Transcript Cultural Relativism

ETH501
Cultural
relativism,
gender &
ethics
Week 6
Culture: definition
‘Culture has been defined in a
number of ways, but most simply,
as the learned and shared
behavior of a community of
interacting human beings’
Useem, J., & Useem, R. (1963) Human Organizations,
22(3), (p. 169)
Cultural relativism
Every culture has its own ethical
framework to regulate the proper
behavior of its members
Different cultures/societies have
different moral codes
Good = what is socially approved
in a given culture
Values:
* Veidokai
(respectful)
* Vakarokoroko
(deferent)
Think: How do
these values shape
ideas over what is
right or wrong in
any situation.
Cultural differences argument
Cultural relativists think that societies
disagree widely about morality, and
that there are no clear ways to
resolve these differences. They
conclude that there are no objective
values. Cultural relativists view
themselves as tolerant; they see
other cultures, not as wrong, but as
different’
(http://www.jcu.edu/philosophy/gensler/et/et-01-00.html)
Padaung Tribe of Burma
INUIT (ESKIMOES)
The snow used to build an igloo must have sufficient
structural strength to be cut and stacked in the
appropriate manner. The best snow to use for this
purpose is snow which has been blown by wind, which
can serve to compact and interlock the ice crystals. The
hole left in the snow where the blocks are cut from is
usually used as the lower half of the shelter. Sometimes,
a short tunnel is constructed at the entrance to reduce
wind and heat loss when the door is opened. Due to
snow's excellent insulating properties, inhabited igloos
are surprisingly comfortable inside.
The architecture of the igloo is unique in that it is dome
that can be raised out of independent blocks leaning on
each other and polished to fit without a previous
supporting structure.
Inuit Eskimoes
“Knud Rasmussen, one of the
most famous early explorers,
reported that he met one
woman who had bourne 20
children but had killed 10 of
them at birth. Female babies
he found were especially liable
to be destroyed, and this was
permitted simply at the parents’
discretion… Old people also,
when they became too feeble to
contribute to the family, were
left out in the snow to die.”
(Rachels, 1999, pg21)
Worldview of Yanomamo
Yanomamo live in the
Amazonian Forest
-Hostile environment (wars)
-Encourage violence and
aggression
-Yanomamo boys are rarely
punished. For hitting either
parents or girls.
Yanomamo man allows his son to do the following:
“Ariwari is only 4 years old but has learnt that the response to a
flash of anger is to strike someone with his hand and it is not
uncommon to give his father a healthy smack in the face whenever
something displeases him…”
A nationwide campaign is under
way in Cameroon to discourage
the widespread practice of "breast
ironing".
This involves pounding and
massaging the developing breasts of
young girls with hot objects to try to
make them disappear.
Many mothers have no regrets about
ironing their daughter's breasts.
Most tools are warmed before
pounding the girls' chests
"Breast ironing is not a new thing. I
am happy I protected my daughter. I
could not stand the thought of boys
spoiling her with sex before she
completed school," one woman
explained.
"Unfortunately, television is
encouraging all sorts of sexual
immorality in our children." BBC
News, 23 June 2006
BBC News, 23/6/2006
BBC News, 23/6/2006)
Statistics
show that
26%
of
Cameroonian girls at puberty undergo
it, as many mothers believe it protects
their daughters from the sexual
advances of boys and men who think
children are ripe for sex once their
breasts begin to grow (BBC News, 23
June 2006).
The most widely used instrument to
flatten the breasts is a wooden pestle,
used for pounding tubers in the
kitchen. Heated bananas and coconut
shells are also used.
Anthropologist Dr Flavien Ndonko
says that breast ironing is not an
effective method of preventing early
sex and pregnancies because many
of the girls still become pregnant. He
recommends plain talking between
parents and their daughters.
CASE STUDY: SAMBIA TRIBE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Boys and girls are attached to
their mothers at infancy.
A powerful factor is the
father’s aloofness.
In Sambia culture, too much
contact with mother and child
is polluting and unmanly.
Rituals teaches men to be tough. Warriors are trained to kill.
“Suppose you see a woman carrying firewood, a pile of food
and she complains. Her husband is carrying nothing. The man
must carry the baby. The man will say,
“I’ve given the baby to you. Its something that
belongs to you. If the man carries a child his skin will slacken,
he can become weak, age quickly…”
CASE STUDY ON HOMOSEXUALITY – SAMBIA OF PAPUA
NEW GUINEA - Sambia value homosexuality because it
is part of male initiation rituals.
Among the Sambia, who inhabit the Southeastern
Highlands of Papua New Guinea, every male had
to go through a series of six stages of initiation
that lasted approximately ten years.
Teenagers who were between puberty and the
age of marriage "implanted" their semen daily in
boys between age nine and puberty, so that it
would spread its perceived male virtue through
their growing bodies. At marriage, youths became
bisexuals for a time. After fatherhood,
homosexuality ceased as men became
exclusively heterosexual. This process has been
witnessed in other tribal Pacific cultures too.
These Pacific Island men were absolutely
convinced of their innate lack of semen and of
the necessity of the homosexual rituals, and they
transmitted their convictions to boys through
ritual teaching. Their beliefs were substantiated
when, after years of ritualized homosexuality, the
signs of strength and masculinity took physical
form in the initiates.
Anthropologists: Franz Boas &
Alfred Kroeber
Two main ideas behind cultural
relativism:
1) Different societies have
different moral codes
2) No one culture’s moral codes
are better than anyone else’s.
The principle of different but equal!
