Human Rights in Translation

Reviews / Votes

This volume provides a nuanced look at the intercultural complexities which arise-and the translations and dialogue necessary-when Western Enlightenment-infused notions of universal human rights traverse cultural and nation-state borders, especially in the spaces and contexts of the postcolonial non-West. The theoretical deliberations in the book are illuminated through current and historical case studies from across the world. These cases delve into the intersections of the universal and the local and highlight the inclusive possibilities that could emerge in the third spaces of being and knowing. By weaving together the knotty threads of the legal, policy-level, and cultural debates between individualism and individual rights, collectivism, differing cultural and societal perceptions regarding human rights and duties, and the need to protect human dignity as well as to respect cultural diversity, this volume keenly reminds us of the necessity of these debates in our world so interconnected yet fraught with violence and social injustices stemming from religious conflict, migration, the flow of refugees, gender politics, and other pressing transnational issues. -- Nilanjana Bardhan, Southern Illinois University Notably since 1945 the discourse of human rights has become global, but what does this mean in the different contexts (conceptual, social, political, legal) in which the idea has been taken up? How do ideas forged in a specific Western-European and transatlantic-tradition 'translate' (literally and metaphorically) when crossing cultures? What happens if and when they do? And how should scholars and practitioners think about these phenomena? This valuable interdisciplinary collection, with its wide-ranging theoretical chapters and empirical case studies, draws on contemporary thinking about interculturality and intercultural dialogue, and brings a refreshingly new and illuminating approach to issues which, as the editor says, admit of no easy solution. -- Ralph Grillo, University of Sussex