Education
ED711	Historical and Political Contexts of Curriculum
ED779	Global and Comparative Systems in Higher Education
History
HS 355	Human Rights as History
HS 452	War and Genocide
Law
LL43601	International Human Rights
LL62101	International Criminal Tribunals
LL67301	Law of War, War Crimes and Genocide
LL635.01	National Security Law (Fall 2008-2009:2)
LL739/LL74901	Immigration Law
LL86401	Comparative Law
LL88601	International Law
LL92701	National Security and Civil Liberties
Management
MD840	Social Entrepreneurship
Nursing
NU435	Global Health Perspectives
Philosophy
PL 611	Global Justice and Human Rights
PL 826	Seminar on Law and Justice: Rights, Religion, Recognition
Political Science
PO 759	Race and Ethnicity in the Administrative State
PO 805	Comparative Politics of Democratization
PO 861	Limits and Promise of Cooperation in World Politics
PO 863	Institutions in International Politics
PO 939	Islamic Political Philosophy
Psychology
PY/UN 471	Psychological Responses to Humanitarian Crises: Human Rights, Gender Violence, and International Justice
PY 511	Alternative Strategies and Children Affected by Organized Violence: Community-based resources for mental health and human rights
PY620	Educational and Social Issues and Social Policy
PY/ED 912	Participatory Action Research: Gender, Race, and Power
PY915	Critical Perspectives on the Psychology of Race, Class, and Gender
PY543	Psychology of Trauma: Cross-Cultural & Social Justice (Fall: 3)
Sociology
SC650	Social and Political Economy
SC751	Quest for Social Justice
Social Work
SW728	Global Perspectives on Gender Inequalities
SW794	Immigrant and Refugee Issues in the United States
SW806	Global Policy Issues and Implications
SW822	The Impact of Traumatic Victimization on Child and Adolescent Development
SW826	Rights-Based Assessment and Capacity-Building in Global Social Work
SW953	Ethnicity, Race, Gender and Class in Theory, Practice & Research
Theology
TH 343	Genocide and Film
TH 351	Faith Elements in Conflicts: The Role of the Theological Positions in the Fomenting or Resolution of Conflict
TH 482	Hitler, the Churches, and the Holocaust
TH 539/IN 539	Human Rights, Humanitarian Crises, and Forced Migration: Ethical, Political, and Religious Responses
TH 556	Reconciliation in a World of Conflicts*
TH 561	Ethics, Economics and Liberation
TH 563/IN 600	Ethics, Religion, and International Politics
TH 584	Human Rights: A Common Morality for a Diverse and Developing World
TH 606	Peace, Justice and Reconciliation*
TH 892	Reinhold Niebuhr and John Courtney Murray
TH 893	Contemporary Theories of Justice
TM 504	Theologies of Reconciliation*
TM 994	Education for Justice and Peace
Tufts: Two Modules in Forced Migration
Graduate Seminar in Human Rights and International Justice

Course Descriptions:

Education

Historical and Political Contexts of Curriculum

Introduces Ph.D. students in Curriculum & Instruction to the major curriculum movements in American educational history by examining the history and implementation of curriculum development on the macro and micro levels of schooling. Focuses on key campaigns and controversies in curriculum theory and practice, using primary source materials to place them within the academic, political, economic, and social contexts that have marked their conceptualization, and change inside and outside of schools.

 

Global and Comparative Systems in Higher Education

Colleges and universities are part of an international system of post-secondary education. This course offers a perspective on the organization and structure of higher education worldwide, as well as an analysis of central issues affecting academe internationally. Examples from other countries are related to the American context. Among the topics considered are global trends in the expansion and organization of higher education, international study and its impact, the political role of universities, student activism, the role and status of the academic profession, styles of academic leadership in other countries, and others.

 

History

Human Rights as History

One of the major developments in world history since WW II has been the rise of a universal human rights culture. This course will explore this development in historical perspective, tracing the origins of the language of human rights back to the eighteenth century and the French Revolution and interrogating its development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will examine the potential of "human rights" in international politics but also the limitations of human rights claims. We will ask who has rights and when, and who the major actors are in pushing rights claims: governments, revolutionaries and NGOs.

