TAFAHRV15U Human Rights and Violence in Africa

Volume 2013/2014
Content

Human rights and human rights interventions have taken centre stage in Africa in recent years. Rights discourse has become a dominant lens through which Africa is understood and rights-based development a dominant paradigm through which to ‘reform’ Africa. The rights paradigm in development has furthermore been accompanied by a focus on transitional justice mechanisms in the wake of conflict and war. This course examines the ‘practice of human rights’ with a particular focus on the ways in which rights discourse is translated and appropriated in relation to violence. The lectures will pay meticulous attention to both rights-based reform practices in development and in transitional justice  and to Africa ‘in and for itself’ covering issues such as authority, legal pluralism, colonial history, youth violence, violent institutions and networks as well as  understandings of confinement and the relation between benefactors and beneficiaries.

Through discussion of empirical cases we will explore the common assumptions and conceptual links between a variety of interventions, for example: police and prison officer training , truth commissions and tribunals, demobilization and child soldier projects as well as civil society support. Participants will learn about everyday life, political culture and ways of understanding and attempting to counter violence in Africa. Through the cases, the seminars will draw attention to the dilemmas and paradoxes of rights practice and the conceptual ambivalence of human rights when applied to violence in Africa. The focus on the practices of implementing human rights in Africa and the subjects of human rights interventions hopefully offers a counter-balance to the usual legal/normative approach to rights.

 

Learning Outcome

Academic goals
The aim is for the student to acquire the following qualifications:

  • Ability to select, in consultation with the instructor, a relevant sub-topic within the overall focus area of the thematic course. The sub-topic will often be empirical in nature and geared towards specific conditions inAfrica, but it can also be more theoretical.
  • Ability to independently and critically select relevant literature on the sub-topic to be studied.
  • Ability to independently and critically analyse the sub-topic in question and to place it within the overall context of the thematic course in question.
The course will take the form of a seminar series consisting of a series of discrete lectures and discussions linked to the over-arching theme of the course.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Course Preparation
  • 272
  • Exam
  • 120
  • Total
  • 420
Credit
10 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Exam period
Autumn January 2014 - Spring June 2014
Criteria for exam assesment

The grade of 12 is given at the exam when the student demonstrates:

  • Confident ability to identify and define a sub-topic and an issue of relevance to the overall theme of the thematic course.
  • Confident ability to independently and critically select relevant literature on the sub-topic to be studied.
  • Confident ability to independently and critically analyse the sub-topic in question and the chosen literature.
  • Confident ability to conduct an interdisciplinary analysis of the sub-topic in question and to place it within the overall theme of the thematic course in question.
  • Confident ability to communicate academic material in a clear, concise and well-argued manner.
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Oral examination, 45 min.
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Exam period
Autumn - January 2014; Spring - June 2014
Criteria for exam assesment

The grade of 12 is given at the exam when the student demonstrates:

  • Confident ability to identify and define a sub-topic and an issue of relevance to the overall theme of the thematic course.
  • Confident ability to independently and critically select relevant literature on the sub-topic to be studied.
  • Confident ability to independently and critically analyse the sub-topic in question and the chosen literature.
  • Confident ability to conduct an interdisciplinary analysis of the sub-topic in question and to place it within the overall theme of the thematic course in question.
  • Confident ability to communicate academic material in a clear, concise and well-argued manner.