Critic speak is tough, but we've got you covered.
Quote :Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis
The truth of objectivism—absolute, universal and timeless—has lost its monopoly status. It now competes, on more nearly equal terms, with the truths of case studies that are embedded in local contexts, shaped by local interests, and colored by local perceptions. The agenda for social analysis has shifted to include not only eternal verities and lawlike generalizations but also political processes, social changes, and human differences. Such terms as objectivity, neutrality and impartiality refer to subject positions once endowed with great institutional authority, but they are arguably neither more nor less valid than those of more engaged, yet equally perceptive, knowledgeable social actors. Social analysis must now grapple with the realization that its objects of analysis are also analyzing subjects who critically interrogate ethnographers—their writings, their ethics, and their politics.
"Objective" truth is old news, if you ask Renato Rosaldo. The academy likes to try to come up with objective truths, but at least in the humanities and social sciences, "objective" truth is usually generated from a white, often male perspective. Rosaldo is pointing out that there are other kinds of truths, subjective truths that come out of individual and communal perspectives.
According to Rosaldo, it's not just the white American anthropologist who is capable of analyzing the culture of Native Americans, for example. Native Americans are also capable of analyzing the anthropologist, and his or her culture. And Native Americans' knowledge and perspective are just as valid as the anthropologist's.
Rosaldo's argument challenges the conventional idea that knowledge is valuable only if it's objective, impartial, and neutral. But studying human culture and human history isn't the same thing as studying the laws of physics: humanistic knowledge is always told from a particular point of view. The knowledge of the poor, of women, and of ethnic minorities is as valid as "institutional" knowledge—which, after all, usually reflects the perspective of a dominant group.
Let's picture it another way. We're in a classroom. One guy has a really loud voice, and likes to hear himself talk. He interrupts everyone and talks over them. Yeah, we all know that guy. Anyway, because he's the loudest, everyone doesn't get an equal chance to speak. But just because he's loud, that doesn't mean that his thoughts or ideas are better or smarter or more important than anyone else's. He's just loud.
Rosaldo would say that we need to pay attention to the quieter voices in the room, because they offer perspectives and knowledge that this loud dude is totally missing.
Quote :"Cultural Citizenship"
Cultural citizenship in the United States rests on a seeming paradox. It involves the simultaneous claim to one's cultural difference and to the right to be a first-class citizen. Rather than accepting the dominant ideology that posits difference as a stigma or a sign of inferiority, cultural citizenship asserts that even in contexts of inequality people have a right to their distinctive heritage.
If you're "different" in some way—say we're an ethnic minority, or we have cultural or national roots outside of the U.S.—then you're often viewed and treated as a second-class citizen. The fact that you're different is often taken as a sign that you're inferior.
Rosaldo thinks we should focus on what he calls "cultural citizenship" instead. Cultural citizenship is all about allowing people to be different, while also treating them like first-class citizens. Everyone should be allowed to participate fully as a citizen, no matter what they look like, what languages they speak, or what their cultural background is.
It's sort of like this. Let's say you like to eat cat food instead of normal food. Hey, we're not judging: we totally into Friday night Fancy Feasts. Uh, we mean… Anyway, just because you like to eat cat food, or just because you like to dress up as banana when you to the library, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have full rights as a citizen. People from all cultural backgrounds can and should be full citizens.