War and Genocide

Genocide has been one of the most tragic and disturbing global phenomena of the twentieth century. It has been truly global in scope, striking Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. In this course, we will explore the history of genocide and its relationship to to war in global perspective, from the colonial genocides of the 19th century, the Armenian genocide in WW I, the Holocaust in WWII and the potcolonial genocides since 1945. We will also ask what might be done on an international level to combat genocide - either through military intervention or through legal prosecution.

Law

International Human Rights

This course is an introduction to international human rights law. We will explore: --the philosophical and historical origins of the general Western idea of human rights and how that idea differs both from non-Western conceptions and the particular U.S. idea of civil rights. --the customary international law, treaties, instruments, etc. that create and protect human rights, economic and social rights, rights against racial, ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination, rights to self-determination, etc. --the institutions that monitor and enforce human rights law, including in particular regional systems such as that of Europe --the relationship between international human rights law and humanitarian laws of war, the prosecution of international war crimes, and U.S. law. All of these issues and more will be examined through close study of actual cases and through simulations. Students may also have the opportunity to participate in the work of organizations involved in international human rights issues.

 

Corequisite: These three offereings are corequisites (LL674, LL670, LL621)
International and Comparative Law;Clinical Education Please see description at "International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: Theory & Practice Seminar" (LL674).

Law of War, War Crimes and Genocide

This course examines the development of the law of war and the prosecution of war crimes, and the legal aspects of genocide. Topics include the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (1945), the My Lai massacre in Viet Nam (1968), the Rwandan genocide (1994), the Genocide Convention, the Convention Against Torture, and post-September 11 events including litigation over the status and rights of "detainees" at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, issues of torture, and the lawfulness of military commissions to try alleged terrorists. The focus is on how the law can address these issues through the use of tribunals, an international criminal court, or other means. Related topics, such as the defense of superior orders and the doctrine of command responsibility will also be considered. Breaking developments will be incorporated into class discussion.

National Security Law (Fall 2008-2009:2)

This seminar addresses the increasingly important and urgent field of national security law. Topics considered will include: the definition of "national security," e.g., defense of military, economic, technological, environmental, weapons proliferation, and immigration control; law of shared--and separation of--powers, the roles of the President, Congress and the judiciary, especially as to war powers; war crimes; arm sales; organizing to counter, and managing the consequences of, terrorist actions and investigating and trying terrorists and other international criminals; internal security (emergency powers, citizen surveillance and FBI, CIA and other intelligence agency activities); and restraints on publication.

Immigration Law

U.S. immigration law involves much more than such technical questions as how to obtain a visa, a "green card," or who is subject to deportation. It is, as one writer put it, "a magic mirror" in which the highest aspirations and the deepest biases of American legal culture and history are still reflected. This course explores both aspects of this complex area of law: the technical/legal and the political/philosophical. We will use a variety of instructional methods. There will be traditional lectures, class discussions, outside speakers, films, YouTube videos, etc.

Comparative Law

This course introduces students to the civil law tradition, which is the foundation of the majority of the world's legal systems. Study of the civil law tradition offers a unique perspective from which to understand our own common law roots, as well as the nature of legal systems in themselves. The course will survey the history and theory of the civil law, as well as select issues in the procedure and substance of the civil law, with a particular emphasis on Latin American civil law systems. Evaluation will be principally by final exam.

International Law

This course is designed to familiarize students with the basic doctrines and institutions of public international law while focusing on both historical and contemporary controversies. We will study the development of customary law; the role of treaties and conventions; international personality and the role of states, regional and international institutions and other non-state actors; and we will focus on special topics such as self determination, human rights, the use of force and the response of U.S. courts to international law.

Management

National Security and Civil Liberties

Today more than ever, social entrepreneurs are developing innovative approaches to address the vast problems faced by society. This course will engage students in these diverse approaches that range from applying the venture capital model in education, to using data outputs to fight crime in New York, to the birth of the microfinance industry in Bangladesh. Through rigorous case study, students will develop an understanding of the unique and complex nature of issues faced by entrepreneurs in the social sector. The course will be valuable to students interested in leadership or managerial roles in the social sector or for students interested in the intersection of the private and social sectors.

