Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor: 14 (California Series in Public Anthropology) - Softcover

Book 9 of 50: California Series in Public Anthropology

Englund, Harri

 
9780520249240: Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor: 14 (California Series in Public Anthropology)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0520249240 ISBN 13: 9780520249240
Publisher: University of California Press, 2006

Synopsis

In this vivid ethnography, Harri Englund investigates how ideas of freedom impede struggles against poverty and injustice in emerging democracies. Reaching beyond a narrow focus on the national elite, Prisoners of Freedom shows how foreign aid and human rights activism hamper the pursuit of democratic citizenship in Africa. The book explores how activists' aspirations of self-improvement, pursued under harsh economic conditions, find in the human rights discourse a new means to distinguish oneself from the poor masses. Among expatriates, the emphasis on abstract human rights avoids confrontations with the political and business elites. Drawing on long-term research among the Malawian poor, Englund brings to life the personal circumstances of Malawian human rights activists, their expatriate benefactors, and the urban and rural poor as he develops a fresh perspective on freedom-one that recognizes the significance of debt, obligation, and civil virtues.

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About the Author

Harri Englund is University Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of From War to Peace on the Mozambique-Malawi Borderland and the editor of A Democracy of Chameleons: Politics and Culture in the New Malawi and Rights and the Politics of Recognition in Africa.

From the Back Cover

"This is an exceptionally interesting and well researched book on a topic of enormous importance. It brings careful ethnographic fieldwork to bear on the new 'culture of rights' that has developed in democratized post-colonial African states such as Malawi, and by doing so develops a powerful and consequential critique."--James Ferguson, Stanford University

"In this exceptionally rich and thought-provoking study of human rights fundamentalism in Malawi, Harri Englund makes an original contribution to debates on democracy, freedom, civil society, and poverty in Africa. His vivid ethnographic prose brings to life Malawian human rights activists, their expatriate benefactors as well as the urban and rural poor. This is a major contribution on a major topic."--Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa

From the Inside Flap

"This is an exceptionally interesting and well researched book on a topic of enormous importance. It brings careful ethnographic fieldwork to bear on the new 'culture of rights' that has developed in democratized post-colonial African states such as Malawi, and by doing so develops a powerful and consequential critique."--James Ferguson, Stanford University

"In this exceptionally rich and thought-provoking study of human rights fundamentalism in Malawi, Harri Englund makes an original contribution to debates on democracy, freedom, civil society, and poverty in Africa. His vivid ethnographic prose brings to life Malawian human rights activists, their expatriate benefactors as well as the urban and rural poor. This is a major contribution on a major topic."--Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
University of California Press
Publication date
2006
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0520249240
ISBN 13 
9780520249240
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
260

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780520249233: Prisoners of Freedom – Human Rights and the African Poor: 14 (California Series in Public Anthropology)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0520249232 ISBN 13:  9780520249233
Publisher: University of California Press, 2006
Hardcover