Multiculturalism in South Africa: Dislodging the Binary between Universal Human Rights and Culture/Tradition

The aim of this article is to show how the binary opposition between the cultural rights of indigenous populations and constitutionally protected universal rights leads to a closure of the discourse about these concepts. The inability to dislodge the binary is particularly damaging in post-colonial societies where the misrecognition of cultural practices may have negative implications for women, because of its impact on the redistribution of resources. By applying Nancy Fraser's concept of recognition and redistribution to the debate on customary law and land in South Africa I want to first show the complexity of gender relations in multicultural' contexts in post-colonial societies, and second, attempt to find ways of dealing with the conflict between culture and rights in a more productive way.