Topics in Writing & Rhetoric: Making Rhetoric Matter: Human Rights at Home

'Human rights' often sounds like it needs defending in far-off places: in distant public squares where soldiers menace gatherings of citizens, in dark jails where prisoners are tortured for their politics, in unknown streets where gender inequality has brutal consequences. But Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer fighting for social and racial justice in the jails of Alabama, proposes that we try 'proximity': that we get close to the injustices that are already close to us. This class thus takes human rights as a local issue, focusing on how terms like 'human' and 'rights' are interpreted on our campus and in our neighborhoods, cities, and region. Instead of a traditional human rights policy framework, we'll use the lens of intersectional ethics to explore specific rhetorical issues in gender politics, citizenship, higher education, police brutality, and mass incarceration. We will write, speak, and move across genres, responding to the work of incarcerated artists, creating embodied workshops, 'translating' ideas into new media (does someone you know need an animated video about gender pronouns? Or maybe it's time for a podcast about #PrisonRenaissance?), doing collaborative research, and 'writing back' to our audiences. For course video and full description see: https://undergrad.stanford.edu/programs/pwr/courses/advanced-courses/making-rhetoric-matter-human-rights-home.This course is part of the PWR advanced elective track in Social and Racial Justice (SRJ). Prerequisite: first two levels of the writing requirement or equivalent transfer credit. For topics, see https://undergrad.stanford.edu/programs/pwr/courses/advanced-pwr-courses.