The topic of human rights in the face of cultural preservation has been on my mind lately. It came up the other night while watching Mark and Olly Life with the Mek. This program on the Travel Channel chronicles the adventures of Mark and Olly, two British "explorers" who go out to live with the Mek tribe in West Papua New Guinea for 4 months or so. These guys aren't researchers or anthropologists; they are just living with these people on a sort of adventure, as they describe it in the title. The part of this one episode that got me to thinking about this certain topic had to do with the Mek's tribal beliefs. It began with the tribe's leader, Markus, coming down with some sort of illness. Mark is convinced it is some sort of malaria that is causing Markus's state, but Markus is convinced that it is the work of a witch. Mark does some tests in order to determine whether Markus has a sort of deadly malaria.
First of all, this act struck me. Who is this British "survivalist" to come in to this remote tribe's life and bring in Western medical practices? By simply introducing themselves into this tribe's life has already disrupted it, much less their disregard for preserving their way of life. I wonder what Markus made of this Western medical hypothesis; did it offend him that Mark did not want to believe his illness was brought on by a witch, but malaria? Markus does not seem angered my Mark's discredit of his theory, but is not convinced by Mark's conclusion and continues to believe that his illness has supernatural origins. I wonder what the right course of action in this situation would be. Do you continue to let this man believe he has been cursed by a witch or do you diagnose his possibly fatal disease and seek medical help? Upon first inspection I would lean towards allowing Markus to carry on believing his illness was caused by the witch, as not to further destroy their ancient belief system. However, should I really stand by and allow this man to die if a cure exists? Since the choice to seek cures from Western medicine is up to Markus, for it is his life at stake, I stand by allowing him to believe what he wishes and seek whatever cure he thinks appropriate.
However, another problem arises with the proposed cure for Markus's illness. If a witch is indeed responsible for this illness, then it is decided that the witch must be killed rather gruesomely. The added problem is that the accused witch is a young girl that lives within the village, who moved there from a neighboring land.
Mark and Olly decide that if any physical harm is to come to this girl that they should step in. As I was watching with my father, he stated that he did not think this would be the right course of action. At first, I was quick to agree with him given my knowledge of anthropological practice and the need to preserve indigenous culture and religious practice. However, Mark and Olly are not anthropologists, but honorary members of the tribe and simple travelers and apparently had no regard for anthropological methods. When I thought further, I began to side with Mark and Olly on this one. Should a human life be taken for a religious ritual? Would it be a life for a life if it would cure Markus?
The analogy that struck me most profoundly was the situation in Nazi Germany in the concentration camps. Would it have been wrong to stand up and no allow the Nazis to slaughter the Jews? I'm sure the Nazis thought they had every right to kill them, being as they were no better than dogs. In their minds they were curing their society, purifying it. Would allowing the Mek people to kill this girl be any different than standing by and allowing a Jew to be gassed? Would not saving the Jew disrupt the cultural practice of the Nazis? When I look at it from this angled I do not think I would allow myself to stand back and watch this young girl be sacrificed. This situation makes me question the role of the outsider in a foreign land. I wonder when is the time to step in and when should we allow events to take their course? I find this predicament very relevant with our current political situation. When should the U.S. step in and intervene and when should we allow other societies to sort situations out for themselves?
Thought this was something interesting to think about...
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