ANTH 1120 - Examining Cultural Relativism: The Case of Honor Killings

This essay examines the concept of cultural relativism in the context of honor killings, a practice involving violence against women and girls perceived to have dishonored their families. It discusses the tension between respecting cultural diversity and upholding universal human rights. The essay highlights the prevalence of honor killings in certain regions, often rooted in patriarchal societal structures and rigid caste systems. It analyzes the ethical implications of cultural relativism when confronted with practices that violate fundamental human rights, emphasizing the need to challenge and abolish such heinous crimes while advocating for the protection and empowerment of women.

Running head: CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Cultural Anthropology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
The context of the topic related to anthropology relates towards the understanding of the
various cultures through out the human societies. The countries that have a more diverse cultural
population tend to more socially healthy and tolerant in comparison to the monocultures.
According the report, the more diversified a region is, in the term of cultural diversity and
ethnicity, the higher is the chance towards rich cultural quality. The places that are generally
culturally diverse tend to promote and encourage the bonding and the mutual respect (Hussain et
al., 2016). The diversity restrictions in the certain parts of the world have been influenced
towards the elimination due to the context of the globalization and its effect has been on an ever
changing pattern for the social scenario of the world. In the changing world with the boon of the
context of the globalization, the conflicts from the practice and the beliefs have been flourishing
to a greater extent. Thus it is extremely essential for the creation of the opportunities for a
culturally and socially secure place for the enhancement of the cross cultural diversity.
The diversity in the culture is one of the most intriguing factors from the context
of the human history. The numerous context of diversity including the race that has evolved
throughout the years and the numerous social beliefs, religious orientations that has been
developing towards the historical origin are some of the main factors for consideration. The
ethnic origins of the community tend to identify the group of the individuals sharing some of the
common beliefs and practices and some of the similar rituals as the integral part of their social
lives (Chesler, 2015). The essentiality towards the understanding of the different cultures and the
ethics tends to allow us towards an insight of the cultural beliefs and the thoughts that are diverse
for identifying the similarities among the cultures. The context of the cultural relativity lies on
the fact of the understanding of the other culture and the practices without initiating any sort of
hamper or interference. Respect towards all the cultures is generally challenged by the issue or

2CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
the difficulty for the criticizing of the cultures that initiates the violation of the basic human
rights. The assignment highlights the context of the honor killing, which is one of the most
internationally argued violation regarding the rights of the women and the girls.
The harmful tradition and practice in the context of cultural customary, the concept of
honour killing is one of the major violation of the human rights rules and regulations. Included
and denoted as one of the most pathetic aspect regarding the disrespect towards the concept of
the human rights, the context of honour killing includes instances like forced marriage, rape,
imprisonment by the family, torture and even murder by the members of the family (Churchill,
2018). The context of honour killing is a customary practices which challenges and violates the
human life, equality, liberty and freedom without the context of any categories of
discriminations.
Honor, the word can be illustrated or defined as a latent trait that serves as one of the
essential factors that the people tend to regain for the reestablishment of their status in their
community. The loss of the honour has both the inner and the outer quality. This is because the
loss is not only accompanied by humiliation, disgrace and shame but also the loss of reputation.
The context of the honor killing in the current scenario is generally accompanied and associated
with the assassin or the murder of the female member of a family or a group of people in the
community or the society on the basis of the beliefs and the perceptions that the targeted victim
has brought dishonor and shame to the community and the family by the means of their acts (El
Guindi, 2015). Most of the cases that has been reported till decade illustrates the victims to bee
women or the girls.

3CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
As per the report by the United Nations, there exist more than 5000 cases of honour
killing every year on the name of the cultural boon or the practices prevailing in the society.
Mostly prevalent among certain communities, these gruesome instances have been increasing
towards the knowledge of the public. Countries like Egypt, Iran, Iraq accounts more than half of
the incidents of the honour killings in the world targeting the instances of discrimination towards
the rights of the women, the law of the family and the practices in the male dominated society. In
the context of the culture practice of honour killing, one of the prevalent practices is stoning
where young women from Pakistan and Afghanistan are stoned publicly for refusing to marry as
per the wishes of their family (Green & Ward, 2017). Furthermore some of the heinous report as
been documented showing the instances here females of the society are slaughtered for chatting
with men on the social networking web pages.
Apart from being a cultural stigma and practice in the male dominant society, the honour
killing encircled some of the most obvious reasons of the degrading attitude towards women who
marry off according to their own choice and are believed to have stained the honour of the family
they belong from (Fiske & Rai, 2014). The women are subjected to stoning and ultimate
sentence in case of marriage on their own choice and also in cases of sexual assault or rape since
it is believed that they have brought dishonor and disgrace to the family. According to the
sociologist, the reasons behind the cultural practices of honour killing are still prevalent to the
society due to the rigidity in the caste system.
The concept of the cultural stereotype of honour killing is based on the deep rooted belief
that women and the girls are commodity who are not entitled towards any kind of dignity or
rights equivalent to the men. The bodies of the women in the society are considered the

4CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
repositories of the honour of her family and any allegation and dishonor towards the character
and the action of the women results in brutal retaliation and violent death.
From the perspective of the cultural relativism that upholds the believe that all the
cultures and the cultural practices are valid worldwide; this custom of honour killing reflects the
violation of the human rights towards the women and girls of the society (Khan, 2018).
The concept of the cultural relativism was firstly invented by the anthropologists which
argued the understanding of the life of the people and their cultures and their actions. On the later
half of the 20th century, the concept of the cultural relativism was expanded on the origin of the
ethical and moral relativism (Cooney, 2014). The issue of the cultural relativism expands the
ethical judgments that is being culturally biased and inapplicable in the cross cultural
background. The issue of the honour killing predates all the modern religions that simply focuses
of the sort of the severe punishments for the girls or the women exhibiting offending behavior to
the men in the society. Based on false allegations, honour killing projects the humiliation and the
violation of the rights of the women and the girls in the society who are the victims of
marginalization irrespective of any race, color or social backgrounds.
According to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, most of the victims of honour
killing stems from the accusation regarding their illicit relation (Begikhani & Gill, 2016).
Women are subjected to brutal death in lieu of the misconceptions and the judgments in relation
to the suspicions on them.
The collision among the cultural norms is actually at a greatest tension in the field of the
criminal law. The rationale behind the defenses of the culture relies on the age old customs, the
practices of the society as the trend that enables the people of a society to uphold and preserve

5CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
their position and honour in the place they stay. Thus to conclude the essay focused on the
cultural defenses in the context of the brutal cultural practices of honour killing of the women
and the girls, challenging the basic factors of the human rights by the family members that is
mostly fueled and influenced by the pressure of the community.
According to my personal opinion, the heinous crime of honour killing must be stopped,
banded. The government and the state agencies of the social services for the community people
must take steps to abolish and ban the cruel practice of the females. This is because there lies no
hounour in killing or murdering a member of the family or a female in the society. These
cruelties and the acts of the violence attack more than the bodies of the humans but also their
challenge towards the oppressive patriarchy. The justification of the odious crimes of the women
by their murder or a honourable motives are something we must stop for a healthy living society.

6CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
References
Begikhani, N., & Gill, A. K. (2016). Honour-based violence: experiences and counter-strategies
in Iraqi Kurdistan and the UK Kurdish diaspora. Routledge.
Chesler, P. (2015). When women commit honor killings. Middle East Quarterly, 22(4), B1.
Churchill, R. P. (2018). Women in the Crossfire: Understanding and Ending Honor Killing.
Oxford University Press.
Cooney, M. (2014). Death by family: Honor violence as punishment. Punishment &
Society, 16(4), 406-427.
El Guindi, F. (2015). Do Muslim Women Need Saving? by Lila Abu‐Lughod.
Fiske, A. P., & Rai, T. S. (2014). Virtuous violence: Hurting and killing to create, sustain, end,
and honor social relationships. Cambridge University Press.
Green, P., & Ward, T. (2017). The transformation of violence in Iraq. In The Criminology of
War (pp. 123-141). Routledge.
Hussain, M., Gillani, A. H., Fatima, A., & Ahmad, S. (2016). Honor Killing in Pakistan: Socio-
Legal Implications from Mid-1990s to the Dawn of 21 st Century-A Critical
Analysis. International Research Journal of Interdisciplinary & Multidisciplinary Studies
(IRJIMS), 2(2), 18-31.
Khan, R. (2018). Attitudes towards ‘honor’violence and killings in collectivist cultures: gender
differences in Middle Eastern, North African, South Asian (MENASA) and Turkish
populations.