The Curious Case of Fauziya Kassindja
John Edwards
Ian Young
Philosophy 1020
12 Friday 2010
The Curious Case of Fauziya Kassindja The world today is run by a bunch of bureaucrats, people afraid of offending anyone, who are looking out for themselves and whatever their backers believe in. These people almost did not offer asylum to a young woman seeking it, from Africa, who felt she was in harm’s way. They claim that Cultural Relativism helps them to prove that by not helping they are being more culturally aware and conscious. In this paper I will prove that giving the young girl asylum was the best choice and that when someone seeks help, it is ok to interfere in other culture’s customs and rituals. The story of Fauziya Kassindja can be found in The Elements of Moral Philosophy which was written by James Rachels. James Rachels has written many books on philosophy and is able to grasp the attention of the young and old thinkers everywhere. The story of 17-year-old Fauziya Kassindja may still be a foreign story to most Americans, but a painful one too many in her native Togo, a small nation in West Africa. Hers is a story of excision, or genital mutilation, in young girls before they marry. She did not want the mutilation, which was avoided by her sisters under the protection of their father. Because her father died unexpectedly, her grandfather began to prepare her for the sacred ritual. Fortunately, her mother and sisters helped her to escape to the United States of America so she could seek asylum and be safe from the knife, the knife that harms so many in her native homeland. When she arrived in Newark International Airport in 1996, Ms. Kassindja was not welcomed with the open arms the way many who enter the country are welcomed, but instead was imprisoned for two years before she was finally granted asylum, but not before she created quite the controversy in her new homeland. Spectators became split between those thinking that this was a horrible act and all girls needed to be protected
Ian Young
Philosophy 1020
12 Friday 2010
The Curious Case of Fauziya Kassindja The world today is run by a bunch of bureaucrats, people afraid of offending anyone, who are looking out for themselves and whatever their backers believe in. These people almost did not offer asylum to a young woman seeking it, from Africa, who felt she was in harm’s way. They claim that Cultural Relativism helps them to prove that by not helping they are being more culturally aware and conscious. In this paper I will prove that giving the young girl asylum was the best choice and that when someone seeks help, it is ok to interfere in other culture’s customs and rituals. The story of Fauziya Kassindja can be found in The Elements of Moral Philosophy which was written by James Rachels. James Rachels has written many books on philosophy and is able to grasp the attention of the young and old thinkers everywhere. The story of 17-year-old Fauziya Kassindja may still be a foreign story to most Americans, but a painful one too many in her native Togo, a small nation in West Africa. Hers is a story of excision, or genital mutilation, in young girls before they marry. She did not want the mutilation, which was avoided by her sisters under the protection of their father. Because her father died unexpectedly, her grandfather began to prepare her for the sacred ritual. Fortunately, her mother and sisters helped her to escape to the United States of America so she could seek asylum and be safe from the knife, the knife that harms so many in her native homeland. When she arrived in Newark International Airport in 1996, Ms. Kassindja was not welcomed with the open arms the way many who enter the country are welcomed, but instead was imprisoned for two years before she was finally granted asylum, but not before she created quite the controversy in her new homeland. Spectators became split between those thinking that this was a horrible act and all girls needed to be protected
Bibliography: Rachels, James, and Stuart Rachels. "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism." The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 14-31. Print.