Cultural Purity and the Refute of the Inevitable Momentum In the introduction to “The Pure Products Go Crazy,” James Clifford offers a poem by William Carlos Williams about a housekeeper of his named Elsie. This girl is of mixed blood, with a divided common ancestry, and no real collective roots to trace. Williams begins to make the observation that this is the direction that the world is moving in, as Clifford puts it—“an inevitable momentum.” Clifford believes in that, “in an interconnected world, one is always to varying degrees, ‘inauthentic.’” In making this statement, Clifford is perhaps only partially accurate. In the western hemisphere, where Williams was located, perhaps it can be said directly that the influence of modern society has attributed to the lack of general ancestry, as one culture after another has blended with the next. Perhaps it can be said as well that, as Clifford puts it, “there seem no distant places left on the planet where the presence of ‘modern’ products, media, and power cannot be felt” (Clifford, 14). The intention of this paper is to contend first that there is essentially such a thing as “pure” culture, and contrary to Clifford’s belief, that there are “pure” unblended cultures that remain (while not altogether untouched by foreign influence), natural within themselves. It will be argued as well that the influence of modern society does not necessarily lead to a loss of cultural soundness itself, but rather that a presence of certain cultural practices within the respective cultures has attributed to the lasting “purity” of certain cultures. In this case, we will be discussing the cultures that exist in Haiti and Bali. To address the first part of my argument, we fist must take in hand what exactly is this “pure” culture that has been mentioned thus far. Clifford believes that cultures, for the sake of the argument being made can be said to be impure cultures, “have had to reckon with the forces of ‘progress’ and ‘national’ unification,” and that essentially this has led to “many traditions, languages, cosmologies, and values [being] lost, some literally murdered” (Clifford, 16). He argues that inevitably, all cultures either will, or have experienced this, and in the end have transformed into an alternate version of themselves. I propose that a “pure” culture is one that has either not had to deal with such circumstances, or has dealt with outside influences, without altering what is wholly exclusive about itself.
Mamma Jo’s Pizza should accommodate their employee, Ahmad, and his need due to the fact that he wears his beard specifically for religious reasons. For discrimination based on religion, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Mamma Jo’s Pizza has the duty to “reasonably accommodate” employee’s “sincerely held” religious practices unless doing so would cause undue hardship to Mamma Jo’s business. If wearing a beard is a sincerely held religious practice for Ahmad, then Mamma Jo’s should make reasonable adjustments to the work environment that will allow him to fully practice his religion as long as these adjustments are not more than mere inconvenience. An example of an accommodation that Mamma Jo’s could make is a job reassignment. Mamma Jo’s no beard policy can be argued to be a business necessity for employees dealing with the food, so Ahmad could possibly do other tasks away from the food such as working at the cash register, answering the phone, or other clerical work.
historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; Culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other as conditioning elements of further action.”
“Smuggling implies a contractual relationship between those seeking to leave a country and those acting as agents to assist their client with entry to another country. Usually, the relationship ends once the migrants have arrived at their destination and have paid their legal fees. Illegal immigrants are individuals who travel to another country to seek employment, without possessing proper documentation. They may or may not have been smuggled. Human Trafficking, on the other hand, is a business involving coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power as well as abuse of vulnerability of women and children for purposes of forced labor or prostitution. It is only the trafficker who gains.” (Clark, Michele A. "Human Trafficking Casts Shadow on Globalization”)
Moreover, as explicated by (Tan, 2016), culture was historically linked to the processes of colonization which is used by European anthropologists to describe the ways of life of others characterizing non-European societies as less civilized, barbaric, and primitive, thus lacking “culture.” In fact, this prompted the supposition that European culture is better than other culture and utilized as a support for colonization. From that point on, a polarity grew to stratify social orders into high and low
Marcus Garvey said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” (Vinod, 2013, p. 358). According to (Cole, 1986) Culture is “a people’s patterns of behavior; the totality of values, ideas and means by which a people deals with its geographical, social, political and economic environment” It is considered as way of life adopted and exercised over a given period of time some bordering to centuries. Different communities have different cultures which are essential in assigning each of these communities an identity. With globalization and modern trends, cultures have been shared among countries leading to determination of newer cultural practices corresponding to the society in question. Cultures give rise to behaviorism and inform the social relations among people and countries. Cultural pundits have argued that the Bahamian culture and the American culture are highly similar and related in terms of dialects, beliefs and values. However, major differences in language, religion and traditions show that the Bahamian and American cultures are more different than many people believe.
