The Intersection between Art and Human Rights

Abstract

This article asks the initial question of what the arts in general and literature in particular have contributed to social justice and human rights, and it addresses the question in a Latin American context. The humanities and social sciences have become an engaging dialogic encounter between political, historical, legal, and ethical discourses on human rights and cultural texts including literature (poetry, memoir, testimony, and its particular Latin American form – testimonio – as well as narrative), the visual and performing arts, film, and popular culture. The article presents the Chilean-American poet and human rights activist Marjorie Agosín and her negation of forgetfulness and oblivion in this context.