Nursing

Global Health Perspectives

This course will involve an in depth study of global health from the perspective of the various stakeholders: Populations, governments, NGOs, health care providers and health educators. Social, political, economic, legal and ethical perspectives will be addressed. Current public health issues and new models for providing health care will provide a backdrop to consider creative solutions to current problems and challenges for the future. Using a case-based approach, students will analyze and develop policy options for addressing global health care issues and create strategies for improving the health of specific populations.

Philosophy

Global Justice and Human Rights

This course will study the history of the idea of global justice from its early inception in Stoic law; to its formulation in social contract theory in Hobbes and Locke; through Kant's idea of cosmopolitan justice; to its contemporary reconstruction in John Rawls, David Held, Jurgen Habermas and Thomas Pogge. In the context of examining the status of global justice we will consider the problem of world poverty and how human rights can be defended in a global context with ever increasing problems associated with homelessness on a world scale.

Seminar on Law and Justice: Rights, Religion, Recognition

This seminar will focus on three major areas of current concern in the realm of law and justice. About a third of the course will be devoted to each topic.
Human Rights: We will read The Idea of Human Rights by Charles R. Beitz (Oxford: 2009). Author of Political Theory and International Relations an early book on cosmopolitan justice Beitz provides us with the most recent justification of human rights based on neither consensus nor natural law but on philosophical reasoning. We will also read articles by Baynes, Benhabib, Cohen and others.
Religion and the Public Sphere: The recent almost universal rise in religion has made a major impact on modern theories of justice. We can no longer assume a correlation between modernization and secularization. Justice in a post-secular society must be reconfigured to accommodate this turn. We will consider the anticipation of this situation by John Rawls and the appropriation of this phenomenon by Jürgen Habermas. Also, we will read sections of the recently published Religion and the Public Sphere, a special issue of the journal Philosophy and Social Criticism which includes articles by Robert Audi, Gerald Gaus, Michael Perry, Christopher Eberle, Haukd Brunkhorst, Christina Lafont and others.
Recognition: We will read the new book Rights, Race, and Recognition by Derrick Darby (Cambridge: 2009) Also, we will consider Hegel’s theory of recognition which attempted to combine a concept of justice with a notion of human flourishing (Aristotle). We will consider the relationship between justice and the good in contemporary theories of justice. Another option will be to consider parts of Amartya Sen’s new book, The Idea of Justice. (Harvard: 2009)

Political Science

Race and Ethnicity in the Administrative State

An inquiry into race and ethnicity in the American regime. To what extent are racial and ethnic groups products of nature or of convention? What is the relative importance of social and cultural forces, on the one hand, and political institutions, on the other? How are group competition and conflict to be understood? How do racial and ethnic groups compare to other group actors in American politics. The history of ethnic and race relations will be considered, with particular attention to the contemporary administrative state and its implementation of race conscious policies.

Comparative Politics of Democratization

This course provides an introduction to some of the major debates about democracy and democratization in the field of comparative politics. Topics to be considered include the creation and consolidation of democratic forms of governance; constitutional engineering in divided societies; the role of the military in democracies; democracy and development; and democracy and nationalism.

Limits and Promise of Cooperation in World Politics

This course introduces the classic concepts and major trends in international relations and world politics. Topics to be covered include the structure of the international system, nationalism and ideology, the relationship between power and conflict, alliances and the balance of power, globalization and the interdependent international economy, the fragile world environment, international law and organizations, and major global issues of the 21st century. Educated citizens in this “Global Age” must understand the political, economic, and cultural realities of the world around them to contribute sophisticated solutions to its many problems.

Politics and Institutions of International Economies

Examines the contending theoretical approaches to the politics of international economic relations through the issue of globalization. Emphasizing the period since World War II, it analyzes the primary political questions and international institutions associated with trade, money and finance, multinational corporations, and development. It concludes with the perennial challenge of leadership and change in international political economy.

Islamic Political Philosophy

What is the relationship between philosophy and Islam? Does the divine law (Shari'a) need to be supplemented with purely rational reflections on the nature and purpose of political life? What is the place of toleration and individual rights in the Islamic legal and philosophic tradition? We will explore these and similar questions by focusing on two particularly fertile periods of Islamic thought: the encounter of Islam with Greek philosophy in the classical period and its encounter with the modern secular West in late modernity.

