HIST 474: History of Human Rights, Citizenships, and Refugee Law

Daily we watch, seemingly helplessly, as people are displaced from their communities, homelands, and countries and subsequently seek asylum around the world, sometimes within our own local southwest communities; is this new, or is there a history to mobility and suffering? Key causes of displacement, such as war, violence, persecution, and modes of terror, and the ensuing consequences of violent displacement, such as poverty, disease, physical and psychological trauma, and vulnerability to human rights abuses, all have historical antecedents. In this course, we explore history of human rights, citizenship and refugee by exploring their relationship with nationalism, imperialism, war and displacement. We consider various local and global schemes to safeguard the dignity of human populations with domestic, regional, and international law, policy, and humanitarian action. A focus on the historical evolution of citizenship law and the nation state will provide clues as to the historical practices of displacement and resettlement.