ABSTRACT
Justice is obviously a legal and political term in liberal societies. The risk of this top-down rather than community-based approach to justice and human rights in Africa is that the notion of human rights remains alien to most African communities, even though respect for human lives has always been present in their midst. To write about the human condition is to make human lives available for judgment. The definition of dignity is also the origin of the thoughts about human rights, strictly understood as the concretization of justice. Slaughter’s discussion of the Bildungsroman makes a persuasive argument for the power of narrative to script human rights. For African literature to be read as an inquiry or as capable of highlighting the riches of ordinary virtues, therefore, it must take the African body seriously, and it must believe in African moral agency. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
