Stereotypes
Sundar has an amusing post on stereotypes and generalizations.
I will try to argue both against and for stereotypes/generalizations here.
Let me focus on the perception of India. It is true that India has a less than ideal perception in the outside world. One of my US colleague had for long assumed that India being such a poor country had only one ‘India International airport’ until she spoke to me. One thing is that generalizations as a rule will not be accurate. Relying on hearsay and stereotypes to form opinion and stick to it about a country as complex and diverse as India will be as accurate as some ABCD kid saying ‘Diwali is a festival of lights to be celebrated with wine, beer, samosa, chicken tikka, bangra dance in desi halls and restaurants‘. India is an ethnographer’s delight and nightmare at the same time.
After some introspection, I realize I am not as qualified to write in any great depth the perspective of some one living in Thiruvotriyur as someone who is actually living there. Thiruvotriyur is as different from, say Besant Nagar as Gopal Palpodi is from Colgate. I am not qualified to write about the India and Indians shown in Naan Kadavul in all probability. India requires a lifetime of understanding if one wants to understand meaningfully. A sambhar tastes very different even within Tamil Nadu every 300 miles. If this is what is the case for a resident, tax-paying, bribe-giving, aavin booth-standing, traffic rule-violating, middle class local, then I don’t have much to talk about Hollywood directors, social activist turned street photographers turned NRIs who are here for 3 weeks to attend their share of ‘must attend’ weddings and who form their perceptions about India during their stay. A vacation in India is enough if all we want is some ‘matter’ to discuss in parties or to make a mainstream movie. India is merely a prop here. It is like someone reading about India’s GDP in business daily to discuss in parties - very handy.
On the other hand, deciding whether to start a pottikadai behind Parthsarathi temple in triplicane requires a different thought process. India’s GDP does not matter much for this decision and is a mere generalization and offers nothing for the potentially life changing decision for the potti kadai owner.
What should we do to change the world’s perception of India? Ideally, that should never be the goal. It will be like a girl trying to prove to the whole world that she is a virgin. Perceptions are subject to change by its very nature. We Indians have enough problems to fix and to keep the next ten generations occupied. Perceptions will change in due course, hopefully for the better. America was once considered the greatest creditor nation in the world thirty years back. Not many share that perception now. Who changed that perception? None in particular, everyone in general.
Should all this arguments for inaccuracy mean quick and dirty opinions be avoided at all costs? I don’t think so. It is still valuable so long as one realize its limitations. As long as the perspective is a)local, b) is original without any pretension to political correctness, and c) is recognized that it is valid for only a short term,
I’d still say random quick opinions and stereotypes are useful, more importantly it is inevitable.
If someone says about Mr. X like this, ‘ Andha bemani kitte kadan kudutha vaangave mudiyadhu sir.. eppovume thagaraau dhaan!! Avanga familye ipdi dhaan!!’
I know there is lot of generalization in this statement. But will I go ahead and lend money to Mr. X or his family?? No matter what we say in blogs, we almost always will still have those stereotypes and generalizations and act according to them. I’d be brutally dishonest with myself if I say anything else. Stereotypes and generalizations are relative, inaccurate, yet inevitable and we do it 24/7 no matter what we say.
PS: I think I have made atleast half a dozen generalizations in this post.
March 5th, 2009 at 1:14 am
“Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true”
- Amartya Sen, quoting his professor at Cambridge: Joan Robinson
“Prejudice is based on accretion of observation and cannot be removed by simple contradiction” - V.S. Naipaul
GM: pushpam
S: adhaaNNE…neenga solra maadhiriyum sollalaam….avar solrA maadhiriyum sollalaam…
March 5th, 2009 at 1:16 am
One eg of generalization:
Auto drivers are bad!
But I have come across reasonable and helping ones in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad
March 5th, 2009 at 2:22 am
fathima
Exactly!
I too have faced very reasonable folks. But that does not make me approach auto drivers with a positive/open mind. All things being equal, one tends to play safe.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:23 am
dagalti
India is a bundle of contradictions for sure.
I did not understand the VS Naipaul statement…
accretion adhu idhu na enakku purila ba!
March 5th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Accretion (I thing) means layer adding upon layer.
Rather than dismissing prejudice outright as something disgusting and unreasonable, Naipaul says it is perhaps something that is built on several cases of observations, impressions handed down through generations etc. It perhaps does not make its own case but it sure cannot be destroyed by showing one or a few contradictions. There is perhaps some basis to it , it may have been disprioportionately received and remembered and ingrained in public consciousness but is rarely baseless.
It is quite an explosive point of view, particularly in the ‘diverse’ country like ours. It requires a sense of balance to even consider that viewpoint without being annoyed or trying to smell motives.
PS: By asking us to add 4 and 4 to be able to comment here, you are discriminating against the arithmetically challenged. indha engineer-gaLE ippidi dhaan…
March 5th, 2009 at 4:55 am
dagalti,
Thanks for the explanation. Yeah that makes sense…
>>’There is perhaps some basis to it ‘
Precisely.
Idhu kooda oru vidhamaana abstraction in a way..we just hide all the ifs and buts and exceptions and just say the essence.
>>indha engineer-gaLE ippidi dhaan…
There you go with one generalization.. i am as related to engineering as vadivelu is to einstein!
One click and this plugin will be disabled… but my blog will become the web equivalent of an unmanned public toilet in India!
March 5th, 2009 at 6:24 am
ada summA sonnEnga…
//There you go with one generalization.. i am as related to engineering as vadivelu is to einstein!//
It was meant that way PK.
Arithmetic literacy = Engineering degree is thamiz paNpAdu
And much more…Much to the consternation of my engineer cousin my pAtti used to say things like : “kaNNA…andha tubelight eRiya maattEngradhu….ennannu konjam pArEn”. I, of course would be spared of the tasks because I was automatically assumed I would not be equal to the demands