“Culture and human rights” in international cooperation organisations: two abstractions at risk for immersion and unconditional acceptance

Article

Jerémy Ianni published an article entitled “Culture et droits humains” dans les organisations de coopération internationales : deux abstractions à risque pour l’immersion et l’accueil inconditionnel, in issue 68 of the Revue internationale des sciences humaines et sociales, “L’éducation populaire dans tous ses états : nouvelles approches émancipatrices et défis politiques”.

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In the context of people’s education, cultural rights make it possible to consider the particularity of a context, in particular for international organisations. Yet, some international volunteers consider that the so-called local populations ought to be educated in this model of human rights, without any other intermediation than by taking culture into account. The author, based on a testimonial, shows that taking culture into account in the process of immersion and the creation of relationships of trust can turn meaningless if it is not part of a sensible experience and that culture cannot remain merely a model that treats people in a generalized manner. He then suggests considering the épistémè, the mode of production of knowledge, after demonstrating the difficulty of working with models that cannot be applied off the shelf, based on the example of Human Rights, which can also turn into a neo-imperialism within international cooperation.