Cultural Racism

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Culture in its broadest sense is acquired behavior; the sum of one’s knowledge, accumulated experience, and developed behavior through social learning. It can be seen as the growth of a group identity furthered by social patterns unique to the group. In addition, culture is a contributing factor of one’s identity based on elements such as language, religion and ethical belief, sexuality, music, arts, cuisine, and tradition. Such elements contribute to the fluidity of culture as well as the diverse variety of subcultures that can exist within a community. For example, within the Islamic community there are 73 sects: Sunni and Shi’a being the two most prominent branches. Multiculturalism is the concept of co-existence for various cultures. …show more content…
By avoiding blunt forms of racism based on beliefs about genetics or hereditary inferiority, cultural racism has claimed to not be racist at all. But, it tends to attribute practices and beliefs based on appearance. Considerations of culture actually participate in the discriminatory practices that cultural sensitivity is meant to avoid. Culture functions as the vessel to speak about race without the need to discuss biology. However, cultural racism does not forget about biology and the unfair treatment of people based on skin colour. Rather, it masks such prejudice in terms of cultural differences. Therefore, cultural difference is the means of separation while obvert racism is avoided. The distorted views of other cultures in the courtroom can be dangerous. In respect to the many Canadian court cases, we see these views to be particularly dangerous for women of non-mainstream cultures. Such non-mainstream cultures are considered dangerously misogynistic, which subordinate and endanger women. In society we can observe the misconception of the “other” defines the “third world woman” as the helpless victim and the “third world man” as the barbaric perpetrator who exercises his authority given to them by their traditional culture. Notable examples that have captured the attention of Western society include the dowry murders in …show more content…
In reality, such practices mask and enable an environment for racism and xenophobia to exist. The socially constructed idea of the “Third World Woman” has endured since colonial times. She is perceived as uneducated, obliged by customs, and under continuous danger of violence from the “other” man. A notable example of that is the topic of the Hijab, which has fallen under much controversy in the last couple of years. The veil is seen as both a symbol of freedom and oppression. The Hijab serves as both a religious symbolic function and carries a cultural sentiment within Islam. For many women, the Hijab is an important part of their Muslim femininity because they find empowerment in rejecting the idea that women can be reduced to their sexual allure. Furthermore, it
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