J.F. Cooper, East European and African‐American Intellectuals

Relativising Cultural Relativism

Bibliographic Data

ID20155932
AuthorsVirgil Nemoianu (University of America, corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume11
Issue3-4
Pages14-42
Publication date1995-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387
PublisherUnisa Press (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.1080/02564719508530112
OpenAlexW2007254208
LanguageEN
References cited12

The bulk of the article examines three cases of literary, intellectual, and cultural debate: the inter‐racial implications of the “Leatherstocking” pentalogy (1823–1841) of J. Fenimore Cooper, the discussion inside the community of African‐American intellectuals (late 19th to late 20th century) as to the best positioning of their ethnic community inside the surrounding ethno‐cultural majority, and the debates (primarily on finding a “third way”, a kind of mediation) of a small Eastern European society regarding its rapport to the dynamically evolving West. These three examples (deliberately chosen so as to be totally different from one another in their sources and shapes) have much in common. They indicate that the differences between cultures and races are not absolute, but rather relative. They show convincingly that there are common human reactions to the process of “modernization” (rationalism, alienation, industrial urbanization, break‐up of traditional bonds of kinship and community, etc.). Such reactions are not reduced to either recalcitrance and adversity, nor to mere enthusiastic approval. Most often they search for negotiated solutions of compromise: among the chief mediating forces are particularly those of aesthetic production and of religious faith. Diversity and cultural relativism, the author concludes, can be beneficial energies, but only on the condition that they understand dialectically their own limitations and relativity. In this way we can hope for the gradual emergence of a new, more democratic, and broader kind of humanism. The careful study of past historical responses can be helpful in our grasp of current incertitudes and aporias

Cultural relativism · Epistemology · Human rights · Political science · Relativism · Sociology · Anthropology · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History

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