Waubonsee Community College

Human rights in cross-cultural perspectives, a quest for consensus, edited by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 437-461) and index

index present

essays

Human rights in cross-cultural perspectives

bibliographydictionaries

1009103605

edited by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

Pennsylvania studies in human rights

a quest for consensus

Human rights violations are perpetrated in all parts of the world, and the universal reaction to such atrocities is overwhelmingly one of horror and sadness. Yet, as Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im and his contributors attest, our viewpoint is clouded and biased by the expectations native to our own culture. How do other cultures view human rights issues? Can an analysis of these issues through multiple viewpoints, both cross-cultural and indigenous, help us reinterpret and reconstruct prevailing theories of human rights? Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University and the editor of Human Rights Under African Constitutions, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press

Introduction -- Section I. General Issues of a Cross-Cultural Approach to Human Rights -- 1. Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Defining International Standards of Human Rights -- 2. Cultural Foundations for the International Protection of Human Rights -- 3. Making A Goddess of Democracy from Loose Sand -- 4. Dignity, Community, and Human Rights -- Section II. Problems and Prospects of Alternative Cultural Interpretation -- 5. Postliberal Strands in Western Human Rights Theory -- 6. Should Communities Have Rights? Reflections on Liberal Individualism -- 7. A Marxian Approach to Human Rights -- Section III. Regional and Indigenous Cultural Perspectives on Human Rights -- 8. North American Indian Perspectives on Human Rights -- 9. Aboriginal Communities, Aboriginal Rights, and the Human Rights System in Canada -- 10. Political Culture and Gross Human Rights Violations in Latin America -- 11. Custom Is Not a Thing, It Is a Path -- 12. Cultural Legitimacy in the Formulation and Implementation of Human Rights Law and Policy in Australia -- 13. Considering Gender Arc Human Rights for Women, Too? An Australian Case -- 14. Right to Self-Determination: A Basic Human Right Concerning Cultural Survival. The Case of the Sami and the Scandinavian State -- Section IV. Prospects for a Cross-Cultural Approach to Human Bights -- 15. Prospects for Research on the Cultural Legitimacy of Human Rights -- Conclusion