Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Publication Date

12-2013

Publisher

International Association for East-West Studies (Cal-Poly Pomona)

Source Publication

Journal of East-West Thought

Source ISSN

2168-2259

Abstract

Can we ever justly critique the norms and practices of another culture? When activists or policy-makers decide that one culture’s traditional practice is harmful and needs to be eradicated, does it matter whether they are members of that culture? Given the history of imperialism, many argue that any critique of another culture’s practices must be internal. Others argue that we can appeal to a universal standard of human well-being to determine whether or not a particular practice is legitimate or whether it should be eradicated. In this paper, I use the FGC eradication campaigns of the 1980s to show that the internal/external divide is complicated by the inter-connectedness of these debates on the international level. As the line blurs between internal and external criticism and interventions, new questions emerge about the representativeness of global institutions.

Comments

Published version. Journal of East-West Thought, Vol. 3, No. 4 (December 2013): 107-121. Permalink. © 2013 International Association for East-West Studies. Used with permission.

Ericka L. Tucker was affiliated with California State Polytechnic University at Pomona at the time of publication.

Included in

Philosophy Commons

Share

COinS