Our beliefs and our cultural view are two different things that are related. Our culture can differ from others but we usually have the same in our own country or area. This is because countries can have different religions and cultures and the culture for that region is usually shaped by religion or vice-versa. Religious culture can also be defined by the group in that you have grown up with, but for example, in Germany, religion is shaped by the area and where you come from. Our beliefs or knowledge can be independent from our cultural views for a number of reasons, for example, Malala Yousafzai’s. Malala was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban for believing in women’s education, knowing that if she continued to believe and write a blog about it she would get in trouble.
So to what extent can our beliefs differ from our culture? Our beliefs are what we believe in and what we want something to be like and our culture is sometimes based or shaped by religion. Culture has a social norm in which we follow, whereas in religion it’s different for everyone, in that we believe in things that we can or cannot do or rules to follow. Many people have gone against their culture to do something they believe in, for example Martin Luther, whose life was in danger but still continued to help by re writing the bible. Malala Yousafzai is a young girl who’s beliefs and her knowledge that she had learned was different from the culture of her country at only the age of 11. The Taliban is a fundamentalist party in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They enforced a strict version of the sharia law. They treat women very harsh and in 2012, they shot Yousafzai in the head and neck for writing a blog and doing interviews going against the Taliban and open...
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...ample the people of that certain region.
As I have shown through examples and a real-life situation, beliefs and knowledge can be independent of our culture and cultural views. When we believe it is ethically right, the extent to which we stray from our culture and follow our beliefs and knowledge can be extreme. The real-life situation of Malala Yousafzai is an example of someone who risked their own life to help others, even if people argue that Pakistan is worse now, many could argue that the future of Pakistan and other countries is going to get better because of the light that Yousafzai brought onto the hardships that is happening.
Works Cited
van de Lagemaat, R 2005, Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 256-288 363-396 , Diary of a Pakistani schoolgirl". BBC News. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
Before, I talk about Malala I’m going to talk about the main group that doesn’t want Malala to be speaking up and the rules that they have enforced in many cities in northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban is an Islamic political movement in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mullah Mohammed Omar has been the leader of the Taliban since 1994. They formed a government called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. This government is only diplomatically known in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Taliban has strict enforcement of the Islamic law and is known for their brutal treatment of women. A few laws that the Taliban have are that men must grow beards and cut there moustaches, Muslim families can’t listen to music and all non-Muslims must wear yellow or carry a yellow clothe. Laws that the Taliban have against women are that they have to wear a burka, they are not allowed to get an education, they always have to travel with a male relative and they aren’t allowed to work. The Taliban also destroy many schools ...
The autobiography I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai begins with the scene of young pakistani education and women’s rights activist Malala being shot in the head. Her school bus had been stopped by the Taliban who, after asking which of the girls was Malala, put a bullet into her head. Malala ends the powerful prologue with the words “Who is Malala? I am Malala and this is my story” (9). Malala then rewinds to the story of her birth and how in Pakistan, no one congratulated her parents when she was born because she was a girl. Pakistani culture pushes for the birth of a boy as an islamic majority country. However, her father saw the potential in his daughter as a great leaser and named her after one of the great female leaders in Pakistan- Malalai of Maiwand who inspired the Afghan people, who were losing hope, to spur the army to victory against the British/Indian forces. Malala describes life in Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan. She outlines the Indian- Pakistan revolution and the shift of the Pashtun people into the Swat Valley. Malala’s father grew up in Shahpur but struggled to get his education in the town where he met Malala’s mother. They married and his dream of building a school, Khushal Public School, became reality when they moved into Mingora.
Imagine waking up every day and having to cover your entire face and body, to avoid punishment, then serving the men in the community rather than working or going to school. Then, picture women as subservient and inadequate to men in society on every level. This is the impertinence that women in the Middle East face every single day of their life; it is how they are born and raised and it is all they know. In Malala Yousafzai’s factual autobiography, I Am Malala, the Taliban target Malala for empowering girls to go to school and they shoot her in the head; however, somehow, Malala lives to continue the battle for women’s right to an education. The book was published in October 2013 by Little, Brown and Company and it gives a first-hand portrayal of what life is like for women in Malala’s home town of Swat Valley, Pakistan (Lamb and Yousafzai 3). The issue is that women do not have the opportunity to educate themselves or exercise what many consider natural freedoms. This is predominating in many Middle Eastern Countries. Women in the Middle East should have equal rights as men and they need help gaining their freedoms.
Culture, what is it exactly? Many people believe that your culture defines who you are as a person, as well as in society. When in retrospect, culture is something that you have no control over. You are brought up in a certain way that your family has been brought up for generations. No amount of schooling or experience, can help shape or control who you really are as a person. Sure, in your lifetime you can see extraordinary things that might change your view or opinion on certain subjects, but overall, your culture is what defines you. For many people, it is strange and weird to see something out of the ordinary when it comes to doing thing different. For example, what some might consider to be an insult, others might see it as common courtesy. What type of foods that might be deemed as foul and disgusting in one culture, might be seen as an everyday source of nutrition for another. Culture is a part of who we are, and what we believe in, even if sometimes it seems a little crazy. I believe that is comes down to two main things when dealing with culture. One is how you were raised in this world. Two, your religious side or background, and three how it all ties you together as the person you are.
