1111 Human Rights in Global 2 Perspective 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 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 20111 in both local and global politics. Its chapters develop what could be termed 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 30111 of human rights and citizenship. 1 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). 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 ASA Monographs (vol. no. 40) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 Titles available: 4 24 Reason and Morality 5 Edited by Joanna Overing 6 7 29 Anthropology and Autobiography Edited by Judith Okely and Helen Callaway 8 91 30 Contemporary Futures: Perspectives from Social 20111 Anthropology 1 Edited by Sandra Wallman 2 31 Socialism: Ideals, Ideologies, and Local Practice 3 Edited by C.M. Hann 4 32 Environmentalism: The View from Anthropology 5 Edited by Kay Milton 6 7 33 Questions of Consciousness 8 Edited by Anthony P. Cohen and Nigel Rapport 9 34 After Writing Culture 30111 Edited by Allison James, Jenny Hockey and Andrew Dawson 1 35 Ritual, Performance, Media 2 Edited by Felicia Hughes-Freeland 3 4 36 The Anthropology of Power 5 Edited by Angela Cheater 6 37 An Anthropology of Indirect Communication 7 Edited by Joy Hendry and C.W. Watson 8 38 Elite Cultures 9 Edited by Cris Shore and Stephen Nugent 40111 1 39 Participating in Development 2 Edited by Paul Sillitoe, Alan Bicker and Johan Pottier 3 40 Human Rights in Global Perspective 44111 Edited by Richard Ashby Wilson and Jon P. Mitchell 1111 Human Rights in 2 3 Global Perspective 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 Anthropological studies of rights, 3 claims and entitlements 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 Edited by Richard Ashby Wilson 1 2 and Jon P. Mitchell 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 First published 2003 4 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE 5 6 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 7 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 8 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group 91 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. 20111 © 2003 Richard Ashby Wilson and Jon P. Mitchell for editorial selection 1 and material; individual contributors for their contributions 2 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or 3 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 6 writing from the publishers. 7 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data 8 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 9 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. 2 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. 5 JC 571.H769523 2003 6 323–dc21 2002036976 7 ISBN 0-203-50627-8 Master e-book ISBN 8 9 40111 ISBN 0-203-34578-9 (Adobe eReader Format) 1 ISBN 0–415–30409–1 (hbk) 2 ISBN 0–415–30410–5 (pbk) 3 44111 1111 In memoriam, Richard Ashby Wilson, 1920–2001 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 91 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 Contents 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 List of contributors ix 3 Acknowledgements x 4 5 6 Introduction: the social life of rights 1 7 RICHARD ASHBY WILSON AND JON P. MITCHELL 8 9 1 Representing the common good: the limits of 20111 legal language 16 1 KIRSTEN HASTRUP 2 3 2 Two approaches to rights and religion in 4 contemporary France 33 5 JOHN R. BOWEN 6 7 3 This turbulent priest: contesting religious rights and 8 the state in the Tibetan Shugden controversy 54 9 30111 MARTIN A. MILLS 1 2 4 Legal/illegal counterpoints: subjecthood and 3 subjectivity in an unrecognized state 71 4 YAEL NAVARO-YASHIN 5 6 5 Anthropologists as expert witnesses: political asylum 7 cases involving Sri Lankan Tamils 93 8 ANTHONY GOOD 9 40111 6 Voices from the margins: knowledge and interpellation 1 in Israeli human rights protests 118 2 RICHARD W.J. CLARKE 3 44111 viii Contents 1111 7 The uncertain political limits of cultural claims: 2 minority rights politics in south-east Europe 140 3 JANE K. COWAN 4 5 8 Using rights to measure wrongs: a case study of 6 method and moral in the work of the South African 7 Truth and Reconciliation Commission 163 8 9 FIONA C. ROSS 1011 1 9 Reproduction, health, rights: connections and 2 disconnections 183 31 MAYA UNNITHAN-KUMAR 4 5 10 Rights and the poor 209 6 JOHN GLEDHILL 7 8 11 The rights of being human 229 91 LISETTE JOSEPHIDES 20111 1 Index 251 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 Contributors 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 John R. Bowenis Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts and Sciences at the 4 Washington University, St Louis. 5 Richard W.J. Clarke received a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the 6 University of Cambridge and now works for the UK Government. 7 8 Jane K. Cowan is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of 9 Sussex. 20111 John Gledhill is Max Gluckman Professor of Social Anthropology at the 1 University of Manchester. 2 3 Anthony Goodis Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University 4 of Edinburgh. 5 Kirsten Hastrup is Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of 6 Anthropology, Copenhagen University. 7 8 Lisette Josephides is Lecturer in Anthropology at Queen’s University 9 Belfast. 30111 Martin A. Mills is Lecturer in Divinity and Religious Studies at the 1 University of Aberdeen. 2 3 Jon P. Mitchell is Reader in Anthropology at the University of Sussex. 4 Yael Navaro-Yashin is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University 5 of Cambridge. 6 7 Fiona C. Rossis Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Cape 8 Town. 9 Maya Unnithan-Kumar is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the 40111 University of Sussex. 1 2 Richard Ashby Wilson is Reader in Anthropology at the University of 3 Sussex. 44111