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Human Rights: A Political and Cultural Critique (Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights) Paperback – October 21, 2008

by Makau Mutua (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
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In 1948 the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and with it a profusion of norms, processes, and institutions to define, promote, and protect human rights. Today virtually every cause seeks to cloak itself in the righteous language of rights. But even so, this universal reliance on the rights idiom has not succeeded in creating common ground and deep agreement as to the scope, content, and philosophical bases for human rights.

Makau Mutua argues that the human rights enterprise inappropriately presents itself as a guarantor of eternal truths without which human civilization is impossible. Mutua contends that in fact the human rights corpus, though well meaning, is a Eurocentric construct for the reconstitution of non-Western societies and peoples with a set of culturally biased norms and practices.

Mutua maintains that if the human rights movement is to succeed, it must move away from Eurocentrism as a civilizing crusade and attack on non-European peoples. Only a genuine multicultural approach to human rights can make it truly universal. Indigenous, non-European traditions of Asia, Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas must be deployed to deconstruct—and to reconstruct—a universal bundle of rights that all human societies can claim as theirs.

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Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights
  2. Print length
    264 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    University of Pennsylvania Press
  5. Publication date
    October 21, 2008
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0812220498
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0812220490
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Engaged, sometimes passionate. . . . Mutua's book is an inspiring one. . . . Viewing the human rights commitment as a self-justifying crusade, he points toward an innovative direction of research." ― Human Rights Review

"A welcome and timely contribution to a human rights discourse that is becoming increasingly monolithic. Mutua is right when he argues that the human rights movement is neither nonideological nor postideological. The mantra of universal morality tends to mask its deeply political character." ― Ethics and International Affairs

Book Description

Human Rights: A Political and Cultural Critique provides a bracing and controversial analysis of the scope of human rights and lays the groundwork for a multicultural and more universal understanding of these rights.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Pennsylvania Press; First Edition (October 21, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 264 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812220498
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812220490
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

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Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

me
5.0 out of 5 stars a very solid book and I definitely recommend it.
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
This book is very interesting, especially for comparison to western ideology as the author is of African origin. The book offered me a very interesting perspective on the subject of human rights from a totally different mindset than my own. Overall, a very solid book and I definitely recommend it.
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Dornova
5.0 out of 5 stars Third World Critique of Human Rights Movement
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2006
Mutua's book is a must-have for those seeking to understand why a hegemonic, westernized approach to human rights is so problematic. Speaking from the perspective of an "insider/outsider" (the author is a leading international human rights scholar and activist from Kenya), he examines both the positive aspirations and contributions of human rights as well as evidence of its limitations and even dangers in practice.

Rather than embrace a strong version of cultural relativism, Mutua clearly condemns violations of human rights in both North and South. Nevertheless, he demands that human rights leaders must spend time in self-examination with regard to the history, origins, and contemporary contexts in which violations occur if abuses are to be effectively combatted.

There is much here for debate and discussion both inside classrooms and among activists in the field. Along with works by Anghie, Gathii, Rajagopal, Woods & Lewis, Andrews, Knop, Wing, and others, Mutua's book is a foundational contribution to the loose network known as the "Third World Approaches to International Law" (TWAIL) movement.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Danny Anderson
4.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting and revealing read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2014
Verified Purchase
It helps understand why so many non Western nations don't easily and wholeheartedly embrace the Eurocentric, Western Human Rights movement.
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