“Although in certain respects it is a work of its time, Shivji’s The Concept of Human Rights in Africa is a critique of human rights that remains relevant for both a research agenda on human rights and radical politics in the 21st century.”
Paul O’Connell, Reader in Law at SOAS, University of London.
“Shivji’s book in particular firmly anchors the debate on human rights on the "social and political planes," without losing sight of the appropriate legal and philosophical dimensions.”
Joseph R. A. Ayee, Review published in Canadian Journal of African Studies /Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 25, No. 1, 1991, p. 116.
“Shivji presents a thought-provoking study, and one does not have to accept his entire perspective to find his analysis and criticisms useful. While some of his points have been well made before, he does provide a useful agenda for future human rights research on Africa.”
David R. Penna, Review published in Africa Today, 4th Qtr., 1990, Vol. 37, No. 4, p. 76.
“I would say that I have enjoyed reading this book. It is profoundly committed and very political. For those interested in human rights in Africa, it is compulsory reading, as it convincingly puts many aspects of traditional thinking into a revealing perspective.”
Filip Reyntjens, Review published in Journal of African Law, 1991, Vol. 35, No. 1/2, p. 217.
It has often been argued that the concept of human rights is an artefact of modern Western civilisation, that human rights in the South are privileges conferred. These approaches have taken little cognisance of the place accorded to the societal rights held in such esteem as complementary to individual rights in traditional African society. In contrast, this study argues that human rights in Africa are as much about the dignity of Africans as about the commitments of others towards them. It argues for a critical defence of universal human rights within a multicultural framework. From historical perspectives, it illustrates how the slave trade, and then colonialism undermined the traditional balance of individual and societal rights.
The work further traces the rise and fall and rise again of the human rights agenda in the post-independence period. It discusses the achievements of the African Commission and the African Union, and suggests ways of strengthening the human rights framework on the continent. The book came out of a conference that took place in Uppsala, Sweden in 2004 involving practitioners, scholars and activists in the field of human tights in Africa.
Lennart Wohlgemuth, Ebrima Sall
The other contributors include Hassan Bubcar Jallow, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, Jibrin Ibrahim, Frans Viljoen and Ibrahima Kane.
ISBN : 2-86978-192-x
CODESRIA 2006