CULTURAL RELATIVISM: The Pros and Cons (Part 1)

Mama Sidi, Anty Kofo and Chika: 

Sometime ago, my Igbo friend paid me a visit, a visit that almost led into a tribal war. Before she came, I had given her the description to my house, and told her to call me when she gets close…. I live in a rented apartment and have neighbors who have shops in front of the house. When my friend, Chika, got to the front of the house, she saw a couple of elders in the shop and greeted with a simple ‘Good afternoon’. She turned back to try my number which was not reachable. After waiting for some minutes, Chika turned back to ask the elders if they knew me and where my apartment was. 

Acting unbothered, Mama Sidi turns to Anty Kofo saying: “Is she talking to someone? 

Chika, wondering what was going on and already tired of standing answered back “Yes I am”

“Where are you from? Mama Sidi asked coldly.

“I’m Ope’s friend” Chika replied.

“She meant what tribe are you from!” Anty Kofo echoed.

“I’m Igbo” Chika replied still wondering what they are getting at.

“Ohhhh, no wonder!!” both women exclaimed.

“Omo Igbo, we know you people don’t have respect but you should greet your elders properly, ern fine girl? Anty Kofo said in a mean tone.

Chika feeling embarrassed asked politely, “but, what did I do?”

Mama Sidi now enraged increased her voice, “What did you not do? Do your parents at home not teach you manners? Don’t you know the proper way of greeting elders is by kneeling down?  

“ Please please that’s enough! Don’t insult my parents. If I don’t kneel down for you, are you going to die? You people in your culture kneel down and greet knowing fully well it’s not genuine, you’re just bunch of frustrated pretenders!” Chika roared back.

I recognized Chika’s voice and ran down but by that time, outbursts from both sides continued and more insults started flying with banters:

“You don’t have home training! - “No, your children don’t have home training - “You igbo people don’t know basic things, proper greeting o, respect o, down to cooking – “Oh we’re just not like you Yorubas, you are too extra and put too much palm oil inside your soups, maybe you’ll swim in them someday –…”

When I got down, the noise had already attracted passers-by and a little crowd has formed. Seeing the situation and realizing that if nothing was done in the next few minutes, they would get physical, their little crowd would choose sides and it would no longer be about Chika not kneeling to greet Anty Kofo and Mama sidi, but it would become a tribal fight between Igbos and Yorubas; I quickly held Chika’s hands and pulled her away whilst apologizing to the women who were still on top of their voices raining the meanest of insults on Chika.

Nigeria, like other countries in the world, has diverse cultures, with over 250 ethnic groups. Recall that Culture, as defined by Walter Rodney, is a total way of life. In other words, the culture of a people is reflected in the way they live, which includes their values, beliefs, arts, customs, dressings, food, crafts, and more. The major ethic groups in Nigeria are, Yoruba, which is found in the southwestern part of the country, Igbo, which is found in the southeastern part of the country and Hausa, which is found in the Northern part of the country, other ethnic groups include: Ebira, Efik, Esan, Abayon, Awori, Bada, Baruba, Bini, Boma, Buru, Egun, Idoma, Igala, Igbira, Igede, Isoko, Itsekiri, Kalabari, Kanuri, Nupe, Urhobo, and so on.

It cannot be overlooked also that fractions also exist in these ethnic groups, that is, there are different groups that make up an ethnic group. For example, the Yorubas are known to generally speak Yoruba language however, there are different Yoruba dialects unique to different Yoruba areas, they include, Egba, Ijesha, Egun, Ijebu, Oyo, Eko, Igbomina, Ekiti, Efon, Ketu, Ondo, Remo, Ife, Awori, Ikale, Abunu, Gbede, Ibarapa, Idanre, and so on. 

This affirms the fact that every tribe has cultures unique to them. However, one of the most talked about dissimilarity between the Yoruba and the Igbo cultures is their modes of greeting. It is customary for a Yoruba child or youth to initiate the greeting when they see their elders, and while the males prostrate, the females kneel. The Igbos on the other hand, while they consider greetings to be essential courtesies, they do more of handshakes, bowings and back-taps, and hugging. Kneeling is not common and they do so only when they encounter a member of their maternal home.

Mama Sidi and Anty Kofo reacted the way they did because according to their culture, Chika was disrespectful by not kneeling to greet them, Chika, who grew up in the East did not kneel because it was not in her culture to do so, her reply was also triggered by the insults from both women.

