Role of anthropology towards a global culture, a culture for coexistence, dialogue, and symbiosis: a theoretical reflection

Abstract

Anthropology is a systematic and scientific study of humanity with the goal of comprehending the world's vast cultural diversity. Cultural anthropology is hallmarked by the concept of culture itself revealing new possibilities and answers to our cultural challenges in the new millennium. The relevance of this article is conditioned by the need to analyze the cultural factors responsible for almost complete misunderstanding and breakdown among diverse cultural, religious, racial, and ethnic groups. The consequences often lead to a collapse in intercultural communication, and deterioration in intercultural relationships in an increasingly integrated world creating a major challenge globally. This piece deals with how these inappropriate cultural factors can be changed by proving facts that confirm existing, predominantly negative mental images against the out-groups proposing an alternative solution or possibility that would be more culturally appropriate to promote a culture of peace for the sake of restoring stability and harmony worldwide. It argues that certain types of learning, interethnic and intercultural communication, and rapports can remove, and counteract such unjust phenomena and establish a just and participatory society. Finally, it examines cultural relativism, its theoretical strength, its social and ethical usefulness, and its intellectual coherence helpful to prevent growing cultural intolerance globally.

Keywords

• Culture of violence
• crimes against humanity
• human rights crisis
• liberal democracy
• globalism-cosmopolitanism-cultural flows
• culture of peace

References

1. Abraham MF. (2006) Contemporary sociology: an introduction to concepts and theories. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
2. Akhmadieva RS, Guryanova TY, Kurakin AV, Makarov AL, Skorobogatova AI, Krapivina VV. (2020) Student attitude to intercultural communication and intercultural interaction in social networks. Contemp Educ Technol 11(1):21-29.
3. Allport GW. (1954) The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
4. Altman I, Chemers MM. (1984) Culture and environment. Cambridge University Press.
5. Banban D. (2018) Harmony in diversity: an empirical study of harmonious co-existence in the multi-ethnic culture of Qinghai. Int J Anthropol Ethnol 2(1):1-23.
6. Bar-Tal D. (1989) Delegitimization: the extreme case of stereotyping and prejudice. In: Bar-Tal D, editor. Stereotyping and prejudice. New York: Springer.
7. Beyers J. (2017) Religion and culture: revisiting a close relative. HTS: Theol Stud 73(1):1-9.
8. Bizumic B. (2015) Ethnocentrism. In: Segal RA, von Stuckrad K, editors. Vocabulary for the study of religion, v.1, 533–539, Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.

