Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction Abdullahi A. An-Nacim Section I. General Issues of a Cross-Cultural Approach to Human Rights 1. Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Defining International Standards of Human Rights: The Meaning of Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Abdullahi A. An-Nac im 19 2. Cultural Foundations for the International Protection of Human Rights Richard Falk 44 3. Making a Goddess of Democracy from Loose Sand: Thoughts on Human Rights in the People's Republic of China William P. Alford 65 4. Dignity, Community, and Human Rights Rhoda E. Howard 81 Section II. Problems and Prospects of Alternative Cultural Interpretation 5. Postliberal Strands in Western Human Rights Theory: Personalist-Communitarian Perspectives Virginia A. Leary 105 1 vi Contents 6. Should Communities Have Rights? Reflections on Liberal Individualism Michael McDonald 133 7. A MarxianApproach to Human Rights Richard Nordahl 162 Section III. Regional and Indigenous Cultural Perspectives on Human Rights 8. North American Indian Perspectives on Human Rights James W. Zion 191 9. Aboriginal Communities, Aboriginal Rights, and the Human Rights System in Canada Allan McChesney 221 10. Political Culture and Gross Human Rights Violations in Latin America HugoFruhling 253 11. Custom Is Not a Thing, It Is a Path: Reflections on the Brazilian Indian Case Manuela Carneiro da Cunha 276 12. Cultural Legitimacy in the Formulation and Implementation of Human Rights Law and Policy inAustralia Patricia Hyndman 295 13. Considering Gender: Are Human Rights for Women, Too? An Australian Case Diane Bell 339 14. Right to Self-Determination: A Basic Human Right Concerning Cultural Survival. The Case of the Sami and the Scandinavian State Tom G. Svensson 363 Contents vii Section IV. Prospects for a Cross-Cultural Approach to Human Rights 15. Prospects for Research on the Cultural Legitimacy of Human Rights: The Cases of Liberalism and Marxism Tore Lindholm 387 Conclusionn Abdullahi A. An-Nac im 427 Bibliography 437 Contributors 463 Index 469 ...