Comments on: When is ‘local culture’ just wrong?

By: Marsha

Marsha — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:27:37 +0000

While in Thailand at a Akha Hill Tribe village we were told a similar ritual in regards to the birth of twins…thankfully we didn not witness the ritual.

Visit my website http://Ofmyheart.net to follow our adventures.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:20:45 +0000

Thanks Mei, and I share your wish that people keep progressing (although how we define progress is another matter)

By: ciki

ciki — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:39:08 +0000

wow, what an interesting post. i have never been in those situations before, and thankfully so. I think I would be too devastated to know the truth. What can I say, let’s hope for the sake of mankind that people keep progressing and not regressing. That we are always governed by our hearts and good common sense. And a real fear for God.
Thanks for sharing Andy.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:50:57 +0000

Lara, I think you’re point is central to this – that there is a set of universal rights that should apply to all regardless of culture (and no society is blameless in its compliance with these).
Islam, you’ve got me thinking back a long long to the time I watched Shogun! But your point that what is appropriate in one culture is alien in another is the cause of so much trouble…
Thanks again to all for the thoughtful responses and for sharing your insights

By: lara dunston

lara dunston — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:28:43 +0000

Good post! But the issue is really about local ‘values’ not local culture as such, because values and belief systems are not only shaped from culture but from religion, society, politics, and so on. I remember many debates among classmates when we did a Modernisation & Globalisation course as part of an MA in International Studies many years ago, and I think in the end we all agreed that there were certain rights that *were* universal, but that even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights went too far sometimes and didn’t respect localisms enough, and that there were some local values that condoned gross injustices of the kind Marilyn has mentioned above that couldn’t be tolerated no matter what.

By: Islam

Islam — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 06:17:02 +0000

In the book Shogun, that was later made into a mini series, there’s two displays of exactly what this article is about; the first is when the British navigator enters a simple Japanese village and is shocked by what he witnessed: the lord of the village cut off a villager’s head for not bowing to him fast enough!

In another scene, the Japanese are very disturbed by the British navigator’s complete lack of personal hygiene, and it discussed that, at the time, westerners were convinced that having a bath will make you possessed by evil!

The point is, there are lots of differences between culture, some based on religion and some based on tradition, tolerating or not tolerating some of the practices of other cultures will completely depend on the people concerned and the situation itself. However, there are some traditions that and practices that can never be tolerated, like killing babies for example, or blinding little girls, or leaving homeless people to freeze to death when there’ shelter near by that is vacant.

@James Willcox, I’m a Muslim, and from my experience what you said is very true

Thanks Andy for the article.

By: Cedric

Cedric — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:31:22 +0000

It’s one of those things that’s so difficult to define. We all have our personal values to hold on to, but sometimes we encounter things that challenge those values, some just plainly make us uncomfortable.

There are no hard and fast rules on how far we would respect the local culture. It’s a personal call, as far as I’m concerned.

Thanks for another thought-provoking post Andy.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:06:54 +0000

Haha, that’s true Nikki. Loud and noisy they might be, but they are part of the South African world cup and people should just get on with it. Don’t know whether I want them in the Premier League next season though!

By: Nikki Bayley

Nikki Bayley — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:36:07 +0000

When it’s a vuvuzela! So tired of grumpy people complaining about em… It’s part of South African football culture – has been for ages… so whiners need to get a grip!

By: james willcox

james willcox — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:34:12 +0000

Yes, hello Andy. Sorry for not visiting the site earlier as i promised to in January.
Yes, it is the calm before the storm as far as trips go so i am catching up with things.
As you can imagine working in Pakistan and Afghanistan throws these kind of things up quite often. Some conservative Islamic practices often are given as examples of when the line between culture clashes and morally wrong are seen as becoming blurred. I have very dear friends who are married. I have never seen their wives, we don’t talk about them directly and i don’t ever expect to ever see them. Of course we talk about the difference in our cultures and women’s roles in societies in general but i would never take him to task over the fact that for his wife to talk to me would dishonour him and her in his eyes.

I would say that it is not only travellers who are moral revisionists. Many people in the developing world often allow for foreign guests to do things that are repugnant to them just because they are foreign and they don’t know any better.
They would put it down to our strange culture.