Saturday, October 22, 2005
WARNING: The following discussion entails certain topics that are sensitive. Not everybody might agree with what I have to say but I've tried to state things in a logical and objective manner.
cul·ture - the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group (according to Merriam-Webster dictionary)
The above definition is a bit outdated or atleast different from mine. Nowadays, when the word culture is used, its usually in reference to people belonging to a certain geographical location. For example, the Chinese culture or the American culture or the Indian culture.
Chinese culture implies a person from China holding certain values because he/she is from, well China. So we don't expect someone from Canada to have Chinese values because we believe that each country has its own specific set of values and anyone living in a specific country will subscribe to them. Correct?
Does each culture change?
Absolutely. Looking at the 18th century Canada is monstrously different than the world we live in today. The reason for its change is because people as a majority start to follow a different set of practices that they imagined to make their lives better (whether it did is irrelevant to our discussion). What I'm trying to get across here is that culture is continually evolving and is mainly dependant on what the majority of people adhere to at any given time.
So something that is considered taboo or illegal might become commonplace fifty years down the road. One example being the acceptance of homosexuals within the last fifty years or the advancement of women rights. The 'slave culture' was the norm in the 17th century and was adhered to by majority of the people. The culture of the Arabs in the 6th century was of barbaric practices such as killing female babies, severe alcoholism, continual bloodshed over tribal matters, etc.
Now, is one culture better than the other?? Not necessarily. Each culture is best suited for the country that it was developed in because the people there understood the necessities of that particular community. So Chinese culture might be the best of fit for people living in China but not for those in Canada and vice versa. Same can be said for other communities.
So why this little lesson in culture?
Well, I wanted to get a few things straight before we dive into the real discussion. Repeatedly, I meet people who are confused. These people are raised up in their households to have a certain set of beliefs that happens to be very different from what they learn in school. Pretty much any immigrant community can relate to that. So a person might have been taught Pakistani culture at home only to find something different when he starts to work.
They are repeatedly fed the notion of having to follow differnet customs just because their parents did.
Because we are raised to understand culture as a function of each country, confusion is the result when asked to follow the culture of lets say Poland while living in Canada. The situation is made worse by parents whom force these things on their children rather than offering an explaination (to be honest, there really is not a worthwhile explaination).
I have had several discussions with my parents about such topics and repeatedly said one thing to them: Why should I do certain things just because they are done in a country thousand of miles away?? My parents really have no answer to that (neither do majority of the parents out there).
So where do we go from here?
(Insha Allah continued the next time)
cul·ture - the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group (according to Merriam-Webster dictionary)
The above definition is a bit outdated or atleast different from mine. Nowadays, when the word culture is used, its usually in reference to people belonging to a certain geographical location. For example, the Chinese culture or the American culture or the Indian culture.
Chinese culture implies a person from China holding certain values because he/she is from, well China. So we don't expect someone from Canada to have Chinese values because we believe that each country has its own specific set of values and anyone living in a specific country will subscribe to them. Correct?
Does each culture change?
Absolutely. Looking at the 18th century Canada is monstrously different than the world we live in today. The reason for its change is because people as a majority start to follow a different set of practices that they imagined to make their lives better (whether it did is irrelevant to our discussion). What I'm trying to get across here is that culture is continually evolving and is mainly dependant on what the majority of people adhere to at any given time.
So something that is considered taboo or illegal might become commonplace fifty years down the road. One example being the acceptance of homosexuals within the last fifty years or the advancement of women rights. The 'slave culture' was the norm in the 17th century and was adhered to by majority of the people. The culture of the Arabs in the 6th century was of barbaric practices such as killing female babies, severe alcoholism, continual bloodshed over tribal matters, etc.
Now, is one culture better than the other?? Not necessarily. Each culture is best suited for the country that it was developed in because the people there understood the necessities of that particular community. So Chinese culture might be the best of fit for people living in China but not for those in Canada and vice versa. Same can be said for other communities.
So why this little lesson in culture?
Well, I wanted to get a few things straight before we dive into the real discussion. Repeatedly, I meet people who are confused. These people are raised up in their households to have a certain set of beliefs that happens to be very different from what they learn in school. Pretty much any immigrant community can relate to that. So a person might have been taught Pakistani culture at home only to find something different when he starts to work.
They are repeatedly fed the notion of having to follow differnet customs just because their parents did.
Because we are raised to understand culture as a function of each country, confusion is the result when asked to follow the culture of lets say Poland while living in Canada. The situation is made worse by parents whom force these things on their children rather than offering an explaination (to be honest, there really is not a worthwhile explaination).
I have had several discussions with my parents about such topics and repeatedly said one thing to them: Why should I do certain things just because they are done in a country thousand of miles away?? My parents really have no answer to that (neither do majority of the parents out there).
So where do we go from here?
(Insha Allah continued the next time)
Faraz Ahmed 12:53 p.m.
2 Comments:
For some reason I smell inter-cultural marriage being the basis for this post
Actually not at all (firstly, you have to define inter-cultural marriages for me).
The basis was the counltess number of people who are perplexed on how to balance their lives between two 'cultures.' I'm trying to prove that its not the culture but the religion that needs to be maintained.
The basis was the counltess number of people who are perplexed on how to balance their lives between two 'cultures.' I'm trying to prove that its not the culture but the religion that needs to be maintained.
