Africa and the Shaping of International Human Rights

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-0-19-885962-8
Verlag: Hurst & Co.

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 408 g

Africa throughout its postcolonial history has been plagued by human rights abuses ranging from intolerance of political dissent to heinous crimes such as genocide. Some observers consequently have gone so far as to suggest that human rights are a concept alien to African cultures. The International Criminal Court (ICC)'s focus on Africa in recent years has reinforced the region's reputation as a hotspot for human rights violations.

But despite Africa's notoriety concerning human rights, Africa and the Shaping of International Human Rights argues that the continent has been pivotal in helping to shape contemporary human rights norms and practices. Challenging prevailing Eurocentric interpretations of human rights' origins and evolution, it demonstrates that from the colonial era to the present Africa's peoples have drawn attention to and prompted novel ways of thinking about human rights through their encounters
with the world at large. Beginning with the depredations of King Leopold II in the Congo Free State in the 1880s and ending with the ICC's current activities in Africa, it reveals how African events, personalities, groups, and nations have influenced the trajectory of human rights history in intriguing and
critical ways, in the end enlarging and universalizing a major discourse of our time.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Nault, Derrick M

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte

Über Autor(innen)

Derrick M. Nault is a project associate professor at the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan. He is the co-editor of Globalization and Human Rights in the Developing World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and Experiencing Globalization: Religion in Contemporary Contexts (Anthem Press, 2013). He holds a Ph.D. in African History from Queen's University, Canada.