Files
Abstract
There are many theories about Human Rights. However, there is an absence of an official theory that completely and specifically applies Human Rights universally. This is a problem due to Human Rights theories being interpreted in different ways in different places. I propose that by examining different Human Rights issues while keeping in mind how rights are constructed, as well as how they are typically interpreted or defined, I am able to not only examine issues that have occurred in different places but also I can make projections about the future of Human Rights as a field, as well as consider additional areas of rights that are often left out of the conversation. My literature review analyzes a selection of contemporary poetry from Latin America that exemplifies various types of Human Rights suffering. My poets of focus are Cristina Peri Rossi (Uruguay), Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua), Regina Galindo (Guatemala), Verónica Reyes (United States), Graciela Huinao (Chile), and Ana Varela Tafur (Peru). Additionally, I aim to present a pedagogical aspect, which is that poetry can be a much more effective way to examine Human Rights in literary studies as opposed to narrative and that it can be used as a valuable medium of study when examining Human Rights through literature. I also emphasize that a poetic study has a testimonial aspect and can additionally activate the suffering of the other within the reader as a co-witness.