culture rather than nature . . . [they] are neither timeless or transcendent” (264). In other words,
In this paragraph I am going to tell you how human trafficking works. First the people who are trafficked are often those who are in debt or living in poverty. Traffickers exploit these types of situations, and trick these individuals into believing that they will sponsor them to get a good paying job somewhere abroad. Next, upon arrival to the destination, these individuals are often shocked to realize that they are not given the work that they were promised and instead, are forced to work in conditions that they did not agree to. Traffickers also take away passports and any other means of identification of these people so that the police will not be able to help them. Finally, victims are often told that they must now work until they pay back their debt, and can also be sold to va...
Over the past two centuries, the human population has become increasingly prosperous; nourishment has improved, the economy has developed and longevity has increased. From this, it is possible to conclude that man’s battle with nature is proving beneficial. However, the wellbeing and success of mankind greatly relies on ‘ecosystem services’, which comprise any benefits provided by ecosystems that contribute towards human life. These developments in wellbeing have partly been achievable because of the increased exploitation of these ecosystem services.
The thesis of this article is that Western culture in itself is a unique and diverse culture, but it is not nor will it ever be the culture of the rest of the world. Two theories are introduced, the Coca-colonization theory and the modernization theory.
When a dominating or ‘more powerful’ culture steals elements from a minority, they have the ability to manipulate and mistreat it. By manifesting it as their own ideas about that culture, it can ‘erase’ and warp the originality of the minority or ‘less powerful’ culture.[3]
Anthropology is concerned with studying human beings, both in the past and present. From another perspective, Anthropology is the study of the “Other” or of populations whose culture is different from one’s own. The questioning of these differences in prior centuries led to theories of inherent biological distinctions between Westerners and non-Westerners as well as divisions in evolutionary characteristics of their cultures. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, in a chapter of his book entitled “Anthropology and the Savage Slot: The Poetics and Politics of Otherness”, argues that Anthropology as an academic discipline acquired these theoretical outlooks before its emergence as an actual discipline. As a result, “Anthropology fills a pre-established compartment within a wider symbolic field, the ‘Savage’ slot” (Trouillot 2003:9). By utilizing the resource of Trouillot as well as Moberg, Perry, and Moore, I will illustrate that the Savage Slot and the “Savage” or “Other” are theoretical concepts fashioned with the creation of the West and consequently the field of Anthropology.
“Human trafficking ― or the harboring or transport of persons for the purposes of exploitation ― impacts around 1.5 million victims in the U.S, and 27 million victims worldwide, according to UNICEF.” (Ruiz-Grossman) It is an invisible crime that is not commonly seen to the public eye, but exists and occurs everywhere. Human trafficking is a crime that effects millions of victims, produces billions of dollars and can be prevented as more people are aware of its existence.
...xposes a society that had to undergo the colonization of the British. Under this colonization they experienced different treatments of transition with different results. The author remains ambivalent about the affects that missionaries and government officials have on the Ibo. On the positive side colonization introduced different values like education and the importance of health. On the other hand the negative side of colonization was the evident flaws in the “white men's system” like abuse, torture, aggressions, corruptness, lack of appreciation and understanding of the exiting cultural system. This novel allows us to view the difference in cultures and clarify that what for some societies what is considered to be a wrong doing for another society that might just be something that is accepted in their culture.
In the end, what we learn from this article is very realistic and logical. Furthermore, it is supported with real-life examples. Culture is ordinary, each individual has it, and it is both individual and common. It’s a result of both traditional values and an individual effort. Therefore, trying to fit it into certain sharp-edged models would be wrong.
Globalization is becoming one of the most controversial topics in today’s world. We see people arguing over the loss of a nation’s cultural identity, the terror of westernization, and the reign of cultural imperialism. Through topics such as these we explore the possibilities or the existence of hybridization of cultures and values, and what some feel is the exploitation of their heritage. One important aspect that is not explored is that such influences can also be more than just a burden and an overstepping of bounds. These factors can create an educational environment as well as a reaffirmation of one’s own culture.