Coming from India, difference in cultures, religion, language etc. is nothing new to me. There have been many conflicts, not just arguments but even violent fights due to these differences. I feel most conflicts arise due to stereotypes. There is one particular stereotype that particular bothers me as It also affects me personally. The conflicts between north Indians and south Indians seem never endings and seem to have no merit at all and yet there always seems to be some problem.
Growing up in the south, the usual opinion of north Indians in my city was not very good. We always thought they were stuck up, fancy and not as down to earth as we south Indians and we did often mock their language. Likewise I know many north Indians consider south Indians to be nerds without a life outside of work, outcasts in a way as we are the only state were hindi is completely useless (It’s the national language) and also they seem to think we south Indians have a strange mentality which I cannot seem to explain being south Indian myself.
But it never seemed to be a problem till I got to college. In school we were majority south Indians but in college it is a mixture and the differences are very clear. We south Indians cannot talk to the north Indians much because were the only people who never cared about hindi much to learn the language and this seems to be something the north Indians pick on. We speak tamil and I have even heard people say “Chennai vs the rest of India” which I feel is a bit unfair. Many people in many states do not speak hindi but we get picked on and about us being nerds I feel that is completely not true because we do have a life outside studies and work, we do know how to have fun. I have many friends in other colleges where the hindi speaking population are the majority and they always complain about how the northies (as we call them) complain about us tamilians, our food, city, language, attitude just to name a few.
Of course I can’t blame the northies completely, we had our opinions on them too and I have met many north Indians who aren’t anything like what we imagined them to be. In fact some of my best friends now are north Indians. But I guess some stereotypes never die and these will cause many more intercultural conflicts in the years to come.
Hey Uttara!
ReplyDeleteLanguage is a large part of one's culture so I suppose its only natural for people to distance themselves from those who speak a different language.
Being stereotyped is hard even for the best of us to accept and I sympathize with you in that sense. I also know what's its like to be unfairly "categorized" like that.
It is equally unfair that the onus is often on the victims to break such stereotypes but such is the nature of the world. However I choose to see it as that these people are ignorant, rather than bigots.
If we value a relationship with them, then we can choose to educate them. Else we can leave them in their 'uninformed' state and thus their opinions would not be of any value.
Btw I sincerly hope you don't feel marginalized here in Singapore. We take some time to open up to foreigners but you might just find that there are many similarities. Especially if it comes to food...
Uttara! =)
ReplyDeleteHey hey! Yeah it seems like stereotyping is the core issue stemming out of all these intercultural situations. And sometimes, some of these unfounded stereotyping can just be a result of irrational jealousy between different groups of people. And oh dear Uttara! You sound really upset in your blog post! I hope you won’t too hurt by anyone!
For your country (I’ve heard some of this from social studies in my secondary school), it seems like this has been going on for quite a while. And it’s just sad to see that its coming from different parts of the same country. It’s like seeing a beautiful place breaking apart from within=(. Oh and yes I do agree that some opinions (if agreed upon by general consensus) are VERY hard to change. It’s like sometimes when I go to libraries, and I happen to see Chinese nationals, it’ll immediately come to mind that ‘oh they’re so hardworking and are always studying, why should I even be surprised to see them here’ (no offence to Ke Cen). And I don’t even think it’s fair that I say this kind of stuff. I mean I’M in the library too, does that mean that I’m stereotyping myself too? Or does this only apply for Chinese nationals? Sounds really selfish I think of me to do this.
Uttara don’t be hurt by the people in your nation! Even though some people stick to stereotypes, I realize for some people with rather high EQ, these opinions just bounce off them when you tell them, so there are nice people out there who want to formulate their own judgments of people and won’t evaluate others simply by what they hear. Just hope you meet these kind of people!
Hey Uttara,
ReplyDeleteNice post, I like it. I'm glad you are able to apply what you learn in intercultural interactions to your situation in India. I'm more relieved you have gained a pair of sublimal vision to then go beyond and place it in perspective and consequently for yourself, found introspection and restropection useful.
What a great way Uttara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers
Que completita
I guess stereotyping should be one of the main barriers of assimilation in many countries. Such stereotyping is due to over-generalisation and prejudices that have been passed down generations after generations. I must admit that I am not immune to such thinking either. I would have to make a conscious effort to be open to others.
ReplyDeleteI hope that even if someone of another culture pass hurting remarks towards you, you would be able to understand that it's their ignorance that cause their behaviour. From there, u can use your actions to prove them wrong. It might take a long time but i think it would be worth it.
Thanks, Uttara, for this discussion of the stereotyping that takes places between "northies" and Indians in Tamil Nadu. It would seem that the language issue, along with other regional differences, is fundamental in the stereotyping.
ReplyDeleteIt might have been good in your post for you to mention a specific incident or observation that illustrated the pitfalls of such stereotyping. While the general problem is clearly stated, describing an incident would have helped this resonate in a more personal way. For example, do you have any memory of how such stereotyping actually resulted in a misunderstanding for you?
Finally, can you imagine any way that such over-generalizations can be eradicated in the future?
@ Brad: I have always heard north Indians are stuck up and without much exposure before I did believe it and sure there have been incidents in which they cam off pretty stuck up but there a lot of them who are genuinely nice.
ReplyDeleteTrue, this stereotype started off with language differences but now it is more than that. If I mention north Indians to my friends at home they are probably going to laugh and it works both ways.
I think more exposure to people from different places can help over-generalization but it will take a very long time to achieve that.
Thanks Uttara for sharing your view on how our stereotypical belief can largely cause inter-cultural conflict. It is interesting how people generalize who you are by the part of India you live in and your language. I would think that it is because of the experiences people have faced that had developed the stereotypical view within India. During your college days, did you experience a particular incident that was a result of intercultural differences?
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Uttara! Always love reading your posts because you always bring with you your experiences from India! :) And I like what Jac and Faizal replied to you as well. Don't be too negatively affected by such stereotypical comments! And if you value these relationships, it would be good to educate them too, though this is not necessarily easy because it depends on the mindset of the person receiving the education.
ReplyDeleteI guess stereotypes are always common in many places, and they tend to cause cultural conflicts. In time to come, hopefully people will learn to change their mindsets!
Hi Uttara! Thanks for sharing your story and I enjoyed reading. :) I have never been to India before and this post really enlightened me about the stereotyping between the North and South Indians. I think its the language that is the barrier for both groups to interact well with each other. Do you think if both groups were to learn the languages of the other group will foster a better relationship and understanding among themselves? Or communicating with a common language?
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience with my Chinese friends, though they may come from different provinces in China and have different dialects, they could still interact closely with one another because all of them could speak a common language, Mandrain Chinese.