interpretation and meaning rather than causality and behavior. Culture is seen as a system of ideas and symbols, with a complex of meanings, and deally, it is the job of the anthropologist to join forces with the 'other' and interpret it. This is where deconstruction and hermeneutics come into play, as discussed by Derrida By helping in the break down structures to illuminate hidden dimensions, this enables the investigator to comprehend the manner in which natives decode and understand their own texts. More specifically, "deconstruction involves breaking down 'essences' such as the family, female, and male into their individual components in order to illuminate the embedded dimensions of ideology and power. (Barrett, 153) There has also been a trend away from grand theories and generalizations. Condoning meta-narratives, or meta-histories through which all things can be interpreted or represented, along with universal and eternal truths, if they exist at all, can not be specified. (Blackwell, 45) Instead, postmodernists are meant to emphasize the particular and individual 'other' (or subjects of study) and feel at ease with the image of social structure that is fragmented or disjoined. (Barrett, 153) As a compliment to the inadequacy of positivism, there has been a renewed emphasis on relativism. Relativism, a doctrine pioneered by Boas, emphasizes the diversity and uniqueness of each and every culture. (Barrett, 153) A sort of heterogeneity of cultures, emphasizing difference, promoting the lives of the other, rather than sameness, as a reality of the multicultural "global planet" that we find ourselves in today. This in many way seems like the 'politically correct' approach, attempting to put the wrongs of the past right through a campaign of valorization and glorification of the 'other'. Consequently, what we have seen as a result of the emerg...
