What Is Cultural Violence By John Galtung

CULTURAL VIOLENCE ACCORDING TO JOHAN GALTUNG

According to the World report on violence and health, each year over 1.6 million people worldwide lose their lives to violence.

Johan Galtung, a Norwegian sociologist, mathematician and principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies, in one of his articles named "Cultural Violence" explained how cultural violence, justify or legitimize structural or direct violence.

It might seem complicated to define violence by the fact that notions of what is acceptable behavior and what constitutes traumas are culturally influenced and constantly under review as values and social norms evolve. However, there is one Truth, a Moral Law, that governs and condemns violence of all forms.

The structural violence in Galtung’s explanation is rooted in injustice

Brent Plate, author and editor of books and articles about Religion, the sacred and the profane cannot be understood in any monolithic way, but must be examined through "local knowledge".

Nonetheless, it can be controversial to look at visual art through the lenses of relativity and perception.

According to Plate, "there is a perceptual relationship that exists between the eye and the mind in the act of seeing. Can we trust what we see to be an accurate perception of reality?"

The danger lies on the fact that what seems as venerating to one can be a violation of the other and lead to greater violence in communities.

Because of perception, men in society have a tendency to redefine Values and Moral.

However, there is a "moral lawgiver" who governs the earth and the universe. His law that we have written in our heart is our compass to live and cannot be redefined regardless of cultural diversity.

As it is stated in the Bible, a way might seems right to a man but leads him to death. We must step out of what we can see and understand based on our environment and culture, to live through Faith in a Creator of all things who is outside of