Article 1, Declaration of the Rights of Man and
                                                                                        the Citizen (1789)
 

                                                                                        Georges Clemenceau, 11 Nov. 1918
 

                                                                                        Report by the International Federation of Human Rights
                                                                                        on racism in the French police (1992)
 

                                                In Germany they first came for the Communists
                                                But I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
                                                Then they came for the Jews
                                                And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
                                                Then they came for the Trade Unionists
                                                And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Trade Unionist.
                                                Then they came for the Catholics
                                                And I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
                                                Then they came for me -- and by that time no one was left to speak up.

                                                                                           Pastor Martin Neimoller, written in
                                                                                           Dachau concentration camp
 
 

Description and objectives:

What are human rights?  How has this concept evolved over time and what is its current status and pertinence at the beginning of the new millennium?  When, why and with what consequences have human rights been violated, or upheld?  This seminar will attempt to address these questions by focusing on France as a case study.  Although France will be our point of departure, our discussions, activities and course work will constantly seek to inscribe human rights in a more global context, drawing on the diverse international cultural experiences of the members of this seminar.  Indeed, one of the primary goals of this course is to provide a framework allowing students to reflect on and draw together those aspects of their coursework, study abroad, language study and life experience which are "international" in nature.

Along with England and the United States, France is the country most closely associated with the concept of human rights.  The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789), along with the American Bill of Rights (1791), were truly 'revolutionary' documents in their articulation of the "natural and inalienable" rights of human beings.  Two centuries later, France still considers itself a world leader in human rights.  We will begin by exploring both the roots of the notion of human rights in Enlightenment philosophy, and the problematic development of this notion during the French Revolution.  The nineteenth and twentieth centuries in France were to expose some of the contradictions inherent in the concept of human rights.  Controversies developed over the notions of liberty, equality, property, and sovereignty, all considered fundamental human rights.  We will consider these controversies through a study of several important events in French history and of a variety of contemporary issues.

Books to purchase:

*Ben Jelloun, Tahar.  French Hospitality.  Trans. Barbara Bray.  New York: Columbia UP, 1999.

*Burns, Michael, ed.  France and the Dreyfus Affair: A Documentary History.  New York: Bedford Books, 1999.

*Hunt, Lynn, ed.  The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History.  New York: Bedford Books, 1996.

*Other readings will be distributed in class, made available via the web, or made available through a system of electronic reserve.

*Optional/suggested: you may wish to purchase a general history of France such as Gordon Wright, France in Modern Times (5th edition, 1995) and/or a general history of the French Revolution (my particular recommendation is Jeremy Popkin, A Short History of the French Revolution, 1998).
 
 
 

Course web page: http://www.psu.edu >Most Popular Topics>Course Materials> F>French>French 497B

Assignments:

*There will be no exams in this course.

*Written work (60%):

Three compositions (approx. 3-5 pages, 15% each) will be required for this course.  I will distribute suggestions for each composition, but you may also devise your own topic in consultation with me.  The third composition will involve research on a topic of your choosing.  Feel free to submit one of the three compositions with another class member, if you wish.  Also, you may choose to substitute for the first or second composition a project in an alternative medium (eg artwork, performance art, poetry or creative writing, speech before a campus organization, article for a campus publication etc.).

Additionally, each week you will submit short (1 page maximum) reaction papers (15%) drawing on the readings for that week.  Normally, these brief assignments will be comprised of a reaction to a text/image/question that we will be considering during a particular week.  The purpose of this assignment is to encourage written expression, to stimulate further reflection on specific topics, and to help enrich class discussions.  These assignments are in no way 'research papers' or even formal essays; they are personal reflections on specific topics.  Thus, the writing can be quite free-form (while spelling, punctuation etc. must of course be correct!).  Sometimes I will formulate the topic and evaluate the written work; at other times, class members will do this.  Please type your responses and submit hard copy in class on the due date (you are invited and encouraged at the same time, however, to share your response with classmates via the class list serve).  These weekly assignments will be graded

*Participation/Attendance (40%):

The essence of a good seminar is regular, informed participation by all its members.  Your presence in class, and your thorough preparation of readings as a prelude to discussions, activities, and written work, are crucial for this course to function well.  After four non-excused absences your course grade may be lowered.  I appreciate being kept up to date on situations requiring your absence from class.

10% of the participation grade will be based on bringing into class and preparing to discuss, once a week, a news article and/or report on a human rights issue anywhere in the world.  Otherwise (30%), participation may take various forms: leading part of a discussion; preparing discussion questions for the class; brief presentations; leading a debate; writing in-class reactions to texts you will have read for that day (you will be asked to do this on a fairly regular basis) etc.
 
 
 

Program:

January

11 Introduction & course overview

13 Human rights around the globe

18 Which side(s) are you on?  Cultural relativism v. universalism in the human rights debate

Readings:

*"Introduction;" Pierre Sané, "Human Rights are Universal;" Bilahari Kausika, "A Universal Definition of Human Rights
    Ignores Cultural Diversity," in Human Rights: Opposing Viewpoints (1998).
*Jack Donnelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (1989), ch. 6 ("Cultural Relativism and Universal
    Human Rights"): 109-24.

20 What is a right?  Defining rights in France before 1789

Readings:

*Hunt, pp. v ("Preface"), 1-6 (ending with "...wrath of French censors"), 35-37 (Diderot, "Natural Law")
*John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (excerpt)
*Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws (excerpt)

See also:

Thomas Paine, Common Sense; Rights of Man (web page).

