Bonny Ibhawoh

rdf:langString Bonny Ibhawoh

rdf:langString Bonny Ibhawoh is an author and professor of global human rights and African Studies at McMaster University. His scholarship includes studies in the history of human rights, the cultural relativism of human rights, the right to development and peace/conflict studies. He is the author of several books on African History, Human Rights and Peace & Conflict studies including Imperialism and Human Rights , and Imperial Justice: Africans in Empire's Court, and Human Rights in Africa (Cambridge University Press). He is a contributor to the GIAZILO blog - a blog on "Human Rights, Social Justice and Peace." Ibhawoh is a critic of absolute cultural relativism in the interpretation of human rights norms. He has argued that the cultural relativist stance has been dominated by urban-based elites whose perception of "cultural legitimacy" focuses on the idealized and invented traditions of collectivism, definitive gender roles, and conservative patriarchy in the interpretation of moral values. His book "Imperialism and Human Rights" has been described as "one of the first to explore the role rights performed during the process of decolonization of Africa." Ibhawoh is a recipient of the John Holland Award for Professional Achievement. Ibhawoh is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a United Nations Independent Expert on the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. Ibhawoh is also the Director of McMaster University’s Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice. He is the Project Director of the Confronting Atrocity Project, and Participedia, a global scholarly network on democratic innovation.