Overview
Human rights have become the moral language of today, the idiom in which we discuss our common humanity and weigh competing claims for resources, rights, and protections. The Human Rights Interdisciplinary (HRI) minor at UC Berkeley allows students to shape their education around coursework which investigates the legal, political, historical, economic, social, psychological, and representational dynamics of human rights.
Helping undergraduates explore issues via multiple forms of thought and media of expression—through literature as well as politics, journalism as well as law, film as well as anthropology—the HRI minor emphasizes the many different intellectual spaces in which human rights questions are currently being posed. In so doing, it encourages students to recognize how human rights are intertwined with fields as disparate as postcolonial literature and medical ethics, as well as with the more familiar fields of political science and international law.
Requirements for the HRI Minor
(consists of five upper-division courses)
Upper Division
Five courses at UC Berkeley (or their equivalents), to include:
- One of the following courses: HISTORY C187, LEGALST 154, or GLOBAL 173.
- Four courses from the HRI minor courselist, OR
- Three courses from the HRI minor courselist and one 3-4 unit Supervised Field Study (internship). Please consult with a minor advisor if you are interested in the internship option.
Eligibility to Declare the HRI Minor
You are eligible to declare the Human Rights Interdisciplinary minor if you have met ALL of the following criteria:
- Completion of the Minor Declaration Form.
- Completion of at least one minor requirement course taken at UC Berkeley with a grade of B or better, OR
- Completion of at least two minor requirement courses (not necessarily taken at UC Berkeley) with a minimum 2.0 GPA.
- Not be in the final semester of undergraduate work.
Policies Regarding the HRI Minor
- All courses counting for the minor must be taken for a letter grade.
- A minimum of three courses must be taken at UC Berkeley. All transfer courses must be approved by an advisor.
- A minimum GPA of 2.0 must be achieved in all coursework used to satisfy the minor requirements.
- Only one course can count for both a major and a minor.