This course provides an introduction to the question of human rights. Throughout the semester, we will examine the conceptual history as well as the practice of human rights through interdisciplinary texts. The goal of this course is, first, to develop in-depth knowledge of the scholarly literature on human rights, i.e., to understand that the evolution of the concept of human rights and its institutionalization was a complex and political process and that what we today understand as human rights is also a political construction. A second goal is to develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will allow students to discern different theoretical understandings of human rights and to critically assess competing claims about human rights.