1. ASHFORD ANT 101 Week 1 DQ 1 Cultural
Relativism
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Cultural Relativism. Cultural Anthropology gives three distinct meanings of
cultural relativism: a moral stance that requires anthropologists to suspend moral
and ethical judgments when interacting with a culture different from their own, a
methodological strategy that allows the anthropologist to pay specific attention to
the uniqueness of a culture, and an epistemological position that cultures are
unique and therefore knowledge about different cultures is almost inherently not
comparable. (Sec. 1.3).
In your forum contribution:
a. Discuss what you see as the strengths and weaknesses of each of these three
kinds of relativism.
b. Identify one belief or practice in another culture that you find puzzling, strange,
or troubling, and then discuss the extent that cultural relativism is a useful
approach to understanding and interacting with the people who hold it.
c. Discuss the extent that cultural relativism would be a useful approach to
understanding and interacting with people in your own society that did (or do) the
same.
d. Explore the extent to which whether one is studying in one's own country or in
another makes a difference in the applicability of cultural relativism to one's
research.
Your initial response should be at least 150 words in length. Build on the ideas
and terminology in the text and your own ideas to support your answers. Please
support your claims with examples from the text, required and recommended
material, and/or scholarly articles. Respond to at least two of your classmates’
posts by Day 7.