25 Voltaire/Religious Tolerance

Readings:

*Hunt pp. 6-9 ("The idea">"any decision"), pp. 38-40 (Voltaire, Treatise on Toleration).
*Voltaire, "Intolerance," "Toleration," Philosophical Dictionary.
[*Suggested: Hunt, 40-50]

27 The Right to Life? The 18th century debate on the death penalty

Readings:

*Cesare Beccaria, Essay on Crimes and Punishments (excerpt)
*Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Social Contract, ch. V.

February

1 Who has rights?

Readings:

*Hunt, 9-12 ("Like the prejudices..."- p. 12)
*On slaves: Hunt 51-9; Rousseau, "Slavery," Social Contract.
*On women: Hunt, 60-3.
*On categories of citizenship: Hunt 63-70.

3 The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789)

             *First draft of first paper due.

Readings:

*Hunt, 77-79
*The United States Bill of Rights (1791 and following).

See also:

Magna Carta (1215); English Bill of Rights (1689); Declaration of Independence (1776) (web page).
Hunt, 71-76.
François Furet and Mona Ozouf, "Rights of Man," A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution.

8 Debates about citizenship and rights during the French Revolution
10
             *Final version of first paper is due.

Readings:

*Hunt 80-139.

See also:

Shanti Marie Singham, "Betwixt Cattle and Men: Jews, Black, Women and the Declaration of the Rights of Man," in Dale Van Kley, ed., The French Idea of Freedom.

Joan Scott, "French Feminists and the Rights of 'Man:' Olympe de Gouges' Declarations."

15 Film about the Dreyfus Affair

Readings:

*Burns, vii-x ("Preface"), 193-200, 1-8, 13-20 ("The Epoch").

17 Justice corrupted

Readings:

*Benjamin Martin, "The Dreyfus Affair and the Corruption of the French Legal System," in N. Kleeblatt, ed., The
    Dreyfus Affair: Art, Truth and Justice (1987).

*Burns, 21-43, 54-60, 74-77, 136-9, 163-173-75.

22 Anti-Semitism

Readings:

*Michael Marrus, "Popular Anti-Semitism," N. Kleeblatt, ed., The Dreyfus Affair: Art, Truth and Justice (1987).

*Sander Gilman, "The Jewish Nose.  Are Jews White? Or, the History of the Nose Job," dans The Jew's Body: 169-93.

*Edouard Drumont, Jewish France (excerpts) + Burns, 8-13.

*Gyp, Les Izolâtres (Burns 114-16).

*Anti-Semitic caricatures.

24 Public intellectuals as spokespeople for human rights: The case of Emile Zola
29

Readings:

*Emile Zola, "J'Accuse...!" (Burns, p. 92 and beginning and end of text of Zola text: p. 93, pp. 101-2, and pp. 102-11 on the aftermath of "J'Accuse...!")

*Emile Zola, "Letter to the Youth of France"

*Burns, 167-8, 191-2.

*Burns, 111 ("French women..)-115 (top)

See also (on the legacy of the Affair):

Hannah Arendt, "From the Dreyfus Affair to France today," Jewish Social Studies 4 (July 1942): 195-240.
George Steiner, "Totem or Taboo," Salmagundi 89-90 (Fall 1990-Winter 1991): 385-98.
William Safran, "The Dreyfus Affair, Political Consciousness and the Jews: A Centennial Retrospective,"
    Contemporary French Civilization 19.1 (Winter/Spring 1995): 1-32.

March

2 Catch-up

HAPPY SPRING BREAK!!

14  Intellectuals and human rights worldwide

16 The Vichy Regime: Overview

Reading:

Bertier de Sauvigny, "World War II," History of France (excerpt).

21 Vichy France and the Jews

Reading:

Michael Marrus and Robert Paxton, Vichy France and the Jews (excerpt).

Film in class: France's Forgotten Shame

23 The fate of children/Why memorialize?

Readings:

*Serge Klarsfeld, French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial.
*United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1959) (web page).

 
28 The Papon trial: How should the world respond to crimes against humanity?

         Guest: Professor Richard Joe Golsan, Texas A & M University

Readings:

*Selections from Michael R. Marrus, The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, 1945-46: A Documentary History (1997).

*Jimmy Carter, "A Permanent International Criminal Court Should be Created," v. Michael Ignatieff, "Attempts to Amend Human Rights Violations will not Alleviate Suffering," in Human Rights: Opposing Viewpoints (1998).

30 Rescuers and their motivations

For this session, please view the film by Pierre Sauvage, Weapons of the Spirit (the film will be made available to you).

First draft of second paper due.

Readings:

André-Pierre Colombat, "Pierre Sauvage's Weapons of the Spirit," in The Holocaust in French Film (1993).

See also:

Philip Hallie, Lest innocent blood be shed: The story of the village of Le Chambon and how goodness happened there (1979).

April

4 Catch-up session on Vichy France (if necessary)

6 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Final draft of second paper due.

11 Immigration and human rights
14

Reading:

Tahar Ben-Jelloun, French Hospitality (please finish reading book prior to our class discussions)

The last two weeks of class (April 18, 20, 25, [27]) will be devoted to discussing human rights issues in contemporary France, and parallel debates in other countries.  The topics will be determined by the interests of the seminar members.  Among the topics we may wish to discuss are: 1) the PACS (Civil Solidarity Pact): recent landmark legislation in France extending many equal civil rights to homosexuals; 2)the Toubon law and freedom of speech (law outlawing use of 'franglais,' or English words, in official French publications); 3)recent French legislation effectively rendering hate speech a crime; 4) French foreign policy and human rights; 5) the role of intellectuals today.  Please let me have your input about which topics interest you.

[April 20 First draft of 'longer' paper due]

[April 25 First draft of third paper due]

27 Conclusion

1 May Final drafts of **all** papers due.

Penn State is committed to providing all disabled students equal access and learning opportunities.  Please notify me as soon as possible regarding any special accomodations that you may need.