Rights, by Richard Falk.

Human rights violations are perpetrated in all parts of the world, and the universal reaction to such atrocities is overwhelmingly one of horror and sadness. Yet, as Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im and his contributors attest, our viewpoint is clouded and biased by the expectations native to our own culture. How do other cultures view human rights issues? Can an analysis of these issues through multiple viewpoints, both cross-cultural and indigenous, help us reinterpret and reconstruct prevailing theories of human rights?

This powerful volume challenges the conventional view that the concept of human rights is peculiar to the West and, therefore, inherently alien to the non-Western traditions of third world countries. This book demonstrates that there is a contextual legitimacy for the concept of human rights. Virginia A. Leary and Jack Donnelly discuss the Western cultural origins of international human rights; David Little, Bassam Tibi, and Ann Elizabeth Mayer explore Christian and Islamic perspectives on human rights; Rhoda E. Howard, Claude E. Welch, Jr., and James C. N. Paul examine human rights in the context of the African nation-state; Kwasi Wiredu, James Silk, and Francis M. Deng offer African cultural perspectives; and Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im and Richard D. Schwartz discuss prospects for a cross-cultural approach to human rights.

This book presents an integral, cross-cultural reflection on the social reality of children's rights and citizenship, giving an insight into new perspectives on the history and different concepts of children's rights in a contextualized and localized manner.

Exploring notions of the person through a wide range of anthropological literature, Cathrine Degnen analyses how personhood is built, affirmed, and maintained during various life stages and via multiple cultural forms and practices. In discussing the life course, she investigates personhood as a concept at the beginning of life, throughout life as lived, at the edges of being, and ultimately at life’s end. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Personhood and the Life Course moves beyond the human person in isolation to consider how personhood is fashioned with regard to place and how non-humans can also be recognised as persons. Through multiple ethnographic accounts, Degnen shows that personhood emerges as a relational and processual entity, brought into being via reciprocal fields of social relations.

This book recognizes the importance of an informed cross-cultural understanding of the policies and practices of different societies within the field of disability, human rights and education. It represents an attempt to critically engage with issues arising from the historical and contemporary domination of portrayals of 'the western' as advanced, democratic and exemplary, in contrast to the construction of the 'rest of the world' as backward, primitive and inferior in these fundamental areas. How human rights are understood in different contexts is a key theme in this book. Importantly, some contributors raise questions about the value of a 'human rights' model across all societies. Other contributors see the struggle for human rights as at the heart of the struggle for an inclusive society. The implications for education arising from this debate are identified, and a series of questions are raised by each author for further reflection and discussion as well as providing a stimulus for developing future research. Disability, Human Rights and Education is recommended reading for students and researchers interested in Disability Studies, inclusive education and social policy. It is also directly relevant to professionals and policy makers in the field seeking a greater understanding of cross-cultural perspectives.

The book contains case studies that examine the coexistencw and clashes of different cultures as they impinge on human rights issues.