Cultural Relativism Essay

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When it comes to anthropological theories, it is hard to prove or disprove them because everyone has different experiences in their lives within their different cultures that contribute to their opinion on that theory. I believe this is true with the theory of cultural relativism. My experiences within my own culture and the beliefs of my culture have led me to both agree and disagree with different aspects, or lack thereof, of cultural relativism. I believe there exists a duality within the theory of cultural relativism, a duality that I am familiar with and that has become a significant part of my culture. I am from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The “Twin Cities” refers to Minneapolis and St. Paul. Only divided by a river (or in some cases, just a street), these cities are of equal, yet different importance in Minnesota culture. My experiences spending time in the two cities have led me to live in duel cultures. While many people live in a duality of cultures through their ethnicity, I identify with duel cultures based on geography. My experiences in both Minneapolis and St. Paul contribute to my ambivalence regarding cultural relativism. In Anthropology, there is a gray area when it comes to generalizing about cultures, because we all come from different ones. The idea of duality is a familiar one with which I can apply to my own life and my own culture, as well as to the well-known anthropological theory that tries to find an answer to the question of what culture is.
The cultural relativism principle acknowledges that there should be a respect between cultures. This comes from the point of the theory that tries to “avoid making value judgments about the beliefs and customs of the people they [anthropologists] study, even tho...

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...as well as understand it. Culture is gray; there is no black and white. There are many aspects that come into play in the importance of culture, such as political economy. Being able to maintain my culture here in Los Angeles has become more important to me after moving from Minnesota. Just because I am not geographically in the Minnesota anymore doesn’t mean I feel any less Minnesotan. It is also important to overcome the stereotype of knowing everything about a culture because a lot of the time, and in my personal experience, I am just a piece of the puzzle. This is especially true when it comes to the culture of a state. Therefore, the duality that I believe exists in this idea of cultural relativism has proved my ambivalence toward it due to my experience living in a culture where aspects of both the principle of cultural relativism and its criticisms are true.

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