Human Rights Program Planning
Requirements
To obtain a joint major in Human Rights Studies, a student must complete requirements for the Human Rights program AND the major requirements for another department. The requirements for Human Rights are:
Introductory course (one required)
To provide any interested student with an overview of human rights as an idea and as a major social movement, these courses examine the breadth of the field, and enable her to evaluate human rights as a potential major.
- HRTS BC1025 Human Rights in Theory and Practice, or
- HRTS UN3001 Introduction to Human Rights
Core Courses (two required)
Please see the list below
Related Courses (three required)
Please see the list below
The three related courses will reflect the student's personal interests and specialization in human rights with the advice and guidance of her academic advisor.
A senior thesis on a human rights topic
The senior thesis or project in the area of human rights studies is written in the senior thesis seminar of the major department. Where this is not possible, it is written in HRTS BC3099 Independent Study.
All of the above requirements must be approved by the student's human rights academic advisor. Up to three of the required human rights courses may also satisfy requirements of the other major, but no course may count for both the joint major and a major/minor in another department.
Advising
A student chooses her academic advisor from among the Human Rights program faculty. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the program, an unlisted professor whose work is relevant may also be chosen.
A junior/senior looking for a thesis advisor may also consult the list of Human Rights faculty for a suitable advisor in her area of research.
To ensure that courses meet the requirements for the major, students must confirm their selection with the Director of the Human Rights Program, Professor J.C. Salyer, before their final semester.
Core and Related Course Lists:
POLS UN3002 Human Rights and Immigration
HRTS BC3099 Independent Study
POLS UN3173 Power, Rights, and Social Change: Achieving Justice
HRTS UN3190 International Human Rights Law
POLS BC3254 First Amendment Values
POLS UN3285 Freedom of Speech and Press
POLS BC3410 Colloquium on Human Rights in a Diverse World
POLS BC3521 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
HRTS BC3601 International Law and the United Nations in Practice
HRTS BC3850 Human Rights and Public Health
HRTS BC3855 Religion, Social Justice, and Human Rights
ANTH BC3911 The Social Contexts of U.S. Immigration Law and Policy
ANTH BC3913 Inequalities: Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality in U.S. Law and Society
HRTS BC3931 Seminar for Internships in Social Justice and Human Rights
ANTH BC3932 Climate Change, Global Migration, and Human Rights in the Anthropocene
SOCI UN3937 Sociology of Human Rights
HRTS GU4185 Human Rights and Global Economic Justice
HRTS GU4195 Topics in History, Memory and Transitional Justice
HRTS GU4215 NGOs and the Human Rights Movement: Strategies, Successes and Challenges
HRTS GU4230 Refugees, Forced Migration, and Displacement
HRTS GU4270 Social Media and Human Rights: Actors, Advocacy and Analytics
HRTS GU4300 Economic and Social Rights in Policy and Practice
HRTS GU4340 Human Rights Accountability & Remedies
HRTS GU4360 Menstruation, Gender, and Rights: Interdisciplinary Approaches
HRTS GU4380 Advocating and Campaigning for Social and Economic Rights
HRTS GU4400 Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Human Rights
CSER GU4484 Cultural Rights as Human Rights
HRTS GU4500 Socio-Economics Rights
CLEN GU4550 Narrative and Human Rights
HRTS GU4600 Human Rights in the Anthropocene
HRTS GU4650 Children's Rights Advocacy
HRTS GU4700 Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare: A Human Rights Approach
HRTS GU4810 Religion and Human Rights
HRTS GU4880 Human Rights in the United States
HRTS GU4900 UN Human Rights Bodies: Impact – Reform – Advocacy
HRTS GU4910 Children's Rights, Armed Conflict, and Peacebuilding
HRTS GU4915 Human Rights and Urban Public Space
HRTS GU4930 International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
HRTS GU4950 Human Rights and Human Wrongs