Psychological Responses to Humanitarian Crises: Human Rights, Gender Violence, and International Justice

This course develops a critical framework for understanding the psychological and social effects of selected natural and unnatural disasters and current responses to them. Course goals include: the development of a critical understanding of gendered oppression in contexts of war and humanitarian crises; an analysis of selected psychosocial interventions in the context of development and humanitarian aid; a critical analysis of international human rights as potential resources; and, the formulation of programmatic responses for mental health and human rights workers seeking to creatively respond to women and child survivors in collaboration with community-based indigenous workers and advocates.

Alternative Strategies and Children Affected by Organized Violence: Community-based resources for mental health and human rights

This course will introduce its participants to theoretical and practical knowledge of educational, psychosocial and therapeutic strategies that have been developed as resources for culturally appropriate mental health work with child survivors of organized violence, oppression and human rights violations. The perspective presented will give recognition to the social structural context within which the children suffered and the families and communities to which they are returning. All of the methodologies covered in the course will be examined from a child-right based approach and will be applicable into both psycho-social programs and educational contexts in the United States as well as international settings. Finally, attention will be given to the efficacy of the alternative strategies to the affected communities and how this can best be measured using both quantitative and qualitative techniques.

Participatory Action Research: Gender, Race, and Power

This course will introduce students to theoretical and practical issues in the design and implementation of field-based participatory action research. We will review theories and practices that have contributed to community-based knowledge construction and social change. Ethnographic, narrative, and oral history methodologies will be used as additional resources for understanding and representing the individual and collective stories co-constructed through the research process. We will reflect collaboratively and contextually on multiple and complex constructions of gender, race, and social class in community-based research.

Critical Perspectives on the Psychology of Race, Class, and Gender

Using a social psychological framework, introduces multiple strategies for thinking culturally about select psychological constructs and processes (for example, the self, family and community relations, and socio-political oppression). Also pays particular attention to race and class as sociocultural constructs important for the critical analysis of the relationships of culture and psychology. Explores the implications of these constructs for intercultural collaboration and action.<

Psychology of Trauma: Cross-Cultural & Social Justice

The focus of this course is on the biopsychosocial aspects of traumatic stress. The course involves an exploration of psychological sequelae of various types of interpersonal violence, such as physical abuse, sexual assault, and political trauma across diverse populations. Assessment and clinical and community-based interventions concerning traumatic stress will be discussed with attention to cultural and linguistic diversity. The course includes a special emphasis on the examination of social justice and human rights in the context of interpersonal and collective violence.

Sociology

Social and Political Economy

This course analyzes key topics in social and political economy focusing on the structure of the corporate order in American and the world. It focuses on the interface between corporations and the state, and the way that the corporate regime organizes economic, political and social life. It also proposes changes in the corporate system – both at the national and global levels - that can heal American and world-wise social problems while ushering in a new system of global democracy.

Quest for Social Justice

This seminar draws on the literature in political sociology and social movements to address sustained efforts to bring about social and political change. It is geared toward the problems and issues faced by groups involved in such efforts: (a) diagnosing the opportunities and constraints provided by the system in which they are operating; (b) analyzing the problems of mobilizing potential supporters and maintaining their continued loyalty and commitment; (c) devising effective strategies for influencing targets of change; and (d) dealing with counter-efforts at social control.

Social Work

Global Perspectives on Gender Inequalities

A course designed to investigate cross-cultural perspectives of gender inequalities and how these inequalities affect women's health, mental health, economic status, families, and their general well-being. Beginning with a framework for studying gender and ethnicity that will enable comparative analysis of women's issues among different cultures, the course focuses on basic concepts and theories that help our understanding of gender and culture. In addition, students will learn how to access cross-national data and statistics on women's social, physical, and psychological well-being.

Immigrant and Refugee Issues in the United States

A seminar designed to familiarize students with prominent theories, major issues, and controversies in immigration policy and social work practice with immigrants and refugees. While immigration has become a crucial concern of the American social welfare system as well as an issue of global urgency, immigration controls the fate of growing numbers of asylum seekers The adaptation problems of the children of immigrants have important practice and research implications for social workers. Students are encouraged to understand immigration issues in comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Global Policy Issues and Implications

An advanced policy course that introduces approaches, issues and competencies of global social work policy interventions. This course focuses on policy analysis in the context of world-wide poverty, underdevelopment, and sustainable development. In the context of social justice, equality, universal human rights and international collaboration (partnerships), it perceives global systems and their policies as both a challenge for a sustainable planet and for the growth of its interdependent national/local communities.

