Cultural Relativism (Essay Sample)

Cultural Relativism
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Introduction
In some greater extents, it is expected that where religious, scientific, technological, and environmental knowledge among others fail to explore extensively the aspects of ethics of the current terrorism situation in the world, anthropological approaches become prudent in examining this issue. Anthropological dimensions take the root of understanding and dealing with the cultural differences that elaborates from the causes of the religious wars to the liberating efforts of the Afghan women. Most sociologists try to implicate the war on terrorism to liberation and salvation of the Afghan women. This paper examines anthropological analysis of the factors surrounding cultural relativism in the context of Abu-Lughod’s and Levi-Strauss’s concepts as far as war on terror and the plight of the Muslim women are concerned.
According to Abu-Lughod (2002), cultural relativism involves ideas, concepts, and innate zeal surrounding the beliefs and activities that must be anthropologically understood by others in terms of one’s own cultural background. The war on terror and all the efforts to bring liberation to the Muslim women must be understood from cultural relativistic perspectives. When Abu-Lughod begins the article by asking if there is anthropological explanation to the war on terror, the liberally purported justification of the war to save Afghan women, it becomes clear from her introduction that there are anthropological rationality through cultural relativism on the situation surrounding the west and the orients, terrorism, and the plight of the Afghan women.
The skeptics about the focus on the Muslims women are better understood from the Islamic cultural perspective, thereby intertwining with other ideological backgrounds. First, it is true that the American war on terrorism involves more than meets the eye. Varying interest surrounds the war and the plights of the Muslim women are just a smaller part of the war. When Abu-Lughod refuses to talk more rational insights to the television program, she argues that there were and still are, generalized resorts to cultural perspective on matters affecting the Muslim women. She argues it is deeper than just knowing the meaning of the religious rituals with its connection to the tragic attack on the New York’s World Trade Center and the U.S. Pentagon, or the rule of Taliban in Afghanistan, or the interest of the United States and their intervention in the region for more than 25 years. However, she affirms that the point is about knowing more of the culture of the region, more particularly the religious beliefs and treatment of women than just meandering on the exploration of the historic developments between the U.S. and the region.
Although cultural relativism has its advantages and pitfalls, it is through cultural relativism that the plight of the Muslim women, war on terror, and other interest in the livelihood of the Islamic world can be understood. Many, according to Abu-Lughod have argued cultural relativism have adversely influenced ethnographic attachments of some society especially the west. However, she argues that the vital beneficial component of cultural relativism is that it allows for exploration of each other’s culture from one’s cultural viewpoint in evaluating the various standards and ethics. Abu-Lughod (p. 786) argues that cultural relativism is certainly an improvement on ethnocentrism and racism, cultural imperialism, and imperiousness that underlie it and has made all forms of human interaction historically beneficial. More than that as explained by Abu-Lughod, it gives more insights and impartial objectivity that supports better tolerances to one another and understanding thereby making one to understand and respect another person’s culture.
The sentiments of the cultural spread comes with the enlightments and deployment of humanitarian causes as appealed to the Christian womanhood to right these wrongs and darkness in the society through sacrifice and service. According to Levi-Strauss, cultural relativism undermines our ability to be critical of our American culture. However, instead of either undermining or promoting the American culture, or the oriental mentality that undermines women and so forth, a more productive approach should sought after in contributing to making the world a more just place than it is before. The question that ‘Can a Muslim woman be saved’ lies within the Muslim women in their determination to exist as human or under their i...