Traditions As A Defining Element Of A Culture

Culture is a complex term defined as religious, traditional beliefs, laws, facts and morals earned by a man as being a member of a society. It influences thinking and shapes the personality and growth of a person. Culture is a mutual programming of the mind which differentiates people of one society from another (Hofstede, 1994). Culture is exhibited at various levels of depth, according to Schein (1990) one of the levels includes observation skills implied by the person entering a community who views everything from physical appearance to how people dresses up, the way people greet each other, the spiritual strength of the place and other facts. Cultural patterns illustrate what is optimistic, pessimistic, acquired and refused within a society. It is built during the crucial events of a person’s life and is influenced by society. Culture cannot solely exist within a single person and is only experienced by living in a group of individuals having similar characteristics. People from different cultural backgrounds living together in harmony form an organization which is defined as an International community. International community interference in long held cultural traditions of other countries enhances cooperation and empowerment and therefore we support the international community interference in cultures of other countries (Spencer-Oatey, H. 2012).

Interacting with people from diverse backgrounds of other nations has led to globalization. preunderstanding, biases, judgements are part of a society and cannot be ignored when different cultures live together. Around the world, wide group of governments and people refer to international community for their problems. The international community provides a platform that allows its people to practice their basic civil rights and gives them the opportunity to speak for themselves. People from different cultures cannot live alone, it is necessary for them to interact and respect other nations opinions and beliefs as it is beneficial for society in terms of evaluations, relationships and learning experiences. When the international communities like WTO and FTA interact with people from different cultural backgrounds, it enhances the performance of the economies of different countries. As an international community, the people have the power and authority to support and provide less privileged countries with the means and resources to solve their neglected issues (Annan, K. A., Gowers, A., Chomsky, N., Kirkpatrick, J. J., & al, e. 2002).

Cultural traditions are not only beneficial but are harmful to society. There are various cultural traditions which are considered strange against the societal values, some of which are female genital mutilation which involves possible removal of female sex organs below the age of 12 in 28 countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia. It causes intense pain and suffering for the girl and increases the risk of newborn death. The girls go through psychological trauma for the rest of their lives. According to WHO more than 200,000,000 girls and women are subjected to this horrific tradition and WHO is opposed to all forms of female genital mutilation (UNICEF, 2016). Another one of the weirdest cultural traditions is the exhuming of the human corpses in villages of Indonesia. The people of the villages do not bury their beloved and instead they dress the dead bodies in special garments and roam around the village carrying the corpse. It’s a tradition where they pay homage to their ancestors by digging up dead bodies of their loved ones every year and dressing them up. This allows them to be closer to their dead family members and is a way for them to overcome grief. Some of these traditions are centuries and were established at a time when there was not much education and guidelines for them to follow so as they were deemed right at that time and are now considered against social and ethical norms.

Beginning from the African tribes to the civil societies of the European and American countries, there are various strange and odd cultures which are hard to accept in a normal society but they are practiced among different tribes of the world and are performed as part of their cultural traditions. Few of them include the foot binding tradition in China. Over a thousand years old, girls who had small feet, the Chinese considered it as a sign of beauty, elegance and appealing, a tradition which is passed on from mother to daughter. Young girls were forced to tie their feet in tight bandages to make sure that their feet do not grow further. The main point of this tradition was marriageability with the possible future mother in law who selected his son’s future wife based on the beauty of a girl’s feet (Mao, 2008). Another one of the strangest cultures is the neck ring tradition. The kayan women living in distant areas of Myanmar wear long and heavy brass coils around their necks for the rest of their lives, approximately 10.6% of the female population of Myanmar in the state of Kayah continues to wear these rings (Shimoda, 2015). Girls from the age of two are made to wear these rings, as long necks are considered a sign of beauty and good appearance. People who possess a huge amount of wealth also wear neck rings to exhibit their status. Another one of the strangest cultural traditions is the consumption of the ashes of the dead in Brazil and Venezuela. It is forbidden to keep the body parts of the dead so the Yonamamu tribes in Brazil and Venezuela burn and crush the body and the ashes are divided among the family members and consumed by all. Their ashes are mixed with a soup which the people attending the funeral are made to drink. They believe that the deceased’s spirit does not get peace unless its ashes are consumed, and they do so to keep their spirit alive for future generations. They do not eat because they like its taste or like to eat the dead, its rather out of respect and compassion for the dead and their family. The people who eat the ashes are close relatives and family members of the dead. They believe that by consuming the dead bodies it is easier for the family to come in terms with the death and overcome grief as there will be no dead body to cry over (Conklin, 2001).

