Growing in a “western society” we have learned that we are the better part of the world. We are the most “educated”, we have the most opportunities; we conquer all. Our beliefs are better than others and the way we live life is better than the way others live their lives. The problem with this thought is that it is exactly what has been fed to us. We are sheep being herded to believe we are better. Could this be applied to other cultures where they believe they are better? Due to this cultural relativism is necessary for various reasons. One of them is the need for anthropologists to not judge. Various anthropologists come from different cultures, if they all judge another culture there would be different interpretations of that culture and it wouldn’t be a scientific observation. Their interpretations wouldn’t be valid because there are discrepancies. Also, if anthropologists would judge other cultures they wouldn’t be able to truly understand that culture. For example in several African societies (which most are animistic) perform clitoridectomy on their women. To western anthropologists this may seem odd and misogynistic; feminists would try to put an end to this as well. The reason this is practiced is because they believe it hurts women to have one during intercourse, and intercourse of that tribe is to be for the man’s pleasure and for the women to reproduce. It may seem wrong to us, but anthropologists would need to understand and not try to change their beliefs. With this in mind it is hard to not practice cultural relativism.
I believe it is really difficult to transcend our own cultural background. The problem is cultural perspectives are relative. We live in what is called the “western society”. However what does the western society believe in? Freedom of speech, thought, religion, etc? Or is freedom also relative? There are so many different points of views of what people believe within our own society, who is to say my culture is western? Furthermore, what about those people who come from many different cultures? Don’t they make their own culture, unique to them and their family members? Yes, as a whole the western society believe in several similar things. The problem is that as a whole we are not looking at other cultures. One, or several, anthropologists study it. They determine if they will understand or tolerate that culture, or they may splash some of their own culture on it; their own personal culture. It is difficult for one to forget his/her personal culture which may or may not be synchronous with that of the rest of society. The question should be, how can this affect the study of other cultures, religions, and beliefs? Should we impose are cultures on others? Or should we practice transcending our culture?
Cultural relativism should always be applied whether you agree with the foreign culture or not. They are their own people with their own beliefs. Just as Anglo-Saxon Americans need to understand Hispanic beliefs, we need to do the same to more unknown cultures that we are only beginning to learn about. However, since we are human beings we tend to not only care, but believe we are always correct. No matter what culture we are from, we think our beliefs are better than the minorities. This is how it was when Spaniards conquered Cuba and tried to impose Catholicism on them. What happened in the end? Cubans formed their own religion to make the Catholic Spaniards happy and their African ancestors happy. This should not have happened. Cubans should have been allowed to practice the “witchcraft” that was considered the devil’s work. Although the Spaniards believed they were doing the right thing by saving their souls, they really weren’t in the end. We don’t always know what is right even when it seems as if there is harm being done, we shouldn’t impose our culture or beliefs on other cultures and beliefs.
Human rights fall into the same cultural perspective category. The belief of human rights is that no one should harm themselves or others. That since we were blessed with reasoning we should know not kill or harm anyone unintentionally. The problem is that what we believe to be harmful may not be harmful to other cultures. Bringing back the African tribe that performs clitoridectomy; that is a painful and inhumane practice. It is unfair that the woman is not allowed to feel any pleasure during intercourse. It is unfair that women should only have intercourse to reproduce and keep their human race from becoming extinct. But, this isn’t inhumane to them. The women have no problem with this. They don’t feel the need to feel pleasure during intercourse, they agree that they only need to reproduce, they are content with this practice and they agree with it. I think that no matter what humans shouldn’t have to be killed. I think wars are pointless and cannibalism is unnecessary. However, will these two things be considered universal human rights? To stop countries creating wars and to stop certain cultures practicing cannibalism? Probably not, because human rights are perspective and there are many who would see the right in having wars and the necessity for certain cultures to practice cannibalism. Due to this though I think anyone has the right to stop societies from living their lives in their culture. I don’t think anyone has the right to decide what is unacceptable in a culture. I believe that if someone really disagrees with a culture they can try to educate the people and let them decide for themselves. Unfortunately, even that can be misleading. Educators can be biased, and only teach what they think is right and not share what could be right of that other culture. Cultures are hard to study, because, as mentioned before, we believe we are right and we care too much for others to want them to be right like us. Education can be the tool to save us from the Jesus complex and help us understand others without imposing anything.
The easiest way to live in a globalized world is to get educated on the subject in an unbiased manner. We need to learn about other cultures and understand other religions. We need to think critically and compare cultures and societies; see where discrepancies and similarities lie. We need to learn to not judge, but to accept. We need people to have greater interests in world news, and what’s happening outside of our little bubble. We should seek to be citizens of the world, but know that each person has their own idea of culture of beliefs. We should seek to be one with everyone and understand them. We shouldn’t try to meld ourselves into one huge “world culture” and we shouldn’t impose anything on anyone. But we should be like a salad; living together in one bowl with the tomatoes being tomatoes, the lettuce being lettuce, the cucumbers being cucumbers, etc. Like a salad the vegetables live in the bowl together, but still being true to their identity as a vegetable.
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