Politics of Human Right Practice - POL00078H
- Department: Politics and International Relations
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
This module equips you to respond to key challenges in human rights practice, from the politics of framing and funding the work, to addressing inequalities within the sector. It centres the conversations and debates that activists around the world are having now, and gives you the opportunity to engage with visiting human rights defenders at York.
Module will run
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
This module equips you to respond to key challenges in human rights practice, from the politics of framing and funding the work, to addressing inequalities within the sector. It centres the conversations and debates that activists around the world are having now, and gives you the opportunity to engage with visiting human rights defenders at York.
The module is rooted in the work of York’s Centre for Applied Human Rights, and work that staff and visiting fellows are doing to advocate for rights and social justice in the UK and beyond. We will reflect on ongoing debates related to politics of framing, politics of power and power relations, and politics of knowledge and collaboration, and work out together what this means for strategies responding to different contexts and challenges. The module provides training in key skills - from campaign framing to anti-racist governance - using scenarios and case studies to explore how human rights advocacy plays out in different political and institutional contexts. We will draw on practitioner-oriented resources and cutting-edge reflections - podcasts, toolkits, and comment pieces - to reflect together about how the sector is changing, and how human rights advocates of the future might need to respond.
Module learning outcomes
To apply insights from practitioner resources in developing policy recommendations for work related to human rights (PLO2) |
Draw on theories on human rights practice to propose policy solutions to problems relating to human rights (PLO4) |
To advise human rights organisations and movements about the advantages and disadvantages of particular strategies in specific contexts (PLO5) |
Demonstrate a reflective and critical approach to the politics of human rights practice and how human rights advocates of the future might need to respond (PLO6) |
Indicative assessment
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Students will receive written timely feedback on their formative assessment. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their feedback during the module tutor’s feedback and guidance hours.
Students will receive written feedback on their summative assessment no later than 25 working days; and the module tutor will hold a specific session to discuss feedback, which students can also opt to attend. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their feedback during the module tutor’s regular feedback and guidance hours.
Indicative reading
- S. Knuckey, B. Hoffman, J. Perelman, G. Reddy, A. Ancheita and M. Jain. Power in Human Rights Advocate and Rightsholder Relationships: Critiques, Reforms, and Challenges. Harv Hum Rts J 33(1), 2020, pp. 1-56.
- N. Naylor. The only Black woman at the social justice philanthropy dinner party. SUR 28, 2018, pp. 89-104. At: https://sur.conectas.org/en/the-only-black-woman-at-the-social-justice-philanthropy-dinner-party/
- Kinghan, Jacqueline. 2021. Tools for Change. In her Lawyers, Networks and Progressive Social Change : Lawyers Changing Lives, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 84-109.
- Sonya Sceats, Freedom from Torture, 2023. The pain of charting a new course– and the gain https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcast/33-strategy-the-pain-of-charting-a-new-course-and-the-gain/
- E. Dabiri. What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition. Penguin Random House UK, 2021
- Strength and Solidarity podcast: https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/
- PIRC and ILGA-Europe. Framing Equality Toolkit. 2017. https://publicinterest.org.uk/FramingEqualityToolkit.pdf
- Rights Evaluation Studio (2023) Talking about poverty: Lessons learnt (JRF and Rights Evaluation Studio) https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/talking-about-poverty-lessons-learnt
- Prodesc, 2019, Community-based Security Measures and Territory: Methodological Notes from an Integral Defense Perspective. https://prodesc.org.mx/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/book-prodesc-2019-v_english-web-comprimido.pdf
- J. Coe and R. Schlangen. No Royal Road: Finding and Following the Natural Pathways in Advocacy Evaluation. Centre for Evaluation Innovation, 2019. https://www.evaluationinnovation.org/publication/no-royal-road-finding-and-following-the-natural-pathways-in-advocacy-evaluation/
- AWID, 2019. Toward a feminist funding ecosystem: A framework and practical guide. https://www.awid.org/publications/toward-feminist-funding-ecosystem-framework-and-practical-guide