Clifford Geertz (1973), who defined culture as a symbolic system, as a “model of” social life that was routinely used as a “model for” the carrying out of social performances. But, if culture in this sense deter- mines both our thinking and our emotions – indeed, everything about us, motivations, dreams, desires – then there are no possible political grounds on which a culture can be criticized. If everything we want is merely an outgrowth or an artifact of our culture, then it is impossible for us to want to be free of that culture, or to want to chang