 Now, who was right and who was wrong?

Most of the times, we tend to use one’s own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other societies especially when they do not align with what we are used to. Apart from this, we tend to look down another culture with constant affirmation that our culture is better than another. I used to be guilty of questioning the way a particular culture carries out their acts and concluded they either do not know what they are doing or they were not well mentored. Either way, it was simply wrong.

Chika was raised in the Igbo culture and has learned in their way of life; she could even be a hot shot back home and considered the most respectful. Anty Kofo and Mama Sidi were raised in Yoruba culture and while they greet their own elders kneeling down, they expect to be greeted the same by younger ones.

Both parties were right about following their cultures, however, the disagreement and outburst that followed showed that both parties think highly of their cultural practices, and feel the way the other culture does it is substandard to theirs. that was where they both went wrong – it was like forcing a pure ijebu man to speak ijesha because ‘ijesha sounds better’. Imagine a country where every tribe fights for the monopoly of their cultures, where everyone wants to force another to do what they think is proper, it would yield to nothing but war and destruction.  

The eye opener that the trio of Mama Sidi, anty Kofo and Chika needed was the understanding of cultural relativism and that is what this article explores. 

What is Cultural Relativism? 

In order to understand the concept of cultural relativism, it is important to understand the concept of relativism. Relativism according to the English dictionary, can be defined as the theory, especially in ethics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons of groups holding them. Cultural relativism therefore is the idea that that there is no absolute culture, rather, different cultures that exist are unique to the people holding them. Hence, the moral values, norms, traditions and customs that make up the culture of an ethnic group should not be invalidated or made lesser than another culture, all cultural views are correct in their own world. The proponents of cultural relativism claim that different societies have different moral codes, for them, there is no standard that can be used to judge one societal code better than another.

The Pros of Cultural Relativism

Promotes Cross-Cultural Understanding: rather than judging other cultures by our own cultural standards, cultural relativism promotes the deep understanding of other peoples’ cultures on their own terms.

Encourages people to be open minded: the ability to be critical should be owned by everyone. We can agree that sometimes, some of our values, assumptions and biases, can be faulted, cultural relativism promotes critical thinking which further helps one to question these assumptions and biases. Being open minded helps to see other cultures for who they are and accommodate different ideas and people generally.

Promotes Tolerance and Respect: The world is filled with people with different traits, personalities and values, tolerance helps the world to be a better place. Cultural relativism helps one to be tolerant and respectful of other cultures, in order to cohabit peacefully.

Challenges Ethnocentrism: Ethnocentrism, is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one’s own traditional, deferred, or adoptive ethnic culture. By recognizing that cultural practices and values are relative, cultural relativism challenges ethnocentric attitudes and promotes a more nuanced understanding of cultural differences.

Cultural diversity: Cultural relativism supports cultural diversity and promotes the preservation of different cultural heritages.

  The Cons of Cultural Relativism

Moral Relativism: Moral relativism is the philosophical position that moral judgements are relative to the cultural, historical, or personal context, and that there is no universal moral truth. If cultural relativism says there is no universal culture and that every culture is unique in their own way, then moral relativism would also set in, where individuals opinions, feelings or convictions, become the sole basis for moral judgements. Problem may arise when individuals set their own moral codes at the expense of other people.

Impedes Universal Standards: cultural relativism makes it difficult to establish universal human rights standards, as practices that are accepted in one culture may be rejected in another.

Impedes humanity progress: cultural relativism preaches inclusivity and the rightness of every cultural value, leaving none or less room for criticizing other cultures and judge one standard from another. If each is right in their own way then no definition of success can be implemented. In other words, if in the past years, women were given little to no rights, and in present times, women are granted rights, the implication of cultural relativism is that both times and ages were right, hence no welcoming of the idea that some practices in the past were wrong or practices presently are wrong. It would be that whatever was practiced both in the past and present, were right for the different times.

Conclusion

Cultural relativism offers insightful understanding of the importance of cultural diversity and the beauty and uniqueness of every culture. However, it also raises some challenges, especially on matters that may affect human rights. The forgoing shows that the disadvantages of cultural relativism are as much as its advantages. The examination of both sides further promotes the importance of balance. Balance on its hand, may not be as easy as it may sound, balancing respect for cultural differences whilst trying to maintain universal moral standards births, remains a complex and ongoing debate.