Safe Spaces Human Rights Education in Diverse Contexts

A SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION PROJECT
and social order.” He further argues that rituals as “forms of cognition are
contrasted with practical knowledge” (ibid). These rituals instruct the community
on the social and political order. In order to keep these power relations, cultural
and religious, sacred rituals are maintained from one generation to another.
McAllister also explains (2009:281) that “(R)rituals are essential for ‘public
reflexivity’ in the course of which groups are able to take stock of various aspects
of their social situation.” Not all rituals and practices are part of the opaqueness of
discriminatory practices, therefore the main aim of the project was to identify
whether religious and cultural practices are in conflict with human rights education
and the empowerment of girls.
As mentioned before power relations in society have a big influence on how
research will be accepted and how research will impact on participants,
especially in schools, either from African, Asian and/or Western perspectives. In
South Africa, amongst most ethnic groups and religious and cultural
communities, patriarchy still has a big influence on societal structures in
communities. Research (Ahmed et al., 2005) also indicated that in spite of
support for an establishment awareness of a society free of female genital
mutilation (FGM) in the Sudan, the respondents from all walks of life (religious
leaders from different groups to professional academics at universities) still
indicated that they still support FGM for their own daughters. These double
standards (Ahmed et al., 2005:61–62) of, especially the academic professionals
on FGM, is an alarming issue. It illustrates also the way of influencing and
condoning practices supported by the power relations of a patriarchal system.
There are many examples in popular media on atrocities regarding FGM in many
parts of the developing world. In the domestic upbringing of girls, the position of
gender, their sexist roles and the particular set of values are associated with the
social order in a community. It is also interesting to note that this “positioning” is
strengthen especially by religious leaders.
Sen argues that “positionality” and the theory of justice is “the specific role of
public reasoning in the understanding of gender roles and the demands for justice”
(Sen, 2009:167). Nussbaum (2010:44) also emphasizes that “people behave badly
when the human beings over whom they have power are dehumanized and deindividualized”.
When power relations are linked to positionality, gender
disempowerment, the vulnerability of children and young girls (Satterthwaite,
Watts & Piper, 2008:42) becomes part of the social construct of the community
and society. Injustices become power obsessions and the moral basis of the
tradition, in conflict with human reasoning.
A society is governed by different social, cultural and religious principles and
values. One should therefore be cautious in making artificial distinctions between
the private and the public domain of society, especially in traditional communities.
These different social spheres are embodied by different sets of values, and the
diverse schools environments in the research represented these different sets of
values. Sen (2009:170) stated that “(P)ositioning cannot be partly or wholly
overcome in ways that take us to a less confined view.” The role of an individual
and their social position in the family and the community is important. The
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