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About IHRE
IHRE is an international, interdisciplinary semester program dedicated to the critical study of all
aspects of theories and practices of human rights in the liberal arts tradition. It is based at the University
of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, during the South African second semester (July November).
IHRE s international student body consists of approximately equal numbers of North American and
South African students though typically many other nationalities are also included. IHRE's faculty is also international.
Students in the IHRE program take a full semester load of four courses, participating in classroom discussions,
attending lectures, and performing fieldwork. Students from North American institutions may accumulate 16 credits,
to be issued by Bard College. Students from Southern African institutions will earn up to 92 points for credit at Wits,
or their ho me institution.
The program consists of three main academic elements. The core course introduces students to significant
materials on human rights (drawing on the South African experience among others), it offers different
perspectives on the idea of human rights, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The core seminar
Engagement in Human Rights examines the varied practices of human rights advocacy and engagement,
and mentors students through a 10-hour per week internship experience. The IHRE electives provide the
opportunity for in-depth study of select topics or themes within the context of human rights.
Mission Statement
The International Human Rights Exchange (IHRE) is a collaborative project, founded on a commitment
to genuine international exchanges, inter-institutional cooperation, and interdisciplinary teaching and learning.
It is designed to support an annual intensive undergraduate program in human rights aimed at second-, third-,
and fourth-year students.
The program seeks to promote a critical understanding of human rights as part of a broad intellectual
and social movement, not simply as a code or set of laws, but as a discourse in transformation and often
in contest, extending to the humanities, social sciences, arts, and sciences.
A Brief History
IHRE was founded in 2000 as a collaborative venture of 14 Southern African universities and U.S. liberal arts colleges,
plus three civil society organizations working in the area of human rights. For five years, it offered a month-long
intensive course that was scheduled during the U.S. summer semester break. In 2006, IHRE became
a joint semester program of Bard College and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
The semester course makes possible a deep and many-sided intellectual engagement with human rights,
and opens up possibilities for substantive participation in human rights work in the form of internships or research projects.
Past Partners
Founding partners of the IHRE summer program (2000-2005) include:
U.S. Institutions: Bard College, Bryn Mawr College, Oberlin College, Morehouse College,
Spelman College, Swarthmore College, Trinity College
African Institutions: University of the Witwatersrand, University of Cape Town, University of Fort Hare,
University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of the Western Cape, University of Zimbabwe
Present Partners
Bard and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg are happy to welcome Smith College,
The University of Connecticut, and Wellesley College as members of the semester program consortium.
Students from Colby College, Hamilton College, Knox College, Oberlin College, and Vassar College have
also participated in the semester program.
For more information and to apply: Go to www.ihre.org or contact
IHRE Co-ordinator: Elanza Nakamhela
Tel : 27 11 717 1066
E-mail: elanza.nakamhela@wits.ac.za
For North American Students contact
Ms. Susan Gillespie
Director
Tel: 1 (845) 758-7082
E-mail:gillespi@bard.edu
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