Human Rights – a Recurrent History FOURTH SUMMER SCHOOL, ISTANBUL, JUNE 12-23, 2017 Set in Istanbul, this summer course offers students from the Nordic countries and Turkey a unique possibility to deepen their knowledge of the concept of human rights and its application together with an international group of scholars and practitioners. Modern Turkey provides a point of departure from which the topic of human rights can be approached from a less Eurocentric perspective, focusing on the legal, political and cultural transformation of the old Ottoman world.
Students acquire an in-depth understanding of the ways in which human rights in the region have been understood, institutionalized, and contested. Special attention is given to legal and communitarian pluralism, varieties of redress for injustice and oppression, and the implications of a shared cultural heritage and contested historical memory.
Students get the chance to cooperate with leading human rights organizations and to develop their skills to creatively tackle contemporary and historical human rights concerns in a small collaborative project within the three focal themes of the course: Religion, nationalism and the universally human; historical wrongs, the state, and human rights; and cultural heritage as human right.
The course is organized by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII) in collaboration with the Swedish Consulate General in Istanbul and the department of Human Rights Studies at Lund University in Sweden. The faculty is comprised of lecturers from different universities and human rights organizations in Sweden, Turkey, and elsewhere. Teaching is organized in the form of lectures, seminars, and study visits.
The course is intended for a group of 20 students at advanced levels from the Nordic countries and Turkey. A pre-requisite is to have studied at least three terms at university level in a relevant field. The participants are expected to be able to read the course material and to participate actively in discussions in English. Admitted students should have read the assigned literature by the start of the course. Active participation, student collaboration, and class presentations will be required.
Travel to and accommodation during the course are covered by the SRII.
Admission will be based on an evaluation of your CV and a personal statement, including a brief description of your area of interest in relation to the themes and objectives of the course. After the course you will be given a diploma issued by the Swedish Research Institute with a personal evaluation statement. Subject to agreement with your home university you may receive credits for your participation from your home university.
Send your application as one PDF document to sriiapplication@gmail.com no later than March 31, 2017. The document should include: – a CV – a personal statement (ca. 5000 characters in total) – official transcripts from your home university Applicants will be notified by April 30 about the result. We look forward to receiving your application!