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- From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
- Subject: 3RD WORLD RESOURECES V8 N3: BOOKS: Human Rights
- Message-ID: <1992Sep4.234614.16924@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 23:46:14 GMT
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- [Via misc.activism.progressive from PeaceNet's twr.nl]
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- The following is from the quarterly magazine, THIRD WORLD
- RESOURCES: A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF RESOURCES FROM AND ABOUT THE THIRD
- WORLD; subscriptions to the 24-page hardcopy edition are $35/year
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- Topic 123 BOOKS, 8:3 - 1992 Response 9 of 16
- tfenton
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-
- ***<HUMAN RIGHTS IN CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES: A QUEST FOR
- CONSENSUS.> Abd Allah Ahmad Na'im, ed. University of
- Pennsylvania Press, 418 Service Dr., Philadelphia, PA
- 19104-6097. 1992. vii + 479 pp. $32.95. Cloth. ISBN 0-8122-
- 3104-X. Notes, bibliography, index.
-
- Forty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration
- of Human Rights the discrepancy between the theory and the
- practice of those rights is all too apparent. Perhaps
- international standards for human rights are not really
- universal because they "lack legitimacy in major cultural
- traditions." An international conference convened by the
- University of Saskatchewan in 1989 attempted to address the
- fact of and the reasons for this apparent discrepancy from a
- cross-cultural perspective. The papers for that conference
- (Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives) form the basis
- for this book.
-
- Understandably not a book to be read from cover to cover, in
- it is something for everyone. The chapter entitled
- "Considering Gender: Are Human Rights for Women, Too? An
- Australian Case" might catch the eye, for example. There the
- reader will find scholarly discourse, good sense, down-to-
- earth Australian experiences applicable to the wider world,
- clear and clever expression, and real nuggets of wisdom. Or
- a particular contributor might draw the reader: Richard
- Falk, who has written extensively on international law,
- international relations, the environment, and peace, here
- offers a major article on the cultural foundations for the
- international protection of human rights.
-
- The essays are organized into four sections: general issues
- and basic problems, the prospects and problems of cultural
- reconstruction within the liberal and Marxist traditions,
- case studies from certain regions and countries, and the
- theoretical and practical implications of the cross-cultural
- approach.
-
- Forestalling criticism, the editor in his introduction
- explains the emphasis on so-called Western perspectives in
- the book because of their "formative impact on the human
- rights field...[and] because liberalism and Marxism are, and
- will continue to be, relevant and highly influential in many
- parts of the world." This is not to say that much of the
- material does not pertain to other than Western cultures, as
- essays on Latin America, China, and indigenous cultures in
- Australia, Brazil, and North America show. The analysis and
- critical thinking embodied in this book make a substantial
- contribution to the furtherance of human rights in our
- diverse world.
-
-
-
-