Wearing anti-Covid facemasks has renewed debate over Quebec’s Bill 62, which bars a person whose face is covered from delivering or receiving a public service. Predictably, commentary frames the debate around rights and religious tolerance. But as Philip Carl Salzman notes, the concept of human rights that emerged after the Second World War was based on absolute values, such as good vs. evil, directly opposed to cultural relativism.

German-American anthropologist Franz Boas demonstrated over a century ago that nurture matters much more than nature in determining who we are. Thanks in large part to that idea racism was discredited for a long time. Now it’s fashionable again, including in, of all places, our university anthropology departments. McGill University anthropologist Philip Carl Salzman explains.