A aljava e o arco: o que a África tem a dizer sobre Direitos Humanos - um estudo da Carta Mandinga

Abstract

This investigation is focused in Manden Charte or Kurukanfuga Pact, an African oral document from the 13th century. The study of this Pact allowed the approach with an African perspective of the so-called rights of the people or human rights. The Kurukanfuga Pact was the constitution of the Mali Empire created in 1235 by the maghan (emperor) Sundjata Keita and the Assembly (Gbara) of manden community. In a moment of political and social changes, the manden hunters (simbon) swore an oath to ensure the well-being of their community in the 11th century. Two century later, the oath, by means of oral transmissions, served as inspiration for the Manden Charte. This oral document was inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity kept by Unesco. This thesis contains the first translation into Portuguese of the oath of the hunters and the Manden Charte, which is analyzed and contextualized through historiographic debates with African historians and philosophers. The present study raises a discussion of peoples' right perspective that goes beyond the Western propositions, considering, above all, the pioneering of this African oral document in this scope