Culture, Cultural Rights, and the Right to Assemble

This essay examines the relationship between two rights guaranteed by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the right to culture and the right to free assembly. While the right to culture has been the focus of anthropological discussions, less attention has been paid to other mechanisms that may encourage cultural preservation. Drawing upon the example of an indigenous tribal constitution, I look to the voluntary association of interest groups as an alternative legal means for sustaining specific cultural practices and conclude with a discussion of their prospects and limitations.