The
following questions help to put written material in a human
rights perspective. Included are formal literature (e.g.,
poetry, fiction, non-fiction); educational texts (e.g.,
textbooks, manuals); media (e.g., print, electronic images,
magazines, films, television); advertising (e.g., jingles,
slogans), and commercial publications (e.g., promotional
literature, pamphlets, logos, slogans).
PART
A: Questions
1.
What human rights themes appear in this work?
- What
rights are enjoyed?
- Are
human rights in conflict?
- Are
human rights denied? Who is responsible for this human
rights abuse?
- Who
acts to defend human rights? How? Why?
- Who
does not act to defend human rights? Why not?
- What
specific articles of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) are involved?
2.
If human rights are defended in this work, what action is
taken?
- Does
the act of defending a human right itself violate someone’s
human rights?
- Is
the action effective?
- Is
the action violent? Could a non-violent response have
been possible?
- How
might the outcome have been different if a different kind
of action had been taken?
- Will
the action make a long-term change in individual lives?
In society?
3.
What does this work say about human dignity?
- In
what ways is human dignity affirmed? Undermined?
- Does
any character especially embody human dignity?
4.
What does this work say about individual responsibility
for human rights? About the relationship between rights
and responsibility?
5.
What role do the following factors play in this work, especially
as a means to bring about transformation:
- compassion?
- consensus?
- being
able to express oneself?
- silence?
- collaboration
with the perpetrator(s) or victimizer(s)?
- collaboration
with the defender(s) of rights?
- having
access to information and/or education?
- understanding
of and/or empathy with people with different values or
ways of life?
6.
Does this work contrast the needs of the individual with
the needs of the majority and/or society?
- What
does this work say about the relationship between the
individual and society? The individual and the state?
7.
Are there similar human right issues in your country? your
community? your neighborhood? your school or classroom?
- What
rights are enjoyed?
- What
rights are in conflict?
- What
rights do you feel need protection?
- What
specific articles of the UDHR are involved?
8.
How can you act to defend rights in your community?
- To
whom would you speak? What would you say?
- What
kinds of actions would be effective and appropriate? Which
would not?
- Is
such action already being taken?
- Is
it possible to form alliances to address these problems?
With whom?
- See
Part IV, Taking Action for Human Rights, for more on community
advocacy.
PART
B: Suggestions for Activities
1.
Research one of the authors. Are there particular events,
people, or places that may have shaped their opinions on
human rights?
2.
Have a film discussion group.
Source:
Nancy Flowers, Human Rights Educators’ Network, Amnesty
International USA
A
SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HUMAN RIGHTS LITERATURE
POETRY
| Anna Akmatova |
"Requiem" |
| W.H. Auden |
"The Unknown Citizen" |
| Dennis Brutus |
"Cold," "Letters
to Martha |
| Nina Cassian |
"They Cut Me in Two" |
| Ariel Dorfman |
"Hope" |
| Nazim Hikmet |
"From a Man in Solitary" |
| Phillip Lopate |
"Solidarity with Mozambique" |
| James Sheville |
"Confidential Data on the
Loyalty Investigation of Herbert Ashenfoot" |
NOVELS
| Isabella Allende |
The House of the Spirits |
| Mulk Raj Anan |
Untouchable |
| Manlio Argueta |
One Day of Life |
| Margaret Atwood |
The Handmaid’s Tale |
| Ray Bradbury |
Fahrenheit 451 |
| Anthony Burgess |
A Clockwork Orange |
| J.M. Coztzee |
Waiting for the Barbarians |
| Joseph Conrad |
Nostromo |
| Ariel Dorfman |
My House Is on Fire |
| Ralph Ellison |
Invisible Man |
| Nawal El Saadawi |
God Dies by the Nile |
| Louise Erdrich |
Tracks |
| Eduardo Galeano |
Memory of Fire Trilogy |
| Gangopadhyay |
Arjun |
| Nadine Gordimer |
July’s People |
| Jessica Hagedorn |
Dogeaters |
| Bessie Head |
When Rain Clouds Gather |
| Aldous Huxley |
Brave New World |
| Franz Kafka |
The Trial |
| Joy Kogawa |
Obasan |
| Arthur Koestler |
Darkness at Noon |
| Bernard Malamud |
The Fixer |
| Toni Morrison |
Beloved |
| Bharati Mukerjee |
Jasmine |
| George Orwell |
Animal Farm |
| George Orwell |
1984 |
| Alexander Solzhenitsyn |
One Day in the Life of Ivan
Denisovitch |
| John Steinbeck |
The Grapes of Wrath |
| Mildred Taylor |
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry |
| Lawrence Thornton |
Imagining Argentina |
| Vasilis Vassilikos |
Z |
| Richard Wright |
Native Son |
| Emile Zola |
Germinal |
PLAYS
| Jean Annouilh |
Antigone |
| Bertholt Brecht |
Galileo |
| Andre Brink |
A Dry White Season |
| Arthur Miller |
The Crucible |
| Sophocles |
Antigone |
BIOGRAPHY
AND NON-FICTION
| Maya Angelou |
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings |
| Nien Ching |
Life and Death in Shanghai |
| J.D. Criddle |
To Destroy You Is No Loss:
The Odyssey of a Cambodian Family |
| Carolina Maria De Jesus |
Child of the Dark |
| Vaclav Havel |
Letters to Olga |
| Arthur Koestler |
Spanish Testament |
| Nelson Mandela |
Long Walk to Freedom |
| Rigoberta Menchu |
I, Rigoberta Menchu |
| Pablo Neruda |
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech:
"Toward the Splendid City" |
| George Orwell |
Selected Essays |
| Alicia Partnoy |
The Little School |
| Irina Ratushinskaya |
Grey is the Color of Hope |
| Moylda Szymuciak |
The Stones Cry Out, A Cambodian
Childhood, 1975-1980 |
| Jacob Timerman |
Prisoner without a Name, Cell
without a Number |
| Elie Wiesel |
Night |
| Harry Wu |
Bitter Wind |
| Malcolm X |
The Autobiography of Malcolm
X |
Source:
See "Teaching Human Rights through Literature,"
in Amnesty International USA’s Human Rights Education
Resource Notebook Series for an extensive annotated list
of literature for teaching human rights.
