Religion and human rights in Africa - ASC Research Seminar

Gerrie ter Haar is Professor of Religion, Human Rights and Social Change at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. As a scholar of religion, she has published widely on religious developments in Africa as well as on African migrants in Europe (Halfway to Paradise: African Christians in Europe, Cardiff Academic Press, 1998). Her most recent work includes Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa (London: Hurst & Co./New York: OUP, 2004), written with Stephen Ellis; and Bridge or Barrier: Religion, Violence and Visions for Peace (Leiden: Brill, 2005), edited with James J. Busuttil.

In Africa (as in many other parts of the world), people generally consider their social relations to extend into the invisible world. Hence, it is important to take religion into account when discussing human rights concerning Africa. The scholarly approach to human rights has been increasingly characterized by a process of juridification, or subjection to a purely legal approach, while religion in Africa has been considered by scholars overwhelmingly in cultural terms only. This talk is part of a larger project considering the role of religion in human rights and development more generally.