Religion and Human Rights in Southeast Asia (3 credits)

Course Title        : Religion and Human Rights in Southeast Asia

Course degree    : Graduate level course (MA or PhD)

Faculty            : Graduate School

Study Program    : Political science, law, anthropology and theology

Number of Credits    : 3 credits

Class coordinator    : Zainal Abidin Bagir (zainalbagir@ugm.ac.id HP: 087882512851)

 

About this course

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Southeast Asia is its diversity in terms of culture, language and religion. As in other parts of the world, religion has also been an increasingly important factor in policies, including in upholding human rights, especially in Southeast Asian countries. This course understands (international) human rights as a major and influential discourse of human dignity as well as a regime of treaties, institutions, and legal norms to protect humans across the globe. It will introduce students to the many facets of the interface between human rights and religion, with special attention given to rights to freedom of religion or belief (FORB).

The course starts by introducing the history and main concepts of human rights, continued with discussion of central issues such as debates around universalism vs. particularism, individual vs. group rights. Of special importance is the “Asian Values” debate, and, in general, recent manifestations of particularism in different countries. Related to but distinct from that issue, this course will also take up the idea of “decolonization of human rights”, such as advanced by Abdullahi An-Naim and Boaventura de Sousa Santos. An-Naim, for example, proposes to advance the universality of human rights through internal discourse within Islamic and African societies and cross-cultural dialogue among human cultures. Santos proposes a counter-hegemonic understanding of human rights, which accommodate, or even collaborate, with political theologies.

 

Syllabus

 

No Topics Instructor Duration (Hours)
1 Introduction : course framing. Histories of UDHR Zainal Abidin Bagir & Dicky Sofjan 1.5
2 UDHR and ASEAN Human Rights Declaration: History and controversies Zainal Abidin Bagir 1.5
3 Universality vs. Particularity: the Asian Values debate and its recent manifestations. Zainal Abidin Bagir 1.5
4 Decolonizing Human Rights? Abdullahi An-Naim 1.5
5 Freedom of Religion or Belief (FORB): normative core. limitations and institutions Zainal Abidin Bagir 1.5
6 Intersection between FORB and other rights (gender equality and freedom of expression) Heiner Bielefeldt 1.5
7 The Politics of Religious Freedom Zainal Abidin Bagir 1.5
8 FORB in Indonesia Dicky Sofjan 1.5
9 FORB in Malaysia and Singapore Dicky Sofjan 1.5
10 FORB in Myanmar and Thailand Dicky Sofjan 1.5
11 FORB in Vietnam Dicky Sofjan 1.5
12 The prospect of HR/FORB in ASEAN countries Yuyun Wahyuningrum (AIHCR) 1.5

How to Apply

  1. We limit the maximum number of programs you can apply to 3 courses. After you read the detail about each programs, please kindly follow the instructions of apply here
  2. Then, you can start applying to admission.ugm.ac.id/register
  3. Find the course entitled ‘GAMA-iC’ in the Student Exchange category
  4. [IMPORTANT] If you register and complete the document requirements to:
  • 1 course, you can apply to ‘GAMA-iC Spring Semester 2022 (1 course)’
  • 2 courses, you can apply to ‘GAMA-iC Spring Semester 2022 (2 courses)’
  • 3 courses, you can apply to ‘GAMA-iC Spring Semester 2022 (3 courses)’
  1. After that, you need to fill this form to select your course
  2. You will receive Letter of Offer before January, 12th 2021 and you need to pay the tuition fee based on your Letter of Offer (LO)
  3. After we received your payment, you will receive your Letter of Acceptance (LoA)