The educational objectives of the course are consistent with the professional roles covered by the degree program in Communication Sciences, and in particular with those of journalists and media workers. In all these fields, the ability to analyze and argue, as well as the understanding of human rights as dynamic rather than static principles, are highly effective skills.
Course Prerequisites
Some of the documentaries shown in class will be in English or with English subtitles. A good knowledge of English is therefore recommended.
Teaching Methods
Lectures, readings, classroom discussions, students presentations, and speakers talks. Amongst our speakers, Prof. Marcello Flores (author of our textbook) and diplomat Fernando Gentilini (author of a volume on literature and geopolitics).
Assessment Methods
Written exam.
Contents
We will begin with Professor Marcello Flores's History of Human Rights (Il Mulino, updated 2023 edition), then address the topic of apartheid in South Africa with Albrecht Hagemann's A Brief History of South Africa (Il Mulino 2020, chapters 9-10-11) with a few words on Gandhi in South Africa (chapter 3 in Andreas Becke's book on Gandhi). We will then move to Palestine. The topics will be addressed through lectures and literary readings (in the case of Palestine, the Nakba will be explained, for example, starting with a short novel by Kanafani).
Course Language
Italian
More information
It is, of course, the legal world that has most concerned itself with human rights. And it is jurists, or legal philosophers, who have provided the most detailed and comprehensive formulations, who have contributed to understanding, codifying, and classifying them, making them both a source of theoretical reflection and normative proposal, addressing both the question of principles and values and that of rules and their implementation. From this perspective, a historian's perspective cannot but be different.