HRTS GU4955 Narrative and Representation in Post-Conflict Societies
(Please note: All Core courses may count as Related courses, but not vice versa)
POLS UN1101 Political Theory I
WMST BC1050 Women and Health
ECON BC2010 The Economics of Gender
ANTH UN2017 Mafias and Other Dangerous Affiliations
ECON BC2075 Logic and Limits of Economic Justice
WMST BC2150 Practicing Intersectionality
PHIL UN2110 Philosophy and Feminism
HIST UN2222 Nature and Power: Environmental History of North America
HIST BC2401 The Politics of Crime and Policing in the US
ECON BC3011 Inequality and Poverty
ECON BC3029 Empirical Development Economics
HIST UN3030 Immigration and Citizenship in American History
ECON BC3039 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
EESC BC3043 Water, Sanitation, and Health
ECON BC3049 Economic Evaluation of Social Programs
EDUC BC3055 Arts and Humanities in the City: Critical Literacy and Digital Storytelling
POLS UN3100 Justice
POLS BC3102 Colloquium on Race and Modern Political Thought
POLS UN3122 Citizenship, Rights, and Immigration
WMST BC3132 Gendered Controversies: Women's Bodies and Global Conflicts
SOCI BC3214 Sociology of African American Life
SOCI UN3217 Law and Society
SOCI UN3235 Social Movements
POLS UN3245 Race and Ethnicity in American Politics
CSER UN3303 Whiteness, Sentiment, and Political Belonging
POLS BC3307 Colloquium on Racial Violence
WMST UN3312 Theorizing Activism
WMST UN3335 Gender and Wars: Perspectives from the Global South
POLS UN3401 Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe
POLS BC3402 The Comparative Politics of Gender Inequality
RELI UN3407 Muslims in Diaspora
POLS BC3411 Colloquium on Building Peace
POLS BC3435 Law and Violence
WMST UN3450 Topics in Sexuality and Gender Law
ANTH UN3465 Women and Gender Politics in the Muslim World
URBS UN3480 From Homelessness to Foreclosure: NYC Geographies of Shelter and Home
CSER UN3490 Post 9/11 Immigration Policies
POLS BC3505 Colloquium on Making Democracy Work
WMST BC3514 Historical Approaches to Feminist Questions
POLS UN3528 New and Old Forms of Political Protest
AFRS BC3589 Black Feminism(s)/Womanism(s)
POLS UN3604 War, Peace, and International Interventions in Africa
PSYC UN3615 Children at Risk
POLS UN3619 Nationalism and Contemporary World Politics
POLS UN3623 Ending War & Building Peace
SOCI UN3721 Social Justice: Connecting Academics to Action
PHIL UN3752 Philosophy of Law
POLS BC3810 Colloquium on Aid, Politics & Violence in Africa
ANTH UN3878 Neoliberal Urbanism and the Politics of Exclusion
SOCI BC3909 Ethnic Conflict and Unrest
SOCI UN3914 Seminar in Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility
SOCI UN3915 Stigma and Discrimination
WMST UN3915 Gender and Power in Transnational Perspective
SOCI BC3918 Gender and Inequality in Families
CSER UN3924 Latin American and Latina/o Social Movements
CSER UN3928 Colonization/Decolonization
HIST UN3928 Comparative Slavery and Abolition in the Atlantic World
SOCI BC3934 Global Activism
CSER UN3940 Comparative Study of Constitutional Challenges Affecting African, Latino, and Asian American Communities
AHIS BC3949 The Art of Witness: Memorials and Historical Trauma
SOCI UN3960 Law, Science, and Society
WMST GU4000 Genealogies of Feminism
WMST GU4317 Advanced Topics: Bodily Disruptions
CSER GU4340 Visionary Medicine: Racial Justice, Health and Speculative Fictions
MDES GU4349 Concentration Camps from Cuba to East Asia
POLS GU4409 Political Activism and Social Movements
POLS GU4474 Politics, Justice and Human Rights in Southeast Asia
ECON GU4480 Gender and Applied Economics
WMST GU4506 Gender Justice
HIST GU4518 Research Seminar: Columbia and Slavery
POLS GU4852 Insurgencies and Civil Wars
RELI GU4999 Global Indigenous Religious Histories
If you would like to suggest a course to be added to the Core course list or to the Related course list, please send the syllabus to Professor J.C. Salyer, Director of the Human Rights Program, jsalyer@barnard.edu.
For course descriptions, please see the Barnard Course Catalogue.
For the 2020-2021 Academic Year, please Barnard Human Rights Course Offerings 2020-2021.
For all offerings in a particular semester, please see the Columbia Directory of Classes.