Nicholas Jones14 Oct 2002

The problem is its easy to disapprove of other people's cultural practices. When Britain conquered india, they declared the practice of suttee illegal, and in some ways it became a way of resisting imperial rule. It clearly is barbaric, but attacking it from outside raises comples moral issues.

There's a well-known article by the post-colonial theorist Gayatri Spivak called 'Can the Subaltern Speak?' which addresses this issue, and is very good, if hard going.