Culture in the Law

Culture in the Law

The law in the US is presented and treated as neutral, but with a closer examination, one is able to see this is a huge misconception. Letti Volppwrites on this subject in her essay, Asian Women and the cultural Defense. In the essay she examines two cases involving Chinese Americans, whom she also refers to as Chinese as well as a representation of Asian people. She examines the difficulties surrounding the use of the cultural defense(CD) in US law. She is not completely opposed to the use of the CD, but only under certain, individual categories. She illustrates the design of US law as subjective, not neutral, privileging certain individuals, while marginalizing, subordinating or completely ignoring individuals to the point of being invisible. US law in influenced by race, gender and class.

The topic of the essay point out the racialized and gendered nature of law. Volpp uses the term Chinese and Chinese American interchangeably because while an immigrant may not be a legal citizen, the law handles them as Americans because they are living in the US, yet tends to treat many Chinese people as unassimilated even if they have lived in the US for many generations. The CD is evidence presented in a case referring to tradition, and culture, which is “unlike” the US, to explain actions of individuals. It ignores the fact that the US is a constantly changing culture, influenced by immigration and intermixing of cultures. She uses an argument involving anti subordination to explain how the CD can best be exercised. This involves recognizing structural pressure over many individuals, different for all, that produces the individual through a “neutral” foreground. It recognizes differences of racial, material, national origin, immigrant status and structural power relations, to acknowledge subordination.

Volpp examines two types of CD. The first is formalized. She is not in favor of its use, it works to create and enforce stereotypes and creates an “objective”. This is dangerous to individuals circumstances. It also creates generalizations that can be formalized into the law. “creating a cultural defense for immigrants in the US thus rests on the implication that US law is without a culture (68).” It also denies use to those who do not fit into the ‘tradition’ of their culture. It ignores the aspects surrounding the intersectionality of race and gender. The west is the ‘neutral’ standard (88). It essentializes individuals, robbing them of their own past and circumstance. “Strategic essentialism” actually understands