Abstract
Studies of ‘human rights’ as norms that affirm respect for the dignity of individuals and groups tend to devolve into debates over definitions of human rights, or how universal or culturally specific human rights are. This chapter examines some of these debates, but focuses, primarily, on how human rights have been viewed, used, and memorialized in the history of Africa. The chapter argues that human rights are both universal and culturally specific norms that have been used as ideological instruments for contesting and reinforcing oppression. While appeals to human rights norms in the post-Second World War era had a catalytic effect on the transition from colonial statehood to postcolonial nationhood in Africa, the pursuit of human rights as social policy in Africa, after the end of colonial rule, has exposed the contradictory embrace of human rights as an organizing principle in African history.
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Kissi, E. (2018). Africa and Human Rights. In: Shanguhyia, M., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Colonial and Postcolonial History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59426-6_42
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59426-6_42
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