Modern declarations on human rights have often proceeded without reference to the cultural content of rights, the existence of rights in African indigenous backgrounds, and the embodiment of certain key rights in the community itself. This paper is an attempt at developing an ‘inventory’ of rights in African cultures as a prelude to the generation both of a holistic theory of rights as well as a research agenda that can recognise the multifaceted nature of rights. It focuses on ethnographic work among two distinct ethnic groups in southeastern Nigeria–the Ubang and the Igbo.
Despite the potential dangers of privileging group rights over individual rights, when important rights are vested in the community; rights, entitlements, and privileges can also be recognized through community experiences, and realized through engagement with communities. Building on communal conceptualisations of rights in order to realise an even wider range of rights remains a largely unexplored strategy which holds promise for the achievement of sexual and reproductive health rights.
Originally published in: BMC International Health and Human Rights 2011