Around the, world cultural traditions are used as an excuse to impede human rights. Different countries share a common set of beliefs, customs, religions and cultural traditions. International community shows how unfair elements of traditions in different countries have undermined social, civil, political, and economic rights of people instead of enhancing them. In Kenya, for example some ethnic communities violate laws of women related to the ownership of property and inheritance. The burden of maintaining cultural traditions and values are upon the shoulders of women which usually falls, and then traditional values are used as a tool that curtails their human rights. Cultural traditions need not be at odds with human rights, in some countries they use their religious beliefs to perform cultural traditions like genital mutilation (Klein, Helzner, Shayowitz, Kohlhoff & Smith-Norowitz, 2018). International community plays a vital role by enlightening people regarding their basic rights which are oppressed in the name of long held cultural traditions. International community creates laws and passes resolutions in order to support the basic rights of people who are violated by performing their cultural traditions as in many rural areas where people cannot raise their voices, international community laws are the only source for their justice. International community has the privileges and opportunities provided to them and they can use them to help these unfortunate people, give them the power of knowledge and allow them to use their rights. The international community has the power to provide freedom to many people who are very unfortunate, are held into these cultural norms against their will, they want to escape but do not have the means to do so. This is where the international community plays a pivotal role, it can provide the people with the knowledge, education and empower them to overcome these issues (Otker-Robe, Inci. 2014).

When the international community interferes in long held cultural traditions of other countries the outcome is not always positive. By interfering a country makes enemies on both sides, the ones who protect you and the ones who fight against you. This results in the destruction of the country’s economic and political statuses and puts the lives of many people of the countries involved at risk. They should not interfere as every country has their own established policies and do not prefer the involvement of other nations in their matters. Interference by international community can result in rallies by people who are sensitive regarding their cultural traditions and they cannot handle someone else point of view which can result in chaos and disturb peace in countries. Many of these cultural traditions are centuries old and have been practiced for years as such many people who practice these traditions do not like the idea of other nations interfering and prefer to continue practicing thier cultural tradition beliefs. Every country has their own religion and cultural traditions which they follow and do not prefer the interference of others based on ethical and human rights but this does not give a country the right to practice unethical cultural traditions that violate human right as interference enhances cooperation, creativity, empowerment and increase in economic development of other countries. Lack of education in some of these countries has resulted in cultures which undermines human rights and international community should interfere as they can guide the people and bring an end to these horrific and painful traditions. Interference is important as some of these cultures are harmful in a society and they do not allow a person to access their rights. Most of these cultures are subjected towards women and are in violation of their rights. Such as the female genital mutilation and the foot binding culture. These cultural traditions like the foot binding in which the young girls are forced to bear pain and torture as their feet are crushed which results in deformity, immobility, arthritis and paralysis, it has even resulted in the death of 10% of the girls (Mackie, 1996). International community should interfere in long held cultural traditions of other countries as they are not on the side of any country, they are not sensitive to any international law and they make decisions based on the circumstances.

Overall, it shows that the international community should interfere in long held cultural traditions of other countries as it has many positive aspects and makes the people of different nations united. It allows people to experience other cultural traditions and empowers them with knowledge and information. It breaks down barriers which otherwise creates misunderstandings and this lack of communication among people creates an isolation which otherwise can be broken by interacting and interfering with other groups of people. There are many countries where cultural traditions are used as tool suppressing human rights, in such countries international community provides knowledge to the people about their basic rights. Most of the cultural traditions humiliates women around the world and their outcomes are very horrific. International community provides platform where women can raise their voices and their rights will not be neglected. If international community will not interfere then countries with weird cultural traditions will keep performing such traditions in the name of their religious beliefs. On the other hand, that does not necessarily mean that in order to interfere one must disrupt another country’s religious beliefs and make unethical and unnecessary changes to it. Interference regarding the ethical and civil basic rights violation can be deemed as right. A country should be allowed to practice their own religious and cultural traditions if they do not disrespect their people, do not violate any rights and are socially acceptable.