Creating multiple stories of culture arguably lends itself to establishing a greater egalitarian perspective. Samovar (2012) provides five ethical practices important to cultural interaction. Creating a multidimensional story depends largely on one of the five aspects, which is respecting cultural differences. In a world where great differences exist not only between cultures but even within our individual cultures, it is then paramount to begin embracing these differences for greater cooperation. There is a necessity to start looking at multiple stories of cultures in order to prevent the adoption of divisive beliefs. Seeing a greater perspective of different cultures paves the way for greater intercultural communication and a global village.
In the fall of 2012, a young Pakistani female was shot in the head by the Taliban while riding the bus home from school, but being shot was only one of the trails Malala Yousafzai was to overcome. Malala’s injuries were too great to be dealt with in hospitals in Pakistan; thus, she was transferred to England to undergo surgery. While in England Malala’s story became so popular that the United Nations heard of how she was shot and as a result, she had become an advocate for education; therefore, on July of 2013, at the age of sixteen, Malala, was invited to speak about her experience at the United Nation’s headquarters in New York. Her speech was intended to inform people of an epidemic that has invaded not only the Middle East but also
Writer, political activist, and feminist Malala Yousafzai once said, “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen, can change the world.” Education is not a luxury, but rather a basis for survival; sadly, thirty-one million females ages five through eleven are not in a primary school and seventeen million of these females are expected to never enroll in school (Education). Malala Yousafzai fought, and is currently still fighting for education rights for women and children (Van). Malala Yousafzai defied a law which she determined unjust and was prepared to pay the ultimate price: her life. Due to Yousafzai’s personal beliefs, she choose to participate in civil disobedience by protesting the ban on education. Malala Yousafzai was successful in her actions through the use of peaceful protest. Yousafzai committed an act of civil disobedience in the eyes of the Taliban. Civil disobedience is defined as peace protest that violates a law intentionally (Suber).In addition to
“I am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai is a beautiful and hard breaking book at the same time. This book is an autobiography that describes the author childhood and her support on the right for girls to have an education. Through this autobiography, Malala describes the restrictions that are imposed on females in her country. There are many that believe that woman of Pakistan should not be educated in the other hands there are a few that oppose this idea. Malala’s support on education for girls almost cost her life, since she was shot by the Taliban. From a multicultural perspective Malala’s story touches on topics such; culture shock, discrimination within your own culture, oppression, religion, family and woman’s right. Despite the opposition
July 12nd 2013. Malala celebrated her 16th birthday. It was the day her first major speech held at the U.N after Taliban’s attempt to assassinate her for promoting education for females.
Yousafzai is a young education activist who has been striving for equal education rights for women and girls in Pakistan (Malala Yousafzai - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2014). Yousafzai came to the world attention as a blogger for BBC and by surviving an assassination attempt by a Taliban member in October 2012(Malala Yousafzai - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2014). Yousafzai struggles for equality are the type of struggles that come to minds of many when they think of the modern struggle for educational equality. She is a subject of an oppressive foreign government risking her life for what she believes in. Therefore, many feel that the struggle for educational equality is taking place in the far flung corners of the earth. When others think of the deistic struggle for equal education, they may think back to the 1950’s, 1960’s, or 1970’s. These decades are well known as the height of the American Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Liberation movement. While great strides were made in these decades, many would agree that the struggle for educational equality continue to this day. This statement is partially true when applied to the struggles of students with disabilities.
With cultural relativism, events in our lifetime would be stable and consistent. There would be no room for things to improve due to the fact we may think everything is as it should be. Just as Rachel's had mentioned previously, we can take into account slavery. (Sher, 155) There would be no progression in regards to the abolishment of slavery if we adhered to Cultural Relativism as a set standard. We would accept slavery as the way things are, we would hold this view that we could not voice our own opinion as we should “respect,” other cultures. Rachel’s also makes an important point stating there is actually less disagreement than it seems when it comes to Cultural Relativism. (Sher, 174) In summary, he explains that our disagreement between other cultures needs to be looked more into. The actions of an individual from another culture needs to be looked in at a different perspective. He uses people who refuse to eat cows as an example. Are we judging them because they don’t want to eat an animal? Or do they not want to eat an animal because they believe there is a form of reincarnation involved? Rachels says this is not too far from our beliefs in where for example, some believe in going to heaven. When comparing ourselves to them, we are valuing the same things but show it in different
van de Lagemaat, R. (2011) Theory of knowledge for the IB diploma, Cambridge University Press.
Every country and tribe have their own culture, the differences can be seen through their religious and clothing habit. For example, women living in Muslim countries or practicing the religion of Islam with are required to cover themselves in hijab, a scarf that covers the head and neck, leaving their face uncovered. However, some people may see this as “weird” or even (stereotype)symbolizes them as terrorists, due to the rise of ISIS. This is all because people tend to see their own culture as the superior and standard one in the world. This is why cultural relativism is important. It refers to the idea that the values, knowledge, and behaviour of people must be understood within their own cultural context. The essay will explain that, why
Lagemaat, Richard Van De. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. Print.
Alahmad declares that ethnical awareness is motivated by a person’s concept of right and wrong (Alahmad, 2010). That is, “ tell the truth no matter what, respect, punctuality, not judgmental, just, humble, and dignity can be international code of ethics every leader should follow” (Alahmad, 2010). In other words, decision making is driven by a leader’s concept of right and wrong and their objective is not to harm or hurt anyone. Nevertheless, each individual has their own concept of right and wrong which can be motivated by culture or have no motivator (Alahmad, 2010). Regardless, Alahamad contends that an individual’s decisions are reinforced by their concept of right and wrong.