ABSTRACT

The previous chapter focused on ways in which national narratives are disrupted. However, we cannot stop at the boundaries of individual nations, and this chapter draws out the lessons of such disruption for international contexts, particularly the language of human rights. As you have seen, Bhabha’s work complicates our understanding of majority and minority identities, and this complication has clear implications for majority and minority cultures. His most recent work explores the connection between discourses of culture and discourses of human rights by focusing on cultural rights, which are guaranteed by international agreement. Bhabha argues that, while such international agreements are important, the very fact that they are (necessarily) agreements between nations means they neglect the rights of cultures that are not national. The experience of such cultures demands a transformation of human rights discourse.