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Micheal Gavin talks about the importance of cultural diversity and why is should matter in our world.
He gives a very interesting slant on many issues, including the importance of language, how malaria affects cultures around the world...and the history of the introduction of gin and tonic as an alcoholic drink! A lovely meandering talk and well worth watching. MORE VIDEOS TO WATCH AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE... |
Cultural Universals
Cultural universals are basic human needs and social experiences found in all societies, past and present. They are a set of guiding ideas that all human cultures. Along with the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing the cultural universals are: Family & Kinship, Art & Creativity, Technology & Science, Political & Leadership, Spirituality & Belief system, Language & Communication, Economics and Education & Leisure. The Inuit culture is very different from the Ancient Egyptians, and so to study each equally and without ethnocentrism, we can look at cultural universals of each culture in the hope that we can analyze and study each culture equally, fairly and without bias. There are many different ways to study a culture, and many variations on the cultural universals. In this course, we will use the cultural universals listed above to study cultures other than our own. Cultural relativism is the belief that all cultures are worthy in their own right and are of equal value. Diversity of cultures, even those with conflicting moral beliefs, is not to be considered in terms of right and wrong or good and bad. |
Issues that are brought up when discussing cultural relativism are ones like tribal scarring or tribal tattooing of men & women, rites of passage into adulthood, polygamy, polyandry, arranged marriage, child brides, and foot binding,
Different cultures have different moral codes about what is accepted or not. Read this article on the challenge of cultural relativism.The discussions about cultural relativism can become argumentative and heated. Some issues such as female genital mutilation and others from the above list are challenging to explain..."The caveat in all this is: To understand is not to forgive. Just because you come to terms with how something works in another culture doesn't mean you have to agree with it; it means you have to engage it." from a fascinating article about cultural relativism that I suggest you read for class discussion. |