Social Policy and Services in the Global Context

An advanced course that prepares micro and macro students for effective practice within a global context. Specific models of planning and intervention with a focus on capacity-building and training are presented. Major global practice areas including child protection, gender based violence, conflict resolution, economic and social development are addressed. Since many nonprofit organizations span national borders, most notably, international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the course will incorporate an international financial management perspective and cover topics of donor support through pledges, grants and endowments.

The Impact of Traumatic Victimization on Child and Adolescent Development

An advanced seminar addressing psychological, sociological, legal, and ecological aspects of family violence in its varied forms, especially in the sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of children and adolescents. Theories of and research on intrafamilial and extrafamilial abuse are discussed. Counter-transference phenomena are identified and alternate forms of treatment are explored.

Rights-Based Assessment and Capacity-Building in Global Social Work

An advanced practice course that addresses micro and macro practice within a global context. Models of assessment related to global need as a basis for intervention are presented. Emphasis is placed on working with diverse populations that include adapting assessment and intervention for cultural context and application, and the roles that gender, age, race, ethnicity, culture, economic, political and sexual orientation play in each practice setting. "Rights based assessment" theory and practice are discussed. Major global practice areas including humanitarian aid, international social development, child protection, health/mental health, conflict management and crisis situations including the effect of HIV/AIDS are explored.

Ethnicity, Race, Gender and Class in Theory, Practice & Research

This course explores how the increasing diversity of America presents both challenges and opportunities to social and behavioral researchers. The course explores current scholarship relevant to age; gender; immigration; race-ethnicity; and social class. It examines these concepts as processes that impact on multiple levels of social and behavioral functioning. The multicultural concepts are analyzed in relation to their theoretical and empirical base with the purpose of identifying social and behavioral research methods that are both cross-culturally sensitive and consequential.

 

Theology

Genocide and Film

This course is an historical overview of the 20th century tragedy of genocide and ethnic cleansing as depicted in feature films as well as documentaries. We ask how these horrors can be visually translated to the screen while both maintaining their authenticity and serving as commercial "entertainment." Through an analysis of a series of poignant films, the plight of the Native Americans, the controversial Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust and its legacy, the Killing Fields of Cambodia, and the Hutu-sponsored massacres in Rwanda will help grasp the driving mechanism of genocide and ethnic cleansing. In the final analysis, what preventive steps can be taken to assure that genocide would be a phenomenon of the past, and how can reconciliation take place when it has?

Faith Elements in Conflicts: The Role of the Theological Positions in the Fomenting or Resolution of Conflict

Religious differences appear often to figure in the dehumanization of enemies and rationalization of violence. This course will look at the way key concepts such as revelation, election and universality in various religions, especially in sectarian guise, affect the origins and progress of violent conflicts, and will ask to what extent such employment of these concepts betrays the religions themselves. It will also examine how far the institutional interests of religious bodies make them vulnerable to manipulation by other parties engaged in any given conflict, and how the religious elements and loyalties relate to other interests that figure in such conflicts.

Hitler, the Churches, and the Holocaust

This course will examine the anti-Semitism and nationalism that weakened the churches' response to Hitler's policies. It will also analyze the theological and institutional resistance that emerged in response to totalitarianism and to the Holocaust as well as consider the post-Holocaust paradigm shift in theology.

Human Rights, Humanitarian Crises, and Forced Migration: Ethical, Political, and Religious Responses

Preference for theology and international studies majors.
This course will explore the protection of human rights in the face of contemporary humanitarian crises, focusing on the relation between such crises and warfare, political oppression and economic injustice It will investigate the ethical perspectives that should guide responses by political, religious and civil communities. The issue of the forced migration that results from such crises will receive particular attention. Registration is limited.

