COMPLIT 32Q: Humanities Core: Middle East II -- Classic (DLCL 32Q, HISTORY 85Q, HUMCORE 32Q)
COMPLIT 51Q: Comparative Fictions of Ethnicity (AMSTUD 51Q, CSRE 51Q)
COMPLIT 57: Human Rights and World Literature
Human rights may be universal, but each appeal comes from a specific location with its own historical, social, and cultural context. This summer we will turn to literary narratives and films from a wide number of global locations to help us understand human rights; each story taps into fundamental beliefs about justice and ethics, from an eminently human and personal point of view. What does it mean not to have access to water, education, free speech, for example? This course has two components. The first will be a set of readings on the history and ethos of modern human rights. These readings will come from philosophy, history, political theory. The second, and major component is comprised of novels and films that come from different locations in the world, each telling a compelling story. We will come away from this class with a good introduction to human rights history and philosophy and a set of insights into a variety of imaginative perspectives on human rights issues from different global locations. Readings include: Amnesty International, Freedom: Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,Andrew Clapham, Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction, James Dawes, That the World May Know, Walter Echo-Hawk, In the Light of Justice, Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide, Bessie Head, The Word for World is Forest, Ursula LeGuin,
COMPLIT 61Q: The Literature of Lost Identity
This course will explore tales of lost identity from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. Our stories feature orphans abandoned at birth, young heroes who must hide who they are, even cross-dressed knights on gender-bent adventures. The trials and tribulations of these displaced youths invite us to question what identity means and where it comes from. Are we made in our parents' image? What happens when we are separated from our family, or forced to take up a disguise? Are we defined by our birth and bloodline, or by education and experience? Our readings will include texts by Marie de France, Chrétien de Troyes, William Shakespeare, Philip Sidney, and Miguel de Cervantes.