Premium
Changing Places: Relatives and Relativism in Java
Author(s) -
Beatty Andrew
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9655.00118
Subject(s) - relativism , plural , cultural relativism , context (archaeology) , ideology , java , sociology , moral relativism , epistemology , linguistics , political science , geography , philosophy , computer science , law , politics , programming language , archaeology , human rights
This article examines the social context of conceptual and moral relativism; more specifically, it explores links between religious orientation and experience in an ideologically plural setting. I argue that cultural models of ‘changing places’ serve to guide a number of Javanese practices: child–borrowing, gender–switching, language use, and even religious conversion. These models, formed in childhood experience, engender and express a relativism which is highly valued in rural Java.