The November New Tactics on-line dialogue features “Human Rights in Higher Education: Incorporating practical experience”. This dialogue specifically features ideas, experiences and methods from human rights higher education programs for incorporating practical experience into human rights curriculums to better prepare human rights advocates for doing “on the ground” and “in the trenches” human rights work.
The featured resource practitioners (biographical information) include:
- Abigail Booth, Programme Manager, Head of Nairobi Office, Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Kenya
- Alice Nderitu, Fahamu (Kenya) in coordination with the University of Pretoria, South Africa
- Jadwiga Maczynska, Project Manager, Jagiellonian University Human Rights Centre, Krakow, Poland
- Mingzhen Ge, Shandong University, Human Rights Center, Law School, China
- Diane Sisely, Director, Australian Centre for Human Rights Education at RMIT University
- Barbara Frey, Director, Human Rights Program, University of Minnesota, USA
- Robin Kirk, Director, Duke University Human Rights Center, North Carolina, USA
- Nicole Palasz, Center for International Education, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- Amy Weismann, Deputy Director, University of Iowa Center for Human Rights
- Susan Atwood, Instructor, University of Minnesota’s Leadership : Leadership for Global Citizenship.
| Be sure to take a look at our new collection of articles, guides, and classroom modules for your curriculum: New Tactics Resources for Educators! |
Main themes of this dialogue:
- Stories of Practice: examples of how practical experience is being incorporated in human rights education programs
- Challenges: ethical issues with incorporating practical experience in human rights education programs
- Curriculum Resources: creating and simulating practical experience
Please help us to keep this dialogue organized by 'replying' to these main themes, or 'replying' to other comments, instead of creating NEW comments. Thanks!
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Practical experience can inspire future leaders
I agree that there is a tremendous need to translate human rights principles into everyday language and experience. There is a similar challenge in the community where I live. Despite many human rights problems (poverty, racism, access to education and health care), few recognize that these are human rights issues, or that we have much to learn from international human rights efforts. I would also add another reason that incorporating practical experiences is important – it can inspire students to envision ways they can participate in the human rights movement. In past courses and trainings, I have had students tell me that they sometimes feel overwhelmed or powerless when they learn about the breadth and scale of human rights problems around the world. There is a great longing to do something, to take action. I have used resources from the New Tactics project to demonstrate that meaningful change is possible, and that young people can be at the forefront of efforts to combat human rights violations in our own community as well as at the global level. This provides an opening to discuss what human rights issues resonate most for them, and how they might become involved.