Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story

Sonraí bibleagrafaíochta
Príomhchruthaitheoir:	Ibne Ismail, Md. Ishrat
Rannpháirtithe:	English and Humanities, BRAC University
Formáid:	Alt
Teanga:	English
Foilsithe / Cruthaithe:	© 2016 Published by BRAC University 2016
Ábhair:	Universalism Cultural relativism Human rights
Rochtain ar líne:	http://hdl.handle.net/10361/6778

id	10361-6778
record_format	dspace
spelling	10361-67782019-09-30T03:23:29Z Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story Ibne Ismail, Md. Ishrat English and Humanities, BRAC University Universalism Cultural relativism Human rights This article was published in the BRAC University Journal [© 2016 Published by BRAC University] Ama Ata Aidoo’s Changes documents the changing situations of contemporary women in Accra, Ghana. The novel deals with an idea of the Western-styled universalist language of women’s rights, a concept that constructs certain understandings of women’s rights as applicable to all women. The protagonist Esi’s preference for polygamy as a potentially liberating system for a professional woman appears to challenge a universal thought of what women rights should be, especially with the understanding that polygamy is patriarchal. However, Esi’s preference brings up the notion of cultural relativism and challenges the universal claims of human rights. Cultural realities – developed over ages in different societies – complicate any universal vision of human rights. Considering the conflicts between universalism and cultural relativism, this paper investigates how Aidoo uses Esi (after her choice of polygamy over monogamy) to confirm the fact that cultural realities relative to a Ghanaian society complicate any universalist approach to the rights of a woman. Hence, the novel can be interpreted as an effort to question the totalizing claims of women’s rights that are based on Western notions of what women’s and human rights should be. Published 2016-11-08T06:36:57Z 2016-11-08T06:36:57Z 2016 2016-10 Article Ibne Ismail , M. I. (2016). Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story. BRAC University Journal, 11(01), 17–22. 1811-3079 http://hdl.handle.net/10361/6778 en 22 pages application/pdf © 2016 Published by BRAC University
institution	Brac University
collection	Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	Universalism Cultural relativism Human rights
spellingShingle	Universalism Cultural relativism Human rights Ibne Ismail, Md. Ishrat Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story
description	This article was published in the BRAC University Journal [© 2016 Published by BRAC University]
author2	English and Humanities, BRAC University
author_facet	English and Humanities, BRAC University Ibne Ismail, Md. Ishrat
format	Article
author	Ibne Ismail, Md. Ishrat
author_sort	Ibne Ismail, Md. Ishrat
title	Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story
title_short	Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story
title_full	Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story
title_fullStr	Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story
title_full_unstemmed	Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story
title_sort	cultural relativism and human rights in ama ata aidoo’s changes: a love story
publisher	© 2016 Published by BRAC University
publishDate	2016
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10361/6778
work_keys_str_mv	AT ibneismailmdishrat culturalrelativismandhumanrightsinamaataaidooschangesalovestory
_version_	1814309840662560768

Cultural relativism and human rights in Ama Ata Aidoo’s changes: a love story

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