Jan
11
What is Culture?
Posted by: Brian | January 11, 2009 | Comments Off on What is Culture?
I was thrown off by the concept of radical alterity according to Keesing’s article. I do believe that in the past and frequently nowadays, anthropologists have tried to label other people living in different regions of the world as “others”, specially if they act differently and have different beliefs. However, in past years, anthropologists have begun to play a much more active role in their line of work: aiding communities that are oppressed or helping people and communities take action against the oppressor, whatever form it may take.
Apart from that, it seems to me that Keesing is in a way, condemning the idea of difference as a way to explain culture. Although we all have the same rights, we are all different, if not the world would not be as interesting and diverse as it is. The idea of showing that a people and places are different is not completely negative, because arising from this is acceptance of that diversity. And by using the word “different” to explain a way of life, we can eventually see that we are not that different after all, because we all have the same universal needs… respect, appreciation, freedom…
How can one be proud of where they came from, where they grew up if it is the same as everywhere else? Being different brings unity to those that come from a specific place or to those that have other beliefs other than our own. I do agree with Keesing when he says that “the way in which anthropological talk about ‘culture’ […] has passed into the cultural nationalist discourse of Third World elites.” But is it bad for that to happen? I think that the way developing countries are finding common ideas and discourses makes it easier for them work together when facing hard times, or oppression. This needs to happen.
