The Peace Corps is an organization that was created forty years ago by President Kennedy. His primary intention was two-fold; first, he envisioned giving the citizens of the United States an opportunity to serve their country by promoting peace around the world without having to serve in the military. And second, he hoped to prevent a collective ignorance among diplomats concerning other countries, in hope of making our foreign policy, and services, more effective. Cultural Relativism, or trying to understand a culture by viewing the elements involved in it, without judging them to be lesser or greater than our own, is an essential tool when volunteering in the Peace Corps. This approach guides people to assess cultures without bias and helps to prevent many stereotypes and prejudices. The Peace Corps has proven to be an effective instrument in breaking down discrimination and labeling among Americans by accepting, and embracing other cultures.

The Peace Corps held a forum in late October, with several return volunteers from the program, to speak about some of their experiences. One of the goals of the Peace Corps i

s to teach fellow Americans about people of other cultures in the hope of increasing awareness of the world around us and in turn reduce ignorance of diverse cultures. Dennis explained the foundation of the Peace Corps and introduced Cherona, who volunteered in Senegal, and Marilyn who served in Uzbekistan. Together, Cherona and Marilyn shared unique and diverse events they experienced as volunteers in the Peace Corps.

Attending the discussion, I found that I was better able to understand the concept of cultural relativism. Although they didn't directly use the term, they displayed many examples in which they applied the concept. The speakers demonstrated how important it is to try to understand a culture on its own terms, rather than imposing ideas from your own customs on them. If you cannot evaluate a situation by applying elements from that culture, then you will be unable to fully grasp what is going on around you, or begin to understand the people. Utilizing cultural relativism enables people to incorporate knowledge of another culture into their own, without imposing their own customs or preconceived ideas into that culture. I feel that cultural relat

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Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)