Abstract
How to define human rights is a matter of controversy. Scholars, human rights professionals, even politicians are weighing in on the debate. Academia, namely human rights curricula in higher education, plays a critical role in defining human rights. What topics are taught as part of a curriculum constitutes the knowledge content of human rights. This chapter analyzes human rights curricula around the world to establish what it reveals about how human right is understood in the academy. Then it relates this understanding to two current related debates: the health of the human rights movement (is it thriving or in decline), which depends on how human rights is defined (is it restricted to what is found in human rights law) or do most social justice issues fall under the umbrella of human rights? The conclusion is that there needs to be more consensus in higher education about what should be included in degree curricula.
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Notes
- 1.
Another problem that can occur with attempts to be interdisciplinary is that faculty teaching about a discipline they were not trained in often teach it with a superficial understanding.
- 2.
One can witness this at UN meetings where diplomats and NGOs are quick to call a problem one of human rights. Knowing that no country can be against solving a human rights abuse, it is expedient to use the label even if it’s not accurate. This in turn means that everyone and anyone is weighing in on the matter of human rights whether they have any relevant expertise and experience or not.
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Cargas, S. (2020). The State of HRE in Higher Education Worldwide. In: Zajda, J. (eds) Human Rights Education Globally. Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1913-9_4
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