LESSON 6

CULTURAL
RELATIVISM
EDUC 1A
 GROUP

LARAINE,ALYSS LARAINE R.
6.1,2
A 6.4 SECONDEZ
JASHLEY

ALYSSA P. JASHLEY SALES

6.3 SANTOS 6.5
 OUTCOMES:
A. Demonstrate cultural values for the art of various
societies

B. Identify artworks, styles and artists that abide

with cultural relativism

C. Discover the cultural norms of beauty of different

societies in the world.
 COURSE OUTLINE
Cultural Relativism
01 in Aesthetics 03 Aesthetic
Relativism in
Culture, Beauty and
the Female body Popular Culture

The Art of Pleasure

02 in hindu culture and 04 Batok: Art of the
Tattoo
religion
 6.1
CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN
AESTHETICS CULTURE
THEORY ON THE ORIGIN OF SOCIETY

Jean Jacques Rousseau

(1712-1788)
Social Contract
 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
STATE OF NATURE
Savagery (People against one another)
SOCIETY
Civilization (People live in community)
CULTURE, TRADITION, LAW
CUSTOM, CONVENTION

JUDGEMENT OF MORALITY
PERCEPTION AND CONCEPT OF BEAUTY
(Ethnocentric)
ANTHROPOLOGY: CULTURAL
RELATIVISM

FRANZ BOAS
(1848-1942)

Anthropology and Modern Life

The Mind of Primitive Mind
Primitive Arts
 “If we were to select the most intelligent,
imaginative, energetic, and emotionally
stable third of mankind, all races would be
present..”

—FRANZ BOAS
Reject Comparative Approach in Anthropology
Favors Inductive Method: “Collect data first, theorize later.”

Reject Cultural Evolutionism

Asserts that culture not race determines behavior.

The elements of culture has its own unique, distinctive history: No one, universal culture for all people at all
times, but each culture for each society.

Cultural forms that may look familiar are actually far from identical because their different histories.

Avoid value judgment in Ethics and Aesthetics

“The art and characteristic styles of every people can be understood by studying its production as a whole
independent of those of other people.”
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN
AESTHETICS

CULTURE Perception
People in the Societyc Conception
BEAUTY

“Beauty is in the
(Culturally conditioned)
eye of the beholder.”
 6.2
CULTURE,
BEAUTY
AND THE
FEMALE BODY
CULTURAL STANDARD OF THE BEAUTY OF WOMEN

SOCIETY OF THE SURI PEOPLE

Africa
SURI WOMAN

The plate on her lower lip

determines
her beauty and acceptance in
her society
CULTURAL STANDARD OF THE BEAUTY OF WOMEN

SOCIETY OF THE PADAUNG

PEOPLE
Myanmar
PADAUNG WOMAN

The long neck with spiral rings

determines her beauty and acceptance in
the society.
CULTURAL STANDARD OF THE BEAUTY OF WOMEN

SOCIETY OF CHINESE PEOPLE

China Before 1917
FOOT BINDING
TRADITON IN CHINA

-Traditional Chinese
Women with Lotus feet
LOTUS FEET
of the Chinese women
determine beauty

(Bare lotus foot)

BUDS OF THE LOTUS FLOWER

BEGINNING OF FOOT BINDING

IN
800 BC
The legend of the court dancers
and the emperor’s wife with feet like
golf club
Golden Lotus Lotus Shoes Sign of social
( 4 inches) status
PAINFUL PROCESS OF FOOT BINDING
From age 3 to 17 years
 Women with lotus feet could not walk properly. They could not do
productive works, and this had retarded the development of Chinese
economy for almost 2,500 years from 800 BC to 1917.
The Sexual connotaion of the
lotus feet

“The second vagina”

 THE MODERN LOTUS FEET

“TIIS GANDA” 
Some women today wear these high heels just to make themselves look
beautiful, although very uncomfortable.
 The Art of Pleasure in 
6.3 Hindu Culture and
Religion
 BASIC CONCEPTS IN 
HINDU LIFE AND RELIGION

TWO LAWS OF LIFE

SAMSARA Law of reincarnation

KARMA Law of cause and effect

FOUR GOALS OF LIFE

DHARMA Duty in family and society

ARTHA Accumulation of wealth and power
KAMA Experience of pleasure
MOKSHA Spiritual release
Kama Sutra, 400-200 BC
Compiled by Vatsyayana,  
200 AD

