Teaching How to Convey the What of Human Rights: University Courses in Taiwan

Teaching How to Convey the What of Human Rights: University Courses in Taiwan

In this paper I will take the example of my own teaching of human rights at university level (BA and MA) to illustrate the shift from what John O’Malley (2015) calls the scientific/professional approach of the university to the humanistic school of the Renaissance. It was in arguing against the death penalty that I discovered that while rational arguments are valuable, people are more apt to change their way of thinking owing to works of art (including literature). I subsequently developed a course on rights and the arts resulting in some very creative presentations by students. With a small MA group I found the production of a play served the additional purpose of cementing solidarity and realised that this would be a good way for NGOs to put their point across. With Conor Gearty (2004), I believe that advocates of human rights must avoid the hubris of believing they both have the total truth and others must not argue with that. They need to learn to sell their wares in the market of democracy. For this to be effective they need adequate rhetorical tools. A t t he s ame t ime t he t raditional u niversity a pproach of i mparting knowledge is necessary since we need to understand what we say and to seek the truth. Nonetheless, the combination of the two traditions of education in one course do pose problems, notably in the prosaic demand for student assessment.