AIMEN ASHAR

Cultural Relativism in Pakistan

The term culture was primarily used by Edward B. Taylor, in his book, Primitive
Culture in 1871. A macro system through which humans evolve and adapt to their
environment, the act of unification of a circle having similar beliefs, morals and
norms is known as culture. Culture is subject to modify or alter over time, at the
same time it can comfortably be forgotten, man made products such as written
languages, governments, buildings and other items are purely the outcomes of
culture. It is a learned behavior (e.g. a child perceives and grasps the conduct of
people around him) that brings together members of a society on the basis of
having commonly-shared circumstances. Wearing a nose pin is remarkably popular
in the Indian and Pakistani cultures on that account, symbols such as gestures,
events, ideas, behavioral patterns etc. are frequently copied from one group to
another, thus culture can be symbolic too. Pakistan is a diverse nation with
different people having different religions, customs, dressing, languages, ideas, etc.
Like any other country cultural relativism is at its peak in Pakistan however, with
changing times and the moderately growing rate of literacy people are becoming a
bit more tolerant and compassionate towards each other. Talking about cultural
relativism in Pakistan, the people of Gilgit are renowned for adding salt to their
tea, now this may seem extremely bizarre and icky to the majority of the people
living here, this is known as ethnocentrism where you judge other cultures based
upon your supreme, flawless culture. On the other hand, xenocentrism is the utterly
opposite, this is where you think of your culture and lifestyle inferior to others e.g.
the people of Pakistanis are highly influenced by the western culture, precisely
giving preference to English language rather than Urdu, ultimately kicking off their
own ideas, values and morals. Particularly, women of KPK (Khyber Pakhtun
Khwa) and Balochistan wear burka as a part of their culture however, in this
modern era many extreme liberal feminists (from different cultures) mainly of
Punjab think of this as a forceful and dominating act by men on their women in
order to mark their territory and to portray them as the weaker gender thus, it is
clear that people hardly try to comprehend the context and history behind such
lifestyles/dressing and swiftly jump to opinions. In many rural and dark areas of
Pakistan women are killed in the name of honor, in such cases cultural relativism is
practiced as an excuse to these inhumane behaviors that clearly violate human
rights, such practices without a second thought should be illegal and dealt with
seriousness. Having breakfast/lunch/dinner on dining table is completely normal
 AIMEN ASHAR

and common however, the people of KPK sit on cushions on the floor with a
“dastarkhuwan” while having food, looked upon by other cultures this is
something odd and uncomfortable. Otherwise stated, the question of “right” and
“wrong” is merely culture specific, things that are viewed ethical in one culture
may seem to be viewed as unethical in other cultures, with no definite standard of
morality we should be more accepting and understanding towards all other
cultures, rather than being typical we should break stereotypes, come forward and
stop judging other cultures.