Human rights literature

[personalhelicon]

Does anyone have any recommendations for reading in this area? Online or print. Thanks

[personalhelicon]

Make that also literature and social justice...

[Grev]

That's sort of a huge topic...  Are you looking for readings tied to (post-)colonialism, the US civil rights movement, something else?  And are you looking for theory reading, or literature where this is a major topic?

[Winthorp]

James Dawes, professor of English and director of human rights program at Macalester. Has a brilliant book called That The World May Know and one coming out in April--Evil Men. Highly recommended. 

[personalhelicon]

Thanks so much! I'm new to this field, so any kind of introductory theory, as well as primary texts, is what I'm really looking for.

[bdon19]

One of my favorite human rights related texts is Human Rights, Inc.:  The World Novel, Narrative Form, and International Law by Joseph Slaughter (oh, the irony in that name).  

[lo.lee.ta]

If you haven't already read it: Waiting for the Barbarians (Coetzee).

[personalhelicon]

If you haven't already read it: Waiting for the Barbarians (Coetzee).

I have, but thanks for the suggestion. And everyone else too! Lots of food for thought

[Two Espressos]

If you haven't already read it, Elaine Scarry's The Body in Pain is really interesting.  It's from the '80s, so I suppose it's old enough to be considered a "classic"?

[lo.lee.ta]

I have, but thanks for the suggestion. And everyone else too! Lots of food for thought

Nice. Yeah, I read it my final year of undergrad--pretty much sent me into an existential crisis and made me want to study literature.

[GuateAmfeminist]

Barbara Harlowe and Joseph Slaughter pop into my mind when it comes to this; also UT has the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, so probably going to their site would be a good idea. We just had an incredible conference with some big names in the area of Human Rights from all over the world about impunity and its centrality to the current human rights movement.

 

ETA: some silly spelling errors

Edited March 7, 2013 by GuateAmfeminist

[intextrovert]

Rob Nixon's work might be of interest to you. He works on human rights as it intersects with environmental justice, postcolonialism, and issues of representation - his most recent book, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor, is excellent. He also writes about the position of the scholar-activist.