ANTHROPOLOGY AND HUMAN RIGHTS : AN APPRAISAL

ANTHROPOLOGY AND HUMAN RIGHTS : AN APPRAISAL
Dr. Alok Chantia
Lecturer (Anthropology)
SJNPG College,
Lucknow
Advent of human being on this earth was as simple as that of other living
creatures. This process was going an before Neolithic when man settled down at
one place and started agriculture, animal rearing etc. Australopithecus, Homo
erectus Neanderthal all are human species who were in limited number as
compared to natural resources, survival of the fittest was true then and still now
but no alternative was before the human being to cope with nature himself,
he/she was free to go for his/her livelihood but when a profile of settled life was
sketched during Neolithic period, the whole scenario changed. Now there
generated a feeling of possession in man. This feeling was over come by the
availability of alternatives. Whole world was before a man to settle down but this
process stopped after the formation of state and nation which created boundaries
for its people with some specific characteristics.
Every country has its limit and out of which, exist a problem which is popularly
known as Human rights which advocates the minimal requirement of basis
necessities of an individual for a smooth survival.
Today the whole world is wrapped with numerous cultures, religion and every
individual belongs to some specific culture definitely. Again it is a very clear fact
that every culture has its limit and beyond this it cannot provide smooth survival
for its people, so above this culture a universal culture was developed during
second world war with a specifically coined term 'human rights'. So human right
is defined as universal culture which observes every culture within its parameter
and defines the status of violation. It is a matter of cultural relativism.
The history of human rights is contemporaneous with the development and
evolution of early man. The long stretch of years from the time of pithecanthropus
erectus to the present day it is a tale of incredible resistance to gross violations of
human rights. The study of this subject spills over to many intellectual disciplines
like anthropology, sociology etc. In each age exploitation of man by man is the
continuing refrain that runs through countries and continents under whatever
label of race, religion, colour or purely imperial designs. Plato's search for the
ideal state, has emphasis on justice, feminism and eugenics. These are features
of universal quest for an uncompromising regime of human rights as he saw it in
the governance of state. His critics over several centuries have called him an
idealist to condemn him as a propounder of impractical theories. That flame of
idealism still burns in the heart of all thinking men and women today and finds a
firm foothold in the realm of pragmatic world. It needs no resting on its onward
march before the movement of human right. It firmly establishes its
predominance in the new century we are in.
Anthropology as a subject did not only study primitive man, the broad subject
matter of anthropology is the entire life of mankind. The only reason why much
attention is devoted to tribal society by anthropologists is that tribal society
exhibits the ground plan on which the more complex structure that we call
civilization has been built up (Roy 1966:65). As a topic human right is not part of
anthropology but due to process of universalization, globalization, anthropology
human right is treated as mega culture which encompasses all local cultures for
sealing its violation. Human right is a cultural phenomenon which is framed in a
universal culture. Consciousness and availability of human right in a particular
culture can be judged on the basis of its consciousness and availability in other
cultures of the universe. It is a relative term. Efforts of man gives way to many
alternatives which make life very smooth for survival where as local culture gives
its people a platform for identity.