9. Cohrs JC, Duckitt J. (2011) Prejudice, types and origins of. In: Christie DJ, editor. The encyclopedia of peace psychology, 1-7, Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
10. Cushner K, Brislin RW. (1996) Intercultural interactions: a practical guide. London: Sage.
11. Dunn MD. (1995) The holocaust history-a people's and survivors' history. Retrieved from https://remember.org/guide/history-root-stereotypes (2022, May 10)
12. Eshetu Y. (2017) Understanding Cultural Relativism: a critical appraisal of the theory. IJMMU 2;4(6):24-30.
13. Fatma G. (2015) Stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination and racialism in Toni Morrison’s the bluest eyes. The Context 2(4):474-481.
14. Flückiger KM. (2006) GCSP Policy Brief No. 21: xenophobia, media stereotyping, and their role in global insecurity, 1-14. Retrieved from https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/92736/Brief-21.pdf (2022, May 10)
15. Gannon MJ. (2004) Understanding global cultures, Third Edition, London: Sage.
16. Gascon A. (2012) Step in! Be active against racist propaganda and hate speech online. Amsterdam: UNITED for Intercultural Action in co-operation with the European Youth Centre of the Council of Europe, European Youth Centre Strasbourg, 1-28, Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/16806fd5b2 (2022, May 10)
17. Genocide in Cambodia, 1975-1979. Retrieved from https://echoesandreflections.org/wp-content/ uploads/2017/11/Cambodian_Genocide_Overview_FINAL.pdf (2022, May 01)
18. Glenny M. (1996) The fall of Yugoslavia: the third Balkan war. New York: Penguin Books.
19. Gourevitch P. (1998) We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: stories from Rwanda. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
20. Graumann CF, Wintermantel M. (1989) Discriminatory speech acts: a functional approach. In: Bar-Tal D, editor. Stereotyping and prejudice, 183-204, New York: Springer.
21. Green DP, Seher RL. (2003) What role does prejudice play in ethnic conflict? Annu Rev Polit Sci 6(1):509-531.
22. Grishaeva EB. (2012) Multiculturalism as a central concept of multiethnic and polycultural society studies. J Sib Fed Univ-Humanit Soc Sci 5(7):916-22.
23. Guang X. (2007) Culture in the context of globalization: a sociological interpretation. Caligrama 3(2):1-16.
24. Hasnain N. (2016) General anthropology. New Delhi: Jawahar Publishing and Distributors.
25. Hossain MI. (2018) Hindu-Muslim cultural syncretism, mixed heritage, and inter-faith harmony: some pragmatic observations from Eastern India. Stud Interrelig 28(2):1-21.
26. Jandt FE. (2001) Intercultural communication: an introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
27. Jones A. (2010) Genocide: a comprehensive introduction, 2nd Edition, London: Routledge.
28. Jussim L. (1986) Self-fulfilling prophecies: a theoretical and integrative review. Psychol Rev 93(4):429-445.
29. LeVine RA, Campbell DT. (1972) Ethnocentrism: theories of conflict, ethnic attitudes, group behavior. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
30. Lin M, Wang Y. (2019) From ethnocentrism to intercultural communication: the hundred-foot journey. JLLL 56:24-31.
31. Mai NP. (2015) Potential problems in cross-cultural communications: stereotypes, prejudices, and racism, p.1-20. Retrieved from https://www.amsterdamuas.com/binaries/content/assets/subsites/international-business-school-ibs/chapter-4-stereotypes-prejudices-racism.pdf?1446654473610 (2022, May 10)
32. Matthew L. (2016) Why the U.S. Government failed to anticipate the Rwandan genocide of 1994: lessons for early warning and prevention. Genocide Stud Prevent: Int J 9(3):33-58.
33. McLuhan M. (1962) The Gutenberg galaxy: the making of typographic man. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
34. Merton RK. (1968) Social theory and social structure. New York: The Free Press.
35. Moorthy R, Selvadurai S, Gill SS, Gurunathan A. (2021) Sustainable societal peace through the integration of bioethics principles and value-based education. Sustainability 13(6):3266.
36. Njoroge MW, Kirori GN. (2014) Ethnocentrism: significance and effects on Kenyan society. Afr J Pol Sci Int Relat, 8(9):356-367.
37. Rummel RJ. (2022) Power kills: genocide and mass murder. Retrieved from https://hawaii.edu/ powerkills//POWER.ART.HTM#TOP (2022, May 10)
38. Samovar LA, Porter RE, McDaniel ER, Roy CS. (2010) Communication between cultures. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
39. Samovar, LA, Porter RE. (1997) Intercultural communication: a reader. 8th Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
40. Scott J, Marshall G. (2009) Oxford dictionary of sociology. 3rd Edition Revised. New York, USA: Oxford University Press Inc.
41. Schein EH. (2011) What is culture? In: Godwyn M, Gittell JH, editors. Sociology of organizations: structures and relationships. Sage Publication Inc.
42. Sumbulah U, Purnomo A. (2018) Building social and religious harmony for students in Indonesia: study of interfaith harmony forum’s role of Malang, East Java. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), p. 219-228.
43. Sumner WG. (1906) Folkways: a study of the sociological importance of usages, manners, customs, mores, and morals. Boston: Ginn and Company.
44. Sue DW, Sue D. (1990) Counseling the culturally different and practice. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
45. Teo PC, Mohamad O, Ramayah, T. (2011) Testing the dimensionality of consumer ethnocentrism scale (CETSCALE) among a young Malaysian consumer market segment. Afr J Bus Manag 5(7): 2805-2816.
46. Tylor EB. (1871) Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, language, art and custom. London: J. Murray.
47. Williams R. (2006) The analysis of culture. In: Storey J, editor. Cultural theory and popular culture: a reader (Third ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.
48. Wolfe CT, Spencer SJ. (1996) Stereotypes and prejudice: their overt and subtle influence in the classroom. Am Behav Sci 40(2):176–185.
49. Zechenter EM. (1997) In the name of culture: cultural relativism and the abuse of the Individual. J Anthropol Res 53(3):319-347.
50. Zikargae MH. (2013) The impacts of ethnocentrism and stereotype on inter-cultural relations of Ethiopian higher education students. OJCMT 3(4):126-148.
51. Zuo’an W. (2013) Religious harmony: a fresh concept in the age of globalization. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 77:210-213.