Introduction

Whaling raises questions beyond merely that of the law, given that it is so inextricably linked to, among other things, the concept of cultural diversity – a concept that is of great importance to other disciplines, including that of social anthropology. The present chapter is devoted mainly to those legal issues that are often argued from the standpoint of cultural diversity. To this end, the chapter will give some degree of consideration to the chief anthropological questions that arise. The concept of cultural diversity (or cultural identity) within the context of grounds to justify whaling is most frequently analysed and discussed in relation to indigenous whaling, given that this is a category of whaling that is outside the scope of the current IWC Moratorium on commercial whaling. (On cultural diversity in relation to indigenous peoples, see Chapter 7.) However, there is also another pertinent aspect of whaling that is often neglected, relating to Japanese, Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese whaling, which States claim that their engagement in whaling, and their consumption of whale products, is an expression of their national identities. Therefore, when juxtaposed to the practices of other nations, their whaling customs are considered as an expression of their cultural diversity. There will be no definite answers given, as cultural diversity is a complex and divisive issue, not least due to its highly discursive and indeterminate nature. There is also a further related contentious issue that compounds the complexity of the issues relating to whaling, namely, that of animal rights, that is often juxtaposed against rights to cultural diversity in the whaling debate, and which will be discussed in Chapter 5. This chapter therefore will be devoted to the often neglected issue of cultural diversity relating to non-indigenous people in relation to whaling.

General outline

This section deals with general issues of cultural diversity, such as its meaning, what its elements are, and the context in which it is applied. The section is, however, more of an overview of pertinent questions than an in-depth analysis of the concept, which indeed has already been widely researched and written about. In this context, it would be outside the scope of the present chapter to dwell in detail on the controversies that relate to the tensions between universal standards and particular assertions of culture.