Global Humanities: The Politics and Poetics of Witnessing
What do literature, philosophy, and critical theory contribute to the practice of and reflection on human rights and to the analysis of their violation? Do literature, philosophy, and the related textual practices have the ability to reframe the debate on human rights? If so, what are the innovations and challenges? What are the conditions for fiction to serve as a social force that would result in legislation?
This class will address the fundamentally literary structure of testimony by exploring several works of fiction that treat various crimes against humanity. Texts include Ariel Dorfman, _Death and the Maiden_, J. M. Coetzee, _Waiting for the Barbarian_, Edwige Danticat, _Krik? Krak!_ and others.
Please note this is the same course as Comparative Literature 36 and team taught by Professors Carlson and Weber. |