Reconciliation in a World of Conflict*

The twentieth century’s legacy is marked by social conflict and war: more than 200 million people killed as a consequence of systematic repression, political upheaval, ethnic or religious war. Enlisting a theological lens, this seminar examines the Christian resources and contribution to the problem of reconciliation. To this end, the course first explores the ambivalent role of religion in history as a source of conflict as well as peaceful aspirations. After examining some of the most important secular approaches to the problem of personal and social conflict, we will focus on the main Christian theologies of reconciliation, including the works of Robert Schreiter, Miroslav Volf, John de Gruchy, and Jon Sobrino. Their theologies will be examined through individual case studies, with particular attention given to the conflicts in the Balkan region, South Africa, and El Salvador.

Ethics, Economics, and Liberation

This course brings the insights of religious social ethics and liberation theology to bear on current economic realities. The study will proceed at the intersection of social science, theology, ethics, ecclesiology, spirituality and cultural studies. Goals of the course include: 1. exposure to the theological methods of Catholic social teaching; 2. identification of key social ethics issues facing the U.S. and world contexts today; 3. taking up the challenge of liberation theology to see contemporary justice issues through the eyes of the most marginalized and to make (as privileged individuals and as a church) a “preferential option for the poor”; 4. analyzing the sources and potential solutions to economic injustices; 5. assessing the ability of economic markets to meet major justice challenges; 6. honing skills in social analysis and theological reflection;7. charting a way forward for church people as they search for hope.

Ethics, Religion, and International Politics

An examination of the role of religion in international politics and of ethical approaches to international affairs. Special emphasis will be given to religion as a source of conflict, religious communities as transnational agents for justice, protection of human rights, and peace; the historical development and contemporary formulations of ethical norms for the use of force, ethical and religious contributions to reconciliation and solidarity.

Human Rights: A Common Morality for a Diverse and Developing World

This course will explore the meaning, basis, historical roots, and practical significance of human rights, with special attention given to the questions of the universality of the idea of human rights in the context of the challenges of pluralism and economic development. Considers the relation between human rights diverse religious traditions, especially Christianity.

Peace, Justice and Reconciliation*

This course will consider theological and philosophical questions posed by the ethics of reconciliation in the social and political realms: In what respects are the reconciliation of peoples related to the themes of justice, liberation, reparation, and forgiveness? What are the appropriate forms of moral discourse invoked in assessing genocide, "ethnic cleansing," institutional racism, or the systematic rape of victims? In what respects are distinctively theological interpretations possible or necessary? This course explores the ethical dimensions of reconciliation, examining the interrelated aspects of justice, reconciliation, reparation, historical memory, and forgiveness. It gives special attention to recent attempts at public reconciliation.

Reinhold Niebuhr and John Courtney Murray

Niebuhr and Murray are arguably the two most influential U. S. Christian thinkers of the 20th century. Both were concerned with the social implications of Christian faith, understood in their respective Reformed and Catholic traditions. This course seeks to understand their thought and what they can contribute to current theological-social debates and to ecumenical understanding of the social role of the churches today.

Contemporary Theories of Justice

A study of some major recent interpretations of the meaning of justice (e.g., Rawls, Sandel, Walzer, Sen and Nussbaum, Taylor); of their historical antecedents (e.g., Aquinas, Locke, Kant); and the critique and appropriation of these interpretations in recent Christian ethics.

Theologies of Reconciliation*

Theologies of Reconciliation will be a team-taught seminar, exploring the practice of forgiveness, the need for healing in today's society and the role religion plays in the process. Co-ordinated by Thomas Kane, the course will include various professors from the Boston Theological Institute, who will examine scripture, sacramental theology, psychological and social theory, conflict transformation, and restorative justice.

Education for Justice and Peace

The course begins with an investigation of the tools of social analysis as a means of getting beneath the surface of issues of injustice. Following it reviews Catholic social teachings, as a means of offering a theological foundation for educating for justice. Finally, it looks at educational methods from the early 20th century to the present, methods that reflect education itself is a work of justice. The course concludes with student groups presenting lessons in which they have: used tools of investigation and analysis on an issue; incorporated theological reflection; and developed a methodology for effective education.   

*NOTE: Of the three courses (TH 556, TH 606, and TM 504) only ONE may count towards the Certificate Program given the similarities of the classes.