So-called honor killings take the wind out of a form of cultural relativism that I refer to as absolute cultural relativism. According to absolute cultural relativism, anything that goes on in a particular culture, and is justified within that culture, cannot be questioned or changed by insiders or outsiders. For insiders, such questioning is cultural [...]
Journalist and filmmaker Sebastian Junger says that he wanted to make you feel like you are actually there in a remote combat outpost in Afghanistan in Restrepo. He and his partner Tim Hetherington, succeeded. After the documentary’s powerful 90 minutes, people in the packed AFI theater in Silver Spring, Md., on Friday June 28 [...]
Patricide, or the murder of one’s father, is often associated with political intrigue at high levels: a son seeks his father’s throne and doesn’t want to wait for his father’s natural death.
The reported murder of an Iraqi man by his son and a nephew because he worked for the U.S. military as a translator [...]
Vice President Al Gore and Tipper Gore, married for 40 years and an iconic couple of marital endurance against high odds, are quietly separating. I am sure that thousands of other people join me in wishing them both the best as they move on into new directions.
While the media buzz about the separation, I note [...]
• Africa is not a big country
In a letter to the editor of The New York Times concerning an article on the global war on AIDS, Steve Black zings it for totalizing “Africa.” He writes, “Now just imagine what would happen to investment in the United States if articles did not distinguish between the United [...]
“Mother’s Day Paint Job,” creative commons licensed on Flickr.
One day out of 365? Not good enough.
Anthropologists have analyzed some annual holidays such as Mardi Gras in the West and Holi among Hindus in South Asia. They often involve “inversion.”
In Mardi Gras, people have a riotously good time in ways not normally accepted. Sexuality is emphasized. [...]
The latest issue of the Journal of Women’s Health includes three articles describing health risks of women in the United States related to social exclusion and cultural factors. They all demonstrate that good health is about a lot more than medical care.
The first article looks at three factors associated with cardiovascular disease–hypertension, elevated cholesterol, and [...]
The US Department of Education has repealed a 2005 Bush-era policy that made it easy for high schools and colleges to avoid compliance with a federal law mandating equal opportunities for female students in schools and colleges that receive federal aid, specifically in terms of athletics.
One way to comply with Title IX was to use [...]
To our Washington-area readers out there, the Culture in Global Affairs Program and the Global Women’s Forum at the Elliott School of International Affairs are hosting our final event of Spring 2010 this Thursday evening:
Working the Night Shift:
Women in India’s Call Center Industry
Dr. Reena Patel
Drawing from her newly released book, Working the Night Shift, [...]
On April 15, a panel at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, focused on a newly released study, “Progress Report on Women in Peace and Security Careers: U.S. Executive Branch.” Jolynn Shoemaker, Executive Director of Women in International Security (WIIS) presented highlights from the report. Major findings include: the situation for women [...]
