After examining various dimensions and alternative solutions to the tension between anthropological relativism and the universalism of human rights, the author proposes that extension of the latter originates in the ‘ethical desire’ of an ‘ethics of dissatisfaction,’ nourished by the anthropological adoption of the other’s perspective. This approach allows us to develop the theoretical foundations for an engaged anthropology and a disciplinary movement no longer defined simply as the study of others or the reflexive mirroring of the anthropologist’s world in theirs, but a disciplinary practice renewed by an ‘accessibility’ towards others that deliberately exposes anthropology to their questioning and demands.
Human Rights; Anthropological Theory; Relativism; Ethics