Courses
A variety of human rights courses are taught at the University of Iowa each semester. You can visit the ISIS Website to search for courses using keywords such as "human rights" and "justice". For current human rights related courses approved for the International Studies B.A. (ISBA), visit the ISBA website and enter "human rights" as a search term for "emphasis area".
Click here* for a list of faculty across campus periodically teaching human rights-related courses or with human rights related research and teaching interests. * Please note that courses listed in this document DO NOT represent approved curriculum for the ISBA. Visit the ISBA website for current courses approved for the ISBA.
University of Iowa Courses Related to Human Rights:
187:176:SCA: Topics in Human Rights (Spring 2010)
Wednesday, 3:30 - 6:00 p.m., 210 MLH
International Studies Department, Director: Kristine L. Fitch, Coordinator: Martha C. Greer
Instructor: Gregory E. Hamot, gregory-hamot@uiowa.edu , Office: N283 Lindquist Center, Phone: 335-5382
The goal of this undergraduate seminar is to introduce and examine Human Rights (HR) issues across diverse disciplines. Six instructors will team-teach the course in order to provide a broad range of views and topics regarding human rights theory, methodology, and practice. Community engagement activities will be part of the course.
Students will design a final project, which can take on any form and in any medium (creative writing, research paper, website design, music, dance, film etc.). The projects will address questions of human rights raised in the seminars and connect the diverse disciplinary approaches taken over the semester. The projects, grouped by topics, will be presented to the class in the last two weeks of the semester in order to sum up the synergies created by the study of human rights across disciplines, in theory as well as in practice.
Each instructor will hold two sessions with the class, an introductory part in the first and a case study in the second. There will be six reflective essays on each lecturer’s topic.
091:193:001: Human Rights in the World Community (Spring 2010)
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 12:40 - 1:40 p.m., 245 BLB
College of Law, Dean: Carolyn C. Jones
Instructor: Burns H. Weston, burns-weston@uiowa.edu, Office: 405 Boyd Law Building, Phone: 335-9169
This course is open to “qualified upper division undergraduates and graduate students,” Contact Prof. Weston for approval.
This course will introduce the student to the established and developing legal rules, procedures, and enforcement mechanisms governing the protection of international human rights. It will address both liberal western and developing world notions of human rights as well as highlight recent examples of human rights controversies in all the regions of the world. Special emphasis will be placed on the international human rights of women.
07S:341:001: Infusing Global Perspective in Curriculum (Spring 2010)
Wednesday, 6:30 - 9:00 p.m., N221 LC
Department of Teaching and Learning, Chair: Peter S. Hlebowitsh
Instructor: Gregory E. Hamot, gregory-hamot@uiowa.edu , Office: N283 Lindquist Center, Phone: 335-5382
This course explores rationales, conceptualizations, and themes in global perspectives in education. With these in mind, what are the implications for curricular change? Particular attention is paid to the following themes, which students will apply to their particular fields of study:
• Perspectives consciousness
• “State of the Planet” Awareness
• Cross-cultural Awareness
• Knowledge of Global Dynamics
• Awareness of Human Choices
Course Objectives:
