SJS 03 — Nonviolence and Human Rights in the World House: Realizing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Vision
Quarter: Spring
Day(s): Wednesdays
Course Format: Live Online (About Formats)
Duration: 8 weeks
Date(s): Apr 19—Jun 7
Time: 5:00—6:30 pm (PT)
Refund Deadline: Apr 21
Unit: 1
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Tuition: $405
Instructor(s): Clayborne Carson, Johnny J. Mack
Class Recording Available: Yes
Status: Open
Spring
Date(s)
Apr 19—Jun 7
8 weeks
Refund Date
Apr 21
1 Unit
Fees
$405
Grade Restriction
No letter grade
Instructor(s):
Clayborne Carson, Johnny J. Mack
Recording
Yes
Open
"We have inherited a large house, a great 'world house' in which we have to live together ... or perish as fools." This multimedia course will explore the enduring significance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision of a global community where all people may realize the ideals of human rights in their lives. Its goal is to give students a comprehensive understanding of the critical concepts of human rights, nonviolence, and the “world house” and practical skills, action tools, and strategies for resolving conflict in our local and global communities.
Through discussions of historic social justice movements, the course will challenge students to analyze the complex interrelationships of ideas such as universal rights and national sovereignty, civil disobedience, and the rule of law. It will offer critical reviews of their meaning and application to social change and social movement episodes throughout history and the new challenges emerging in this century, including threats to democracy and the rise of autocracy. The course will use multimedia resources to reveal the religious and philosophical roots of human rights and the struggles to overcome colonialism and authoritarian government and secure liberation from oppression through violence and nonviolent resistance strategies.
The readings and discussions will focus on history, theory, and the intersection of the current practice of nonviolence and human rights. Course readings will include Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, Stephen Hopgood’s The Endtimes of Human Rights, Upendra Baxi’s The Future of Human Rights, and Johan Galtung’s Human Rights in Another Key.
Through discussions of historic social justice movements, the course will challenge students to analyze the complex interrelationships of ideas such as universal rights and national sovereignty, civil disobedience, and the rule of law. It will offer critical reviews of their meaning and application to social change and social movement episodes throughout history and the new challenges emerging in this century, including threats to democracy and the rise of autocracy. The course will use multimedia resources to reveal the religious and philosophical roots of human rights and the struggles to overcome colonialism and authoritarian government and secure liberation from oppression through violence and nonviolent resistance strategies.
The readings and discussions will focus on history, theory, and the intersection of the current practice of nonviolence and human rights. Course readings will include Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, Stephen Hopgood’s The Endtimes of Human Rights, Upendra Baxi’s The Future of Human Rights, and Johan Galtung’s Human Rights in Another Key.
CLAYBORNE CARSON
Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor of History, Emeritus, Stanford
Clayborne Carson has devoted most of his professional life to the study of Martin Luther King Jr. In 2005, he founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute to endow and expand the educational outreach of the King Papers Project. Since 2021, Carson has been the director of the World House Project at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at the Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford. JOHNNY J. MACK
Associate Director, World House Project at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford
Johnny J. Mack has extensive experience as a scholar practitioner in social change, social movement, and human development, working throughout the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South Asia. He has served as the director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, president of the Nelson Mandela Family Foundation, senior advisor to Search for Common Ground, and the Henry Hart Rice Fellow at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, where he received a PhD. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.