A Human Rights View of the Past

This Element shows human rights perspective benefits the study of the past and its dimensions of time, memory, and history.

Antoon De Baets (Author)

9781009345941, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 January 2025

80 pages
23 x 15.1 x 0.5 cm, 0.135 kg

The idea of human rights has been much criticized from a historical perspective but curiously enough its theoretical and practical contributions to the study of time, memory, and history have never been systematically explored. How is it to look at the past from a human rights perspective? How can historical writing benefit from applying a human rights logic? In tackling these questions, the Element first clarifies what a human rights view of the past is. The constituent dimensions of the past – time, memory, and history – are then reviewed, indicating what a human rights perspective can add to the study of each. Finally, the benefits accruing froma human rights view of the past to historical theory and practice are highlighted.

Introduction
1. A human rights view of the past
2. A human rights view of time intermezzo: the international freedom of expression framework
3. A human rights view of memory
4. A human rights view of history
General Conclusion
Bibliography
Biographical Note.

Subject Areas: History: theory & methods [HBA]