1. Students will be able to explain the relationships between a changing world and education.
2. Students will be able to apply global perspectives to their teaching and learning practice.
3. Students will be able to conceptualize the meaning of global education.
4. Students will be able to identify the controversies within and about global education.
5. Students will be able to explain the meaning of universal human rights and the implications of these rights.
7S201: Seminar in Music (Fall 2009)
Alternative Contexts in Teaching and Learning: At-Risk Youth, Prisons, and Restorative Justice
Mondays 4:30-6:20 pm in 105 CSMB
Instructor: Dr. Mary Cohen, mary-cohen@uiowa.edu
Office: N287 Lindquist, Phone: 335-3030
Office Hours: Mon 10:30-11:20, 3:30-4:20; Wed 10:30-11:20, or by appointment
Course Material available on ICON and on Reserve in the Main Library
Departmental Office: Teaching & Learning, N259 Lindquist
DEO: Dr. Peter Hlebowitsh (peter-hlebowitsh@uiowa.edu)
This seminar centers on a service learning opportunity for students who will sing in a community prison choir. Course content ties these experiences with research on at-risk youth, the role of music in rehabilitation and moral development, restorative justice, and prison research. Research designs for studies in these fields will be examined. Students will be encouraged to explore how context affects the learning process in terms of relationships, teaching strategies, structure, and content. Under the direction of the instructor, students will create projects geared toward each learner’s professional and research goals. Students in multiple disciplines are encouraged to enroll: all education majors, psychology, sociology, social work, law, music, and other students interested in the topic.
Service Learning
According to Learn and Serve America's National Service-Learning Clearinghouse: “Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.”
A service learning component will be an important part of this seminar. Students will sing in a volunteer-offender prison choir at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center across from the Oakdale Research Campus in Coralville (2700 27th Ave, Coralville, IA 52241: rehearsals scheduled for Tuesdays from 5:15-6:45PM). In addition to this component, the students will read research about (a) teaching in prisons, (b) arts-based programming in correctional facilities, and (c) dimensions of diversity and context. This project offers an opportunity to broaden our understandings of each other and our society, particularly in the context of how we perceive education. Music-making in a prison context takes on different, unexpected, and possibly difficult meanings. Discussions about readings, service learning experiences, and short writing assignments will provide opportunities for deeper reflection and deeper thinking about issues related to teaching and working in alternative settings. Transfer of these ideas applied to traditional settings will be a core component of the course.
32:016 Religion and Liberation (Fall 2009)
MW 12:30-1:20 in W151 PBB, with weekly discussion sections
Instructor: Professor Diana Fritz Cates
Office: 307 Gilmore Hall; 335-2172; diana-cates@uiowa.edu
Department of Religious Studies, 307 Gilmore Hall; DEO: Raymond Mentzer
Office Hours: Mon 9-11, Wed 9-11, or by appointment
Course Syllabus
In this course we read, discuss, and compare autobiographical or literary representations of three cultural figures, Maya Angelou, Black Elk, and the Dalai Lama. Through these figures we are introduced to the diverse worlds of African American Christianity, Lakota spirituality, and Tibetan Buddhism. We explore the religiosity of each figure and the impact that religion has had on his or her struggle to overcome oppression. The course attends to many layers of oppression and liberation, including social, cultural, political, economic, mental, emotional, and spiritual. This course has an ICON site, which links to a more extensive course web site. Several course readings are available on the ICON site. This course is approved for General Education credit in the areas of Cultural Diversity and Humanities.
The objectives of this course are for students to: (1) come to a more thoughtful understanding of what it means to be human and to live a good and satisfying life; (2) arrive at this understanding partly through engaging the life stories of three figures who have suffered many forms of oppression and have arguably realized a degree of liberation; (3) become more aware of the many forms of oppression that humans cause, suffer, resist, and sometimes overcome; (4) reflect on the meaning of human rights from the point of view of ethics and religious studies; (5) gain knowledge and appreciation of cultural diversity, especially religious diversity; and (6) acquire an introductory knowledge of three of the world’s religions.
019:128:001 Writing Across Cultures (Spring 2010)
Instructor: Meenakshi Gigi Durham
Associate Professor, School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Head of the Iowa Center for the Study of Communication
Phone: 319-335-3355
“Journalists are often called on to cross borders—not just national ones, but borders of culture, identity, race, religion, and other markers of identity. As part of thinking about reporting and writing in a diverse global context, this class will focus on the excitement, adventure and dilemmas of reporting on different spaces, places, and people. We will read the best cross-cultural and travel journalism, discuss concepts drawn from ethnography and social geography, and research and write stories based on students’ experiences of traversing cultural boundaries. The course will be conducted as a writing workshop in which students read and critique each others’ work.”
Note to Faculty:
If you teach a course related to human rights and would like UICHR to post information about it on our website, please email us at uichr@uiowa.edu.