Recent critical approaches on human rights have exalted the potentiality of this category for seeking progressive agendas (Santos 2007) insofar as they are enacted within counter-hegemonic cognitive frames (Rajagop...Recent critical approaches on human rights have exalted the potentiality of this category for seeking progressive agendas (Santos 2007) insofar as they are enacted within counter-hegemonic cognitive frames (Rajagopal 2006) towards the construction of "subaltern human rights" (Onazi 2009). Others,. however, have pointed out that the human rights institutional and political hegemony makes other valuable emancipatory strategies less available, and that this foregrounds problems of participation and procedure at the expense of distribution (Kennedy 2005). Finally, others have explained how the abstractedness of the category entails a de-politicization (Rancière 2004; Zizek 2005; Douzinas 2007) or an emptiness that, of course, can be filled by progressive activism, but whose substance is easily reappropriated by those in power (Miéville 2005). By engaging with the above-mentioned perspectives, and following the decolonial approach (Mignolo 2009; 2011), I suggest that the category human rights can be decolonized and being used for progressive agendas only after a comprehensive critique of liberal legality (that entails a critique of liberal abstract rationality, political economy, and modernity/coloniality) has been performed.展开更多
Marriage is one of the valued institutions in the traditional African society. Incidentally, it has its own challenges. When a young man or woman gets to a certain age and he/she is not married, society frowns at it. ...Marriage is one of the valued institutions in the traditional African society. Incidentally, it has its own challenges. When a young man or woman gets to a certain age and he/she is not married, society frowns at it. Thus, many couples enter into marriage relationships with a lot of excitements and expectations. However, losing one's spouse to death robs one of all these excitements and expectations and exposes the bereaved spouse to some dehumanizing challenges. These challenges are mostly experienced by women in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. These women are subjected to dehumanizing practices which are socially accepted in the region. This paper attempts a comparative study of some of the practices imposed on widows in Eastern Nigeria. A sample of 200 participants was purposively selected from two states in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. The study adopted the qualitative research method. Thus, the analysis was made using descriptive method. The study showed that these inhuman traditional practices in Eastern Nigeria are initiated and perpetrated by the kinsmen (Umunna and Umuada). It also showed that the widowhood treatment is meted out on all widows, but the severity or less severity of these treatments are dependent on the socio-economic and other attributes of the widow. Finally, recommendations were made, which include the need to protect the fundamental rights of widows and their children.展开更多
Different from the elementary acceptability of the desirable good, the fight refers to the proper acceptability of the abhorrent evil caused by human action aiming at some good in its paradoxical structure due to the ...Different from the elementary acceptability of the desirable good, the fight refers to the proper acceptability of the abhorrent evil caused by human action aiming at some good in its paradoxical structure due to the conflict of diverse goods. As one of the most fundamental and important standards of human values, then, it has both the negative function to prevent unacceptable evils and the positive one to achieve permissible goods, and therefore can guarantee human intended existence against substantive destruction.展开更多
文摘Recent critical approaches on human rights have exalted the potentiality of this category for seeking progressive agendas (Santos 2007) insofar as they are enacted within counter-hegemonic cognitive frames (Rajagopal 2006) towards the construction of "subaltern human rights" (Onazi 2009). Others,. however, have pointed out that the human rights institutional and political hegemony makes other valuable emancipatory strategies less available, and that this foregrounds problems of participation and procedure at the expense of distribution (Kennedy 2005). Finally, others have explained how the abstractedness of the category entails a de-politicization (Rancière 2004; Zizek 2005; Douzinas 2007) or an emptiness that, of course, can be filled by progressive activism, but whose substance is easily reappropriated by those in power (Miéville 2005). By engaging with the above-mentioned perspectives, and following the decolonial approach (Mignolo 2009; 2011), I suggest that the category human rights can be decolonized and being used for progressive agendas only after a comprehensive critique of liberal legality (that entails a critique of liberal abstract rationality, political economy, and modernity/coloniality) has been performed.
文摘Marriage is one of the valued institutions in the traditional African society. Incidentally, it has its own challenges. When a young man or woman gets to a certain age and he/she is not married, society frowns at it. Thus, many couples enter into marriage relationships with a lot of excitements and expectations. However, losing one's spouse to death robs one of all these excitements and expectations and exposes the bereaved spouse to some dehumanizing challenges. These challenges are mostly experienced by women in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. These women are subjected to dehumanizing practices which are socially accepted in the region. This paper attempts a comparative study of some of the practices imposed on widows in Eastern Nigeria. A sample of 200 participants was purposively selected from two states in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. The study adopted the qualitative research method. Thus, the analysis was made using descriptive method. The study showed that these inhuman traditional practices in Eastern Nigeria are initiated and perpetrated by the kinsmen (Umunna and Umuada). It also showed that the widowhood treatment is meted out on all widows, but the severity or less severity of these treatments are dependent on the socio-economic and other attributes of the widow. Finally, recommendations were made, which include the need to protect the fundamental rights of widows and their children.
文摘Different from the elementary acceptability of the desirable good, the fight refers to the proper acceptability of the abhorrent evil caused by human action aiming at some good in its paradoxical structure due to the conflict of diverse goods. As one of the most fundamental and important standards of human values, then, it has both the negative function to prevent unacceptable evils and the positive one to achieve permissible goods, and therefore can guarantee human intended existence against substantive destruction.