SANSKRIT kama: 
“desire” or “pleasure”
Sutra: “string” or “thread,” metaphorically “a collection of
aphorisms that form a manual or text”
 

ART OF PLEASURE
The experience of pleasure (kama) is one of the four aims of
Hindu life necessary for a person to attain spiritual release
(moksha).
 RELIEF
SCULPTURE IN
KAJHURAHO
TEMPLE, INDIA
ANEKAPARIGRAHA
Sacred Prostitute

Fulfills men’s experience of

pleasure, therefore, helping
them to attain spiritual
release.
GEISHA

Japanese 
Traditional Professional
Woman
Entertainer
HENTAI

Japanese images and cartoons showing

sexual activities
Hokusai
The Pillow Book
 Aesthetic
6.4 Relativism in Popular
Culture
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN 
THE AESTHETICS OF POPULAR CULTURE

Trend, Fashion
Fad, The “in” thing

Baduy, Bakya 
Jologs, Conyo

Passing, temporary and

recycling conventional 
concept of beauty
Where is the eyebrow?

- Shaving the eyebrow was 

the fashion of feminine beauty
during the Renaissance.
Vermeer,

Girl with 
a Pearl 
Earing
Leonardo,

Lady with 
an Ermine
MODERN STANDARD

Amorsolo

Girl with 
a Basket    
of Mango (Detail),
1956
Eyebrows of
the modern
women
FASHION 
OF CLOTHING
THROUGH THE
DECADES
2022’s 2015’s 2010’s 2000’s
Fashion Fashion Fashion Fashion
1990’s 1980’s 1970’s 1960’s
Fashion Fashion Fashion Fashion
1880’S FRENCH
FASHION
Seurat, Sunday
Aftenoon in the
Island of La Grande
Jatte, (Detail)

1880’s 
FRENCH FASHION
BUSTLE

Framework worn at
the back of the
woman to prevent
heavy skirt from
dragging

1880’s 
FRENCH
FASHION
FASHION OF CLOTHING IN 
THE PHILIPPINES DURING THE
SPANISH PERIOD
 Damian Domingo
Water color painting showing Filipinos in native costumes
Damian Domingo

Water color
painting showing
Filipinos in native
costumes
Domingo Domingo Domingo
Water  Fish Vendor  A Native 
Vendor of Manila Laborer
 Batok: 
6.5 The Art 
of the Tattoo
PHILIPPINES  

Las Islas de 

los Pintados

Illustration in 
Boxer Codex, 
1590
PHILIPPINES
  
Las Islas de 
los Pintados
 The PINTADOS

"The Bisayans are called Pintados because they are in fact so, not
by nature although they are well-built, well-featured and white,
but by painting their entire bodies from head to foot as soon as
they are young men with strength and courage enough to endure
the torture of painting. In the old days, they painted themselves
when they had performed some brave deed. They paint themselves
by first drawing blood with pricks from a very sharp point,
following the design and lines previously marked by the craftsmen
in the art, and then over the fresh blood applying a black powder
that can never again be erased.
They do not paint the whole body at one time, but part by part, so that
the painting takes many days to complete. In the former times they had
to perform a new feat of bravery for each of the parts that were to be
painted. The paintings are very elegant, and well proportioned to the
members and parts where they are located. I used to say there,
captivated and astonished bythe appearance of one of these, that if they
brought it to Europe a great deal of money could be made by
displaying it. Children are not painted. The women paint the whole of
one hand and a part of the other.

"Alzina, Francisco S.J., "Historias de las Islas y Indios de

Bisaias...1668"
The natives
put tattoos

which are
believed to
enhance 
bodily
beauty.
Bodily marking

were 
signs of status,
beauty, family and
pride. They signify
acts of combat,
courage and
strength. 
The more tattooed a
warrior is, the more
he 
is revered.
PINTADOS FESTIVAL, TACLOBAN CITY
WHO KNOWS APO WHANG OD?
APO WHANG
OD

Mambabatok
from Mountain
province

GAMABA
Awardee
Whang-od Oggay,

Also known as Maria Oggay, is a Filipina tattoo artist from

Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines. She is often described
as the "last" and oldest mambabatok and is part of the Butbut
people of the larger Kalinga ethnic group.
 OUR TEAM

ALYSSA SANTOS LARAINE JASHLEY SALES

SECONDEZ
Thanks!