Course Listings

The threats to liberal democracy are being widely debated, from the US and Europe to developing nations.   In order for democracy to continue to thrive as the cornerstone of Western governance, it must adapt and be relevant to citizens of the 21st century. This course examines our appreciation of what constitutes democracy today and how to apply those understandings to the challenges of the 21st century.

Students conduct collaborative primary source research on the first ten years of the 21st century. Topics include September 11th, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, the financial crisis of 2008, the election of Barack Obama, and battles over domestic surveillance, immigration, policing, gun control, same-sex marriage, and reproductive rights. 

This seminar critically analyzes the history and current practices of the human rights movement. We consider the grave challenges facing human rights advocates globally and possible responses.

Is health care a human right? Can health advocacy shape health policy? What does it mean to be a health “activist” and to demand change of medicine? Health care in America has always been political. In this seminar students explore the rich history of health activism and health advocacy in the modern United States, focusing primarily on the postwar period through the present day. Each week we encounter new varieties of grassroots organizing, individual activists, and advocacy organizations that have made political claims about health care and pushed for its reform.

Since the 1960s, social scientists have analyzed how the scientific ideas about mental illness, mental health policies, institutions, healing practices, and popular discourses surrounding mental health have been influenced by the social and cultural contexts. This course introduces students to the debates and questions guiding the history of mental health since the Civil Rights and the Psychiatric Survivor Movements in the 1960s, especially those that relate to Critical Race Theory.

Survey of American Indian history, beginning with creation traditions and migration theories and continuing to the present day. Focus on American Indian nations whose homelands are located within the contemporary United States. Complexity and change within American Indian societies, with emphasis on creative adaptations to changing historical circumstances.

This course is designed to give students an opportunity to learn about international refugee law in theory and in practice. Students enrolled in the seminar will work under the supervision of attorneys to assist persecuted individuals abroad seeking safe legal passage to the United States or another country through client assistance, research, or advocacy projects. The course will provide the students with the practical and theoretical knowledge necessary to be effective practitioners of international refugee law.

A weekly seminar session only for returning students. Advanced Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic: Fieldwork is a co-requisite. Students enrolled in the seminar section must also be enrolled in the fieldwork section. Prerequisite: Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic. Permission of the instructors required.

New Haven Legal Assistance is a historic non-profit civil legal services office with a robust immigration practice. Under the supervision of attorneys at New Haven Legal Assistance, students in the New Haven Legal Assistance Immigrant Rights Clinic (IRC) have represented noncitizens in removal proceedings before the immigration court, in appeals before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and in petitions for review before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as well as in federal civil rights actions.

Students will represent immigrants and low-wage workers in Connecticut in labor, immigration, and other civil rights areas, through litigation for individuals and non-litigation advocacy for community-based organizations. In litigation matters, students will handle cases at all stages of legal proceedings in Immigration Court, Board of Immigration Appeals, U.S. District Court, the Second Circuit, and state courts.