Human Rights in Global Perspective: Anthropological Studies of Rights, Claims and Entitlements (Asa Monographs)

270 Pages·2003·1.16 MB·English

by  Richard Wilson

1111 Human Rights in Global
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Perspective
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3 The liberal modern West often pays lip-service to universal notions of human
4 rights without considering how these work in local contexts and across
5 moral, ethical and legal codes. Do human rights agendas helpfully address the
6 problems people face, or are they better understood as a regimental impos-
7 ition of Western values onto largely non-Western communities?
8 The aim of this volume is to understand, from an anthropological per-
9 spective, the consequences of the rise of rights discussions and institutions
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1 a social critique of rights agendas and the legal process, examining how
2 these construct certain types of subjects, such as victims and perpetrators,
3 and certain types of act, such as common crimes versus crimes against human-
4 ity. This framing of the social world often unjustly neglects the complex
5 range of perspectives involved in rights processes, and elides the inherent
6 ambiguity of social life. Bringing together ethnographic perspectives from
7 Europe, North America, India and South Africa, this volume restores the
8 social dimension to rights processes, and suggests some ethical alternatives
9 to current practice. It will be a valuable addition to recent anthropologies
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2 Richard Ashby Wilson is Reader in Anthropology at the University of
3 Sussex. He has written and edited numerous works on political violence and
4 human rights, including Human Rights, Culture and Context (1997), Culture
5 and Rights (2001) and The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa
6 (2001). Jon P. Mitchell is Reader in Anthropology at the University of
7 Sussex. His books include Ambivalent Europeans (Routledge, 2001).
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1111 ASA Monographs (vol. no. 40)
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31 Titles available:
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24 Reason and Morality
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Edited by Joanna Overing
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7 29 Anthropology and Autobiography
Edited by Judith Okely and Helen Callaway
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91 30 Contemporary Futures: Perspectives from Social
20111 Anthropology
1 Edited by Sandra Wallman
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31 Socialism: Ideals, Ideologies, and Local Practice
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Edited by C.M. Hann
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32 Environmentalism: The View from Anthropology
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Edited by Kay Milton
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7 33 Questions of Consciousness
8 Edited by Anthony P. Cohen and Nigel Rapport
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34 After Writing Culture
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Edited by Allison James, Jenny Hockey and Andrew Dawson
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35 Ritual, Performance, Media
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Edited by Felicia Hughes-Freeland
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4 36 The Anthropology of Power
5 Edited by Angela Cheater
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37 An Anthropology of Indirect Communication
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Edited by Joy Hendry and C.W. Watson
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38 Elite Cultures
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Edited by Cris Shore and Stephen Nugent
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1 39 Participating in Development
2 Edited by Paul Sillitoe, Alan Bicker and Johan Pottier
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40 Human Rights in Global Perspective
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Edited by Richard Ashby Wilson and Jon P. Mitchell
1111 Human Rights in
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3 Global Perspective
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2 Anthropological studies of rights,
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claims and entitlements
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Edited by Richard Ashby Wilson
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and Jon P. Mitchell
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31 First published 2003
4 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
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6 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
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© 2003 Richard Ashby Wilson and Jon P. Mitchell for editorial selection
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and material; individual contributors for their contributions
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
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reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
4 mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
5 invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
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writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
8 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
30111 Human rights in global perspective: anthropological studies of rights,
1 claims and entitlements / edited by Richard A. Wilson and
Jon P. Mitchell.
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p. cm. – (ASA monographs; 49)
3 Includes bibliographical references and index.
4 1. Human rights. I. Wilson, Richard A., 1964– II. Mitchell, Jon P.
III. A.S.A. monographs; 49.
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JC 571.H769523 2003
6 323–dc21 2002036976
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ISBN 0-203-50627-8 Master e-book ISBN
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ISBN 0-203-34578-9 (Adobe eReader Format)
1 ISBN 0–415–30409–1 (hbk)
2 ISBN 0–415–30410–5 (pbk)
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In memoriam, Richard Ashby Wilson, 1920–2001
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List of contributors ix
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Acknowledgements x
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6 Introduction: the social life of rights 1
7 RICHARD ASHBY WILSON AND JON P. MITCHELL
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9 1 Representing the common good: the limits of
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KIRSTEN HASTRUP
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2 Two approaches to rights and religion in
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contemporary France 33
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JOHN R. BOWEN
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3 This turbulent priest: contesting religious rights and
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the state in the Tibetan Shugden controversy 54
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30111 MARTIN A. MILLS
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2 4 Legal/illegal counterpoints: subjecthood and
3 subjectivity in an unrecognized state 71
4 YAEL NAVARO-YASHIN
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6 5 Anthropologists as expert witnesses: political asylum
7 cases involving Sri Lankan Tamils 93
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ANTHONY GOOD
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6 Voices from the margins: knowledge and interpellation
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in Israeli human rights protests 118
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RICHARD W.J. CLARKE
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viii Contents
1111 7 The uncertain political limits of cultural claims:
2 minority rights politics in south-east Europe 140
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JANE K. COWAN
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8 Using rights to measure wrongs: a case study of
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method and moral in the work of the South African
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Truth and Reconciliation Commission 163
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9 FIONA C. ROSS
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1 9 Reproduction, health, rights: connections and
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31 MAYA UNNITHAN-KUMAR
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5 10 Rights and the poor 209
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JOHN GLEDHILL
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11 The rights of being human 229
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LISETTE JOSEPHIDES
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Index 251
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1111 Contributors
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3 John R. Bowenis Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts and Sciences at the
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Richard W.J. Clarke received a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the
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University of Cambridge and now works for the UK Government.
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8 Jane K. Cowan is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of
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John Gledhill is Max Gluckman Professor of Social Anthropology at the
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University of Manchester.
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3 Anthony Goodis Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University
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Kirsten Hastrup is Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of
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Anthropology, Copenhagen University.
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8 Lisette Josephides is Lecturer in Anthropology at Queen’s University
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Martin A. Mills is Lecturer in Divinity and Religious Studies at the
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University of Aberdeen.
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3 Jon P. Mitchell is Reader in Anthropology at the University of Sussex.
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Yael Navaro-Yashin is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University
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of Cambridge.
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7 Fiona C. Rossis Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Cape
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Maya Unnithan-Kumar is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the
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University of Sussex.
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2 Richard Ashby Wilson is Reader in Anthropology at the University of
3 Sussex.
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