ABSTRACT

Covering a diverse range of topics, case studies and theories, the author undertakes a critique of the principal assumptions on which the existing international human rights regime has been constructed. She argues that the decolonization of human rights, and the creation of a global community that is conducive to the well-being of all humans, will require a radical restructuring of our ways of thinking, researching and writing. In contributing to this restructuring she brings together feminist and indigenous approaches as well as postmodern and post-colonial scholarship, engaging directly with some of the prevailing orthodoxies, such as 'universality', 'the individual', 'self-determination', 'cultural relativism', 'globalization' and 'civil society'.

chapter 1|12 pages

A civil religion

chapter 2|23 pages

White man’s rights

chapter 3|26 pages

Witches, slaves and savages

chapter 4|25 pages

Subjects, soldiers and citizens

chapter 5|25 pages

Peoples of the book

chapter 6|22 pages

Speaking truth to power

chapter 7|26 pages

Emerging images

chapter 8|27 pages

The death of the hero

chapter 9|26 pages

Ghosts in the machine

chapter 10|15 pages

Becoming human