Dear Diary,

I havent written in a diary since I was kid. Its kind of funny, since then I was writing
to sort through how I felt about whatever trivial crush I had. Now Im trying to figure
out my role as an anthropologist in the communities Im observing.
In school, this is all so cut and dried, so easy to think about and postulate reactions.
Were taught until our only frameworks for thinking are value-neutral research and
cultural relativism, that all morality is equal in even its radical differences. Going in,
I had a clearly defined mindset of that is them and this is me. My job is to observe
and record; I can play morality in my field, but their lives are for me to watch and
listen; I cannot actively participate or I am an imperialist.
But what do I do when I hear a ten year-old girl screaming at her mother in a
desperate defense not to undergo genital mutilation? The entirety of the adult
female communitymother, grandmother, eldersdemand that it be done. My
western sensibilities say that it doesnt matter what the adults say, the child is right
and this is wrong. But how is this any different from a child in Florida disrespecting
their parents because they dont want to behave in accordance to cultural norms?
If morality is arbitrarily decided by each society, then how can any piece of it be
seen as more right than any other piece of anyone elses? Im appalled by child
labor because of how I was taught, but even labor laws in the US allow for the
exploitation of children in the name of Hollywood or family farm enterprises. At least
the parents in these societies need their children to work in order to survive;
parents encouraging their children to stardom back home just do it for the fortune
and glory. Catholic nuns cover themselves in the name of religious piety, so why are
we so offended with Muslim women do the same? Women have botulism injected
into their foreheads for wrinkle removal and starve themselves to look like
magazine covers; at least genital mutilation comes with a celebration in some
cultures. Western body mutilation is done in secret out of fear that people think
theyre fake.
The only conclusion I can come to out of any of this is that the thoughts Im having
now are exactly the reason anthropology adopted cultural and ethical relativism.
There is no way for us to definitively decide a single set of ethics, much less sort
through cultures to prescribe absolute right and wrong to each of their norms.
The only way to go about intercultural interactions is to put on a mask of passive
acceptance: this is me, that is them, we mingle and then part ways.
In our inability to define any absolutes, we opt for absolute relativism.