation (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992).
Discussion: Capitalism, slavery, and human rights
3. Labor, war, and the idea of an international league for peace and freedom
Why did policymakers following WWI include some human rights in the League of Nations Covenant and exclude others?
Tuesday January 18: Pan African Congress petition to the League of Nations on race (1921); Women’s “Equal Rights Treaty,” presented before the League of Nations (1935)
Discussion: What was accomplished within this early international institution in terms of human rights?
Thursday January 20: H.G. Wells, The Rights of Man, or What are we Fighting For? (London: Penguin, 1940), selection.
Discussion: What do workers deserve? Do they have a right to food, medical care, or safe housing?
4. The Second World War, the United Nations, and the codification of human rights
What led to the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, what competed against it, and what were the complications in internationalizing human rights as later defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
Tuesday January 25: J.K. Mapulanga-Hulston, “Examining the Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” The International Journal of Human Rights 6:4 (2002): 29-48.
Discussion: Drafting and popularizing human rights as human necessities
Thursday January 27: L. Henkin, “United States Ratification of Human Rights Conventions- the Ghost of Senator Bricker” American Journal of International Law 89:2(1995): 341-350; and N.H. Kaufman and D. Whiteman “Opposition to Human Rights Treaties in the United States Senate- the Legacy of the Bricker Amendment,” Human Rights Quarterly 10:3(1988): 309-337.
Discussion: Early Cold War opposition to human rights and Soviet style social justice.
5. Postwar challenges for social and economic rights in the Americas
At the end of WWII, the18 republics of Latin America stood together in the international fight for social and economic rights for all citizens. What has happened since?
Tuesday February 1: The “Bill of Rights of the Workers Proclaimed by His Excellency the President of the Argentine Republic, General Juan Peron at Buenos Aires on Feb 24th, 1947; "Policing" in Edward L. Cleary, Mobilizing for Human Rights in Latin America (Kumarian Press, 2007); and the The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Discussion: Democracy and justicialismo (“justicialism”) and how Latin America has fared in the realm of human rights
Thursday February 3: C. Wilfred Jenks, Human Rights and International Labour Standards (New York: Praeger, 1960), selection
Guest lecture by Emmanuel Reynaud and Dorothea Hoehtker of the ILO Century Project: History and Ongoing Efforts for the Protection of Workers through the International Labor Organization.
Discussion: The history of the ILO and the quest for human rights
Part II: Writing about Workers, Human Rights, and Globalization
6. International Human Rights and collective action
Tuesday February 8:: Clayton Sinyai, “Democracy and the Worker: Past and Present,” in Schools of Democracy: A Political History of the American Labor Movement (Itaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006), 1-16.
Discussion: the importance of collective action in support of human rights
Thursday February 10: The Campaign for the 60th Anniversary of thee UDHR
Discussion: How are ideas of human rights holding out in the 21st century?
7. International Human Rights and notions of criminal justice following WWII; current human rights dilemmas in China
Tuesday February 15: World War II and Human Rights–"crimes against humanity"
Reading on special topic: Elizabeth Borgwardt, "A New Deal for the Nuremberg Trial: The Limits of Law in Generating Human Rights Norms" Law and History Review 26:3 (2008): 679-705.
A New Deal for the Nuremberg Trial: The Limits of Law in G
Thursday February 17: Blaming it all on China
SACOM, "Workers as Machines: Military Management at Foxconn," October 2010 report
Receive hand out on paper outline/ rough draft assignment.
8. Trade, migration, and the global marketplace
Tuesday February 22:
Reading on special topic: Human Rights and Trade
Richard Cooper, "Trade Policy is Foregn Policy" Foreign Policy 9 (Winter 1972-1973): 18-36
Grahame Russell, " Rethinking Human Rights, June 2005 online at www.towardfreedom.com.
Oliver De Schutter, " The Imbalance of power between smallholders and agribusiness must be corrected," April 2010, online at www.foodfirst.org
Thursday February 24: Migration, work, and human rights
Stephanie Grant, "Migrants' Human Rights: From the Margins to the Mainstream," March 2005, online at www.migrationinformation.org.
Rebecca Smith, " Globalization and Migration for Work: Human Rights Questions," January 2009, Labor and Employment Research Association Conference Paper (available online)
What was the Bracero Program?
Watch the film, "Intended Consequences"
9. Social, and polical, movements and human rights
Tuesday March 1: Human rights, work, education, and families
Kennedy Report, "Indian Education: A National Tragedy - A National Challenge," Part I, 1969.
Human Rights Watch,"Failing its Families: Lack of Paid Leave and Work-Family Supports in the US," February 2011.
Thursday March 3: Human rights in times of internal conflict– the cases of Northern Ireland and Rwanda.
Illan Rua Wall, "Human Rights and Irish (Political) Cultural Change," Aug 27, 2010, Human Rights in Ireland, www.humanrights.ie.
Amii Omara-Otunnu, "Rwanda Genocide: Lessons for Human Rights Advocacy," February 25, 2011, www.blackstarnews.com.
Janine Clark, "Learning from the Past: Three Lessons from the Rwandan Genocide," African Studies 68:1 (April, 2009): 1-28.
Charles Villa-Vicencio, "Learning to Live Together with Bad Memories," Quest: An African Journal of Philosophy, XVI, 1-2 (2002).
10. Final discussions on paper topics and workers and human rights
Tuesday March 8: Conclusion and final discussion on research papers
Thursday March 10: NO CLASS
Organizations focusing on Human Rights:
Amnesty International at www.amnesty.org
Human Rights Watch at www.hrw.org
Human Rights First at www.humanrightsfirst.org
International Committee of the Red Cross at www.icrc.org
International Labour Organization at http://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm
United Nations at www.un.org
United Nations High Commission for Human Rights at http://www.unhchr.ch/data.htm
US Commission on Religious Freedom at http://www.uscirf.gov/
AFL-CIO Solidarity Center at http://www.solidaritycenter.org/
.