Cultural Survival

Are all Cultures Just as Valid? “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” To understand cultural relativism, we must first understand what culture is. The word “culture” originally meant care for growing living things, such as plants. A culture is a set of ideas and ways of acting that is developed by a group of people who interact with each other, and that influences how they live. Cultures are passed down from generation to generation through words, through expressive actions, and through things…

a primeval way through which every culture defines its character and offers a way to understand the world. Humans use myth to describe and understand “archetypal or universal significance” (Cupitt, 1997, p.5) and to establish their perception of cultural experiences. Different cultures have their own myths that systemise their human experience as “one of the functions of myth is to convert numinous indefiniteness into nominal definiteness and to make what is uncanny familiar and addressable”…

Cultural Relativism is a rule of behavior. It restricts a natural instinct to judge, sort, and distinguish loosely and forbids any form of action. John Rachels’ The Challenge of Cultural Relativism outlines and attacks the theory of cultural relativism. He pays particular attention to the results of Cultural Relativism, and employs various examples to poke holes in the argument. What is important to remember is that his argument must exist under the assumption that a standard of morality that…

“The sum total of all thoughts and intuitions, myths and beliefs, ideas and inspirations brought into being by the human imagination since the dawn of consciousness” is best defined as ethnosphere by Wade Davis, in his introduction to Wayfinders (2). He establishes the direction of this travel log with the introduction of culture: a dynamic and complex system that characterizes societies and from it flows people’s identity. As Davis immerses the reader into a series of indigenous people groups…

Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien, portrays the idea of injustice and selfishness. The novel describes the origins of injustice in a society in which the main characters suffer the consequences of not only the Cultural Revolution but also the Tiananmen Square protest. It is a threat to survival that ultimately brings out the worst in people; humans are selfish and narcissistic, harming others consciously and unconsciously, to ensure their own continued existence, no matter the suffering caused on…

group of people, all who supported his ideas to make China more modern and civilized, but the results that happened due to Mao’s ideas ended up being more disastrous than helpful. The Great Leap Forward was the start of the decline of China, then the Cultural Revolution began which concluded with the Beijing Massacre. If Mao Zedong had just left China alone, China would have started to modernize by its self and would not have been rushed and forced to change as rapidly as it was. The Great Leap…

Language is a key factor in cultural assimilation or representation. While the United States has no official language, English is predominate in most areas of the country. Despite this, there are a number of areas where a significant portion of the population is bilingual or trilingual. Parts of Houston have street signs in more than one language, and even ballots are translated into four or more languages. This is far from a unique perspective in most major metropolitan areas.. The…

Franz Boas: An Anthropological Pioneer Often referred to as the “father of modern anthropology”, Franz Boas is best known for establishing the area of cultural anthropology. Having possessed a scientific background with a doctorate in physics, he was one of the first scientists of his day to question the beliefs behind social Darwinism and scientific racism, and try to come to an understanding regarding the differences among people and their cultures. Boas dedicated his life to the study of…

Emilio Siaz Professor Macmillian Professor Macmillian History 17B 23 March 2015 Assimilation Through Cultural Extermination In the eyes of the dominant culture, the idea of assimilation is to help the underdeveloped race of people to prosper along with the dominant population. But in the eyes of the victim, the act of assimilation is an act of cultural genocide. It is this attempt of assimilation that resulted in the development of unresolved grief among the Native American people.…

Cultural Relativism Cultural Relativism is a prevalent theory that is used to explain the variety of differences within cultures and their morals. In this paper I will address the claims of James Rachels and Ruth Benedict, and their opposing views on cultural relativism. The authors have their own theories, against and for cultural relativism. Benedict illustrates that diversity is apparent even on the topics of morality where we would expect to agree. I believe Ruth Benedict’s claims of…