Grant Summary
$100,000 over 24 months. The Human Rights Program of the University of Chicago, in conjunction with Carleton and Macalester Colleges, will assemble a working group to determine how human rights education can advance answers to the "big question": "What can I do to right the wrongs of the world?" The working group of eighteen to twenty faculty members will address this question from variety of perspectives: theological, philosophical, political, cultural, sociological, and rhetorical. How nations, states, and societies develop a sense of right and wrong, how government and the rule of law can right a wrong, the global and local dimensions of rights, and the ways in which rights issues are articulated will also be discussed. The group will conduct research on contemporary human rights problems, as well as on comparative pedagogy and curriculum development. The project is expected to result in the invigoration of the current Human Rights Program at the University of Chicago, the development of a new human rights program at Macalester, and the creation of a Resource Center for Human Rights Liberal Arts Curriculum, an open, online information center which will serve as the working group's White Paper. It will include papers written for working group sessions, a record of their discussions, and a set of syllabi for human rights courses based in the humanities and social sciences.