The English South African, His History, Culture and Achievements
This can be illustrated by looking at the Indian South African nation. It is a good one to use as an example because it is perceived, by Indian South Africans and others, to be far more cohesive and unified than many others. And yet in reality there is still much diversity within the Indian South African people group. Consider the following, written by Indian South African journalist Gitanjali Pather:
“But what does being Indian mean? Is it about being born of Indian parents and if that is so what about children from mixed couples? Are they Indian but less Indian?…. Is Indian-ness related to language and so if you speak Urdu, Hindi, Tamil or Telugu, then you automatically qualify for Indian status which would mean that 80% of Indians of South African descent cannot be Indian since they certainly don’t speak the language. Or is being Indian about culture and religion?
“Does eating curry… wearing saris and Punjabis or being a practising Hindu or Muslim, make one Indian? That would certainly make a number of Indians of Indian descent less Indian than others, since our lifestyles have been permeated and influenced by a global culture. In fact, a Marathi villager walking on the Durban Esplanade would have great problems identifying as Indians some of our mini-skirted, belly-button bearing Indian girls…
“Eish, it gets a little complicated this Indian thing especially because India is a land of true diversity, making South Africa’s 13 languages look like a backwoods little village…. Mumbai may be quite a shock [to Indian South Africans]… all those Indians who don’t even look like Indians… slanty-eyed Nepalese or Manipuri girls, tall rugged looking broad shouldered Punjabi women with gruff voices, small, dark wiry Koli women from the fishing village to light-skinned almost European featured Rajastanis? According to them, they are all Indian including the dark, African featured Naga tribeswomen on the upper East coast!”[1]
The point is that not one of these supposedly “Indian” characteristics given in the quotation above, taken in isolation, defines one as an “Indian South African”. Rather it is when many of them come together in one person, that that person can be identified and defined as an Indian South African. And as Pather points out, a great many nations make up the nation of India itself! In India there are Punjabi Indians and Koli Indians and Nepalese Indians and many others. And in South Africa as well, there are a number of nations (Hindis, Tamils, etc.) which make up the Indian South African nation, which in turn is one of the many nations that make up the South African nation.
And the same is true of other people groups all over the world.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Filed under: History without the humbug