(video clip: PNG)
Inequalities between cultures
Reaction against relations of dominance
and subordination e.g. colonialism
British in Fiji, French in New Caledonia,
Germans & Americans in Samoa
The colonialists thought that their way
was right/superior
Key strengths to Cultural
Relativism
• Teaches us to respect and to be
tolerant of other cultures
• It encourages us to reflect upon our
own culture and examine our beliefs
• It acknowledges the problem
regarding how all people believe their
own culture is best
• Its seen as more scientific
Weakness to Cultural Relativism
• It prevents talking sensibly about what is
right and wrong
• It can not allow for moral progress
• Do we really disagree that much: if you
lived in the Arctic Circle you might be a bit
tougher about life
• In protecting ourselves from the other
cultures, are vulnerable from attack from
within? eg: abuse of traditions by powerful.
• Saying something is wrong is not the same
as forcing someone to agree.
Gender inequalities
within cultures
There are also inequalities
between men and women in
the same culture
This is because most cultures
are patriarchal
Patriarchy
Rule/power of the father
A social system in which the father
is the head of the family & men
have authority over women &
children.
A family or society based on this
system or governed by men
Man as ‘self’; woman as other -
Aristotle held that women are defective
men, human beings lacking in what is
essential to the nature of man; the
ability to reason. He thought the nature
of men is to reason in ways that are
distinctively human; the nature and
function of women is to reproduce, like
other animals (Held, V. 2006:59)
Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) claims
that women are incapable of being fully
moral because of their reliance on
emotion rather than reason. Kant said
women were not fit to vote, that they
needed the guidance of more rational
males. Autonomy was not really for
women (MacKinnon, B. 2004).
Dr Carol Gilligan
Feminists like Dr Carol Gilligan, a social and
moral psychologist in her book In a Different
Voice (1982) and Dr Nel Noddings Caring: a
feminine approach to ethics & Moral Education
(1984) argue that:
 traditional ethical theories have emphasised
independence, individualism and rights
 Women have been left out of the history of
ethics; women have been portrayed in very
negative ways by philosophers across the
ages
 Traditional moral theories ignore, trivialize
and demean (degrade) values and virtues
culturally associated with women
Dr Nel Noddings
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR
(1908-1986)
http://www.fanpix.net/picturegallery/simone-de-beauvoirpicture-10504727.htm
The Second Sex has been
described as the most
important work in the history of
feminist writing.
De Beauvoir attempted to
describe what it means to be a
woman.
Its central idea is summed up
in her famous phrase
"One is not born a woman,
one becomes one."
Clearly, this phrase became the
'bible' of the feminist movement
and definitive declaration of
women's independence.
Faafafini in Samoa
In Samoa, when a
household or
family already has
a number of sons,
it is fairly common
that the youngest
son be raised as a
girl.
Their gender-identity
is not biological,
but socialised.
Simone De Beauvoir (19061986)
De Beauvoir believed that it is only tradition
and social constraints that put women in an
inferior position. Many people at that time
accepted the belief that women were born
inferior. Her ideas shocked many people but
brought inspiration and hope to millions of
women who recognized their own lives in her
writing
http://www.suite101.com/content/simon
e-de-beauvoir-brief-bio-a42274
Gender socialization
Gender socialization: when
boys and girls are taught
the customs, rituals,
attitudes and values of
their culture (acceptable
masculine & feminine
roles)
Think question:
If we accept cultural relativism in
a strict sense (i.e. the view that
we must not look down upon
other people’s cultures) how can
we be critical of practices that
harm women (and men)?
Some cultural practices
that harm women & girls
1) Witch burning
2) Female infanticide
3) Sati
4) Misuse of Shariah laws
5) Genital mutilation
6) Foot binding
7) Breast pounding
1. Witch burning
2. Female infanticide
http://www.hakani.org
3. Sati – widow burning
4. Stoning
5. Breast Pounding in
Cameroon, Africa
http://tojesworld.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/breast-ironing-incameroon-another-form-of-child-abuse/
5. Female genital mutilation
Female genital cutting or mutilation
or female circumcision is defined by
the WHO as "all procedures involving
partial or total removal of the external
female genitals or other injury to the
female genital organs whether for
cultural, religious or other nontherapeutic reasons (WHO, 2009).
El Saadawi Nawal
Waris Dirie
Lali - "What happened to me has totally
broken my trust in the women I loved," she
told us. "I didn't believe my mother could let
this happen. My love for her has changed.
"It hurt so much. I would never let my
children suffer this. I don't believe this is right.
It's a stupid, old-fashioned custom. Why can't
we forget it?“ 3 January 2008
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article505796/The-unspeakable-practice-female-circumcisionthats-destroying-young-womens-livesBritain.html#ixzz1e0Po7yqvBy conservative
estimates, 66,000 women and girls living in
Britain have been mutilated.
Mail online – 3
January 2008
Met announced a £20,000 reward last July
for information leading to the conviction of
anyone who performs or abets cutting.
Under the 2003 Female Genital Mutilation
Act, those involved could be jailed for 14
years. Yet the fact that no one has been
prosecuted says much about the problems
the police are facing.
6.Honour Killing
7. Footbinding
Think questions?
Are these cultural practices
ethical?
How do such practices
contribute to the oppression of
women?
Is it fair, right & just to
subject women to these rituals
or cultural practices?
Feminism
Feminists challenge patriarchy
They argue that women and men
should be treated equally
Women’s organizations all over
the world work towards ending
cultural practices that harm
women & lobby for the ratification
of women’s rights
Women’s rights are
the rights claimed for women,
equal to those of men, with
respect to suffrage, property,
the professional fields, etc.
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
A final thought…
In a time of global population rapidly
increasing and depleting natural
resources, what sense does it make
to construct a woman’s identity as
one defined by her reproductive
capacities?