Why are some anthropologists opposed to dialogue between different cultures and all types of interference?
Many anthropologists are bound by radical Cultural Relativism and a romanticised vision of “cultural purity”. According to Ana Keila Mosca Pinezi (anthropologist, teacher and doctor), from the São Paulo Federal University (ABC Paulista), cultural relativism represented for a while an anthropological theory that enjoyed a certain prominence and answered every question related to cultural standards. “Relativism is opposed to extreme ethnocentrism” she explains, referring to the thought patterns that classified values of so-called white civilisations as superior to any others – an obvious misconception. “However, today it is known that relativism is a theory, among others, and cannot be held as an absolute truth, capable of resolving issues on different cultural values.
