Why did the writing against culture movement criticize descriptions that made other peoples seem radically different?

The "writing against culture" movement, which emerged in the 1990s, criticized anthropological practices that imposed excessive and disadvantaging "otherness" on the peoples being studied.1

This movement argued that such descriptions were problematic for several key reasons:

• Dehumanization and Distancing: By framing other cultures as radically different, anthropologists often used language that distanced and dehumanized the subjects of their research.1
• Imposition of Otherness: The movement challenged the customary tendency in the discipline to categorize cultures in ways that disadvantaged them, effectively creating an artificial sense of "otherness" that did not reflect the complexities of human experience.1
• Reassertion of Universalism: In response to these practices, the movement implicitly reasserted the importance of humanist universalism, suggesting that anthropological descriptions should avoid creating artificial barriers between cultures.1

This critique served as a forceful challenge to traditional descriptive and categorizing practices within the field, sparking significant debate regarding the ethics of how anthropologists represent different societies.1