Cultural Rights in International Law and Discourse

Receiving his PhD from the University of Nottingham, CHOW Pok Yin Stephenson, is currently an Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong. He is a member of the Society of Legal Scholars and the Asian Society of International Law. Qualified as a New York State Attorney, he also served as an executive committee member of the American Bar Association, Section of International Law, Hong Kong Chapter in 2015. Chow's research interest includes public international law, international human rights law, and the dynamics of culture and international law. His recent publications include: Culture as Collective Memories: An Emerging Concept of Culture in International Law and Discourse on Cultural Rights and Reservations as Unilateral Acts? Examining the International Law Commission’s Approach to Reservations published respectively in Human Rights Law Review (Oxford University Press) and the International & Comparative Law Quarterly (Cambridge University Press).

• PrefaceList of Abbreviations and Acronyms1 Introduction: Cultural Rights—A Radical Hope?1.1 Clarifications of Scope and Approach1.1.1 The Distinction between Minority Rights and Cultural Rights1.1.2 The Relationship between Cultural Rights and Other Freedoms1.1.3 The Distinction between Cultural Rights and the Protection of Culture1.1.4 Culture, Anthropology and Human Rights1.1.5 On Defining Culture2 Culture and Anthropology2.1 Introduction2.2 Sameness and Difference2.2.1 Culture, Behaviour and Thought2.3 Forms of Abstraction and Forms of Explanation2.3.1 Culture as Functional2.4 Culture and the Study of Meanings2.4.1 Interpreting Culture2.4.2 Culture and Social Processes2.5 Meanings and Practice: Contemporary Perspectives2.5.1 Practice and the Habitus2.5.2 The Habitus and the Reproduction of Power2.5.3 Heritage, Power and Practice2.6 Discourse and Identity: The Narrativisation of the Self2.6.1 Identity and Resistance: Gender2.7 Conclusions3 Cultural Rights in the Work of the Treaty Bodies3.1 Introduction3.2 The un Human Rights Treaty Bodies3.2.1 The Working Methods of the un Human Rights Treaty Bodies3.2.2 The Significance of the Work of the Treaty Bodies3.3 Cultural Rights in the Work of the Treaty Bodies3.3.1 Cultural Rights and the cescr3.3.2 General Principles Governing Article 15 of the icescr3.3.3 Definitions of Culture and Derived Obligations under Article 15 of the icescr3.3.4 Culture as High and Popular Culture3.3.5 Culture as a Way of Life3.3.6 Cultural Identity3.3.7 Cultural Diversity3.3.8 The Survival of Culture3.3.9 Three Dimensions of Culture3.4 Insights from Anthropology into the Work of the Treaty Bodies3.4.1 The Limits of Cultural Rights3.4.2 Implications of Contemporary Anthropology3.4.3 Other Uses of ‘culture’3.5 Conclusions4 Cultural Rights and the Human Rights Treaty Bodies: The Limitations on Cultural Rights4.1 Introduction4.2 The Legal Framework around the Limitations on Cultural Rights4.2.1 Gender Discrimination and Culture4.3 ‘Culture’ in the Context of Limitations4.3.1 Consequences of Conflating Culture with Values, Beliefs and Stereotypical Roles4.3.2 Understanding the Experiences of Women through the Concepts of Identity and Subjectivity: Anthropological Perspectives4.4 Conclusions5 Conclusions: Cultural Rights and Insights from Anthropology5.1 Introduction5.2 Theories of Culture in Anthropology: From Linear Evolutionism to Culture as a System of Narratives and Discourses5.3 The Multiple Dimensions of ‘culture’ in the Context of Cultural Rights: From Arts and Institutions to Process and Symbols5.3.1 The Transfigurability of Culture and Its Jurisprudential Implications5.4 Limitations on Cultural Rights: Notions of Choice and Identity5.5 Further Implications: Beyond Legal NarrativesBibliography