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The Convention on the Rights of the Child: A cultural legitimacy critique. By Thoko Kaime. Groningen: Europa Law Publishing, 2011. Pp. v, 216. ISBN: 978-90-8952-113-2. euro48.00; US$75.00.
This brief, focused book addresses the apparent tension between universal children's rights and cultural practices. Kaime conducts a legal and anthropological analysis to advance his thesis that the tension is not as strong as other experts have contended. He argues that Western and non-Western (specifically, African) concepts of children's rights occupy a great deal of common ground but that full implementation of children's rights requires that those rights are perceived as culturally legitimate.
The author's fieldwork took place in two Malawian villages. Among the most interesting features of the book are the quotations from children and adults in these villages, although the number of people quoted is fairly small (some are quoted repeatedly). Kaime also seems to have relied heavily on the views of a Malawian children's rights facilitator. A more thorough description of the fieldwork might have reassured readers that a broad spectrum of voices was heard.1 Moreover, while Kaime is probably on safe ground in taking Malawian culture as representative of African differences, some acknowledgment of this leap would again be reassuring.
The book is organized logically, and each chapter begins with a short summary of its contents.2 A brief introduction covers purposes and methodology. Chapter two provides what the author calls the analytical context: "the structural basis of the international law of children's rights and the struggle to apply such general principles to specific situations." This chapter gives a skeletal history of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), sufficient...