oa Alternation - On a communitarian ethos, equality and Human Rights in Africa

Abstract

In this paper I shall look at the communitarians' accounts of human rights in Africa as conceived by scholars writing on the African experience. I shall explore their understanding of the notion of equality, and their ideas on human rights in terms of a proclaimed African communitarian ethos and proceed with a critique of these notions. I argue that despite many African thinkers' insistence that African communitarianism does encapsulate a respect for the individual's rights, dignity and liberties, communitarianism (whether it be extreme or moderate) does not enfold a paradigm of individual human rights-claims. but instead embraces an authoritarian and sexist paradigm.