‘... to understand what it is we object to...’

[Hanyang]

When I was reading a book, I found a sentence with a rather complicated structure:
“But any such claim should be made with the greatest care and reluctance, and only after a sincere and thorough attempt to understand what it is we object to in its own cultural context.” quoted from Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction by John Monaghan
Could the part after the comma be split into ‘only after an attempt to understand what it is in its own cultural context’ and ‘only after an attempt to understand what we object to’ ?
If so, what is the grammatical rule? If not, what does this sentence actually mean?

Thank you.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, Hanyang.

When I was reading a book ...

Always tell us the title and author of any text you quote, please. You won't get a reply until you have done so.

 

[Hanyang]

Welcome to the forum, Hanyang.


Always tell us the title and author of any text you quote, please. You won't get a reply until you have done so.

Thank you for welcoming me.
I’ve added the tile and the author of the book.

 

[jutfrank]

Could the part after the comma be split into ‘only after an attempt to understand what it is in its own cultural context’ and ‘only after an attempt to understand what we object to’ ?

No and yes. Your first version misses out the meaning expressed by the verb 'object'.

If so, what is the grammatical rule? If not, what does this sentence actually mean?

The cleft clause what it is we object to means 'the thing that we object to'. We should understand exactly what we object to.

 

[Hanyang]

No and yes. Your first version misses out the meaning expressed by the verb 'object'.



The cleft clause what it is we object to means 'the thing that we object to'. We should understand exactly what we object to.

Thank you for your answer.
So ‘…understand what we object to’ and ‘…understand what it is we object to’ have virtually the same meaning? It seems the former structure is much more frequently used.