Book Review: Cultural Transformation and Human Rights in Africa

An-Na’im, Abdullahi Ahmed

doi:10.1177/002190960504000112

Cited by 10 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…As An-Na'im and Hammond have put it ‘the way to get a universal idea [right to health as a human right] accepted locally is to present it in local terms, which can best be done by local people. Conversely, local acceptance enriches the universal idea … by giving it meaning and relevance to people's lives’ (55). …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The right to traditional, complementary, and alternative health care

Stuttaford

Makhamreh

Coomans

et al. 2014

Global Health Action

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BackgroundState parties to human rights conventions and declarations are often faced with the seemingly contradictory problem of having an obligation to protect people from harmful practices while also having an obligation to enable access to culturally appropriate effective healing. As people increasingly migrate across the globe, previous distinctions between ‘traditional’ and ‘complementary and alternative medicine’ practices are being transcended. There are connections across transnational healing pathways that link local, national, and global movements of people and knowledge.ObjectiveThis paper contributes to the development of the concept and practice of the right to health in all its forms, exploring the right to traditional, complementary, and alternative health (R2TCAH) across different contexts.DesignThe paper draws on four settings – England, South Africa, Kenya, and Jordan – and is based on key informant interviews and a literature review undertaken in 2010, and updated in 2013. The paper begins by reviewing the international legal context for the right to health. It then considers legal and professional regulations from the global north and south.ResultsAdditional research is needed to establish the legal basis, compare regulatory frameworks, and explore patient and provider perspectives of regulation. This leads to being able to make recommendations on how to balance protection from harm and the obligation to ensure culturally appropriate services. Such an exploration must also challenge Western theories of human rights. Key concepts, such as individual harm, consent, and respect of the autonomy of the individual already established and recognised in international health law, could be adopted in the development of a template for future comparative research.ConclusionsExploration of the normative content of the right to health in all its forms will contribute to supporting traditional, complementary, and alternative health service users and providers in terms of access to information, non-discrimination, clarification of state obligations, and accountability.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The right to traditional, complementary, and alternative health care

Stuttaford

Makhamreh

Coomans

et al. 2014

Global Health Action

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“…Better understanding of the inner working of the formation and transformation of cultural norms or practices can be achieved by examining the synergy of the context and process. The focus should be on how the context, and the terms of the interaction of actors and factors, influence transformation, whether in favor of, or opposition to, the domestic protection of human rights (An‐Na'im ). The institutionalization and expansion of women's rights as human rights has been a success, providing an effective and potent way to challenge gender inequality, improve women's legal and political status, and protect women from acts of individual and collective violence (Agosín ; Hodgson ; Merry ; Peters and Andrea ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…People are generally predisposed to act in culturally sanctioned ways, but they are to adjusting degrees of agents of change in the transformation of their own culture. The speed of sustainability of change in particular ways tends to vary to the degree of stability in the circumstances of conditions of the society, and ability and willingness of social actors to engage in deliberate strategies of cultural transformation (An‐Na'im ). Culture, as representing the personality of a society, constitutes the interplay between human relations and gender boundaries.…”

Section: Culture and Human Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The notion of cultural transformation incorporates the whole process as an indigenous expression of people's right to self‐determination. Such an understanding of cultural change is crucial for the theoretical validity and practical application of human rights norms in all societies throughout the world (An‐Na'im ). From this perspective, Merry revisits central components of the “human rights cultural wars” debate: Culture is fluid, despite efforts of some cultural advocates to maintain adherence to static tradition ubiquitously referred to as the “customs of the ancestors.” She pertinently contends that there needs to be a conceptual clarification of culture in human rights practice that foregrounds the importance of translators to the human rights process and the possibilities for change in local cultural practices (Merry ).…”

Section: Culture and Human Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landless and “Childless” in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: High School Students’ Perceptions of Gendered Constitutional Rights

Mulumeoderhwa¹

2018

Law Soc Rev

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This study draws on a qualitative study to examine, using the attitudes of high school male and female students, the possibilities for change in current practices concerning women's rights to inherit property and to take the custody of children in the event of divorce. The results show that male participants view their sisters as temporary residents in the family, and believe her inheritance may benefit her husband and her children who do not belong to her father's clan. Therefore, they strongly contest her inheritance right. However, a minority of boys were receptive to certain notions of women's rights and quite ambivalent about the gender status quo. Female participants, on the other hand, perceived the customary laws and patrilineal attitudes as a hindrance for women and girls to claim their inheritance's rights although the Congolese Family Code grants them such a right. Although the law grants both husband and wife this right, socio‐cultural norms and customary law render women victims of violence. Both male and female participants also mentioned that in case of divorce, women are denied child custody.

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“…Criticizing scholars who present human rights as originating in Western political philosophy, An‐Na’im and Hammond (2002) cited evidence that human rights’ values on justice and individual dignity prevailed in precolonial African societies. The authors emphasized the need to reconceptualize human rights as a universal “expression of common struggle for social justice and resistance to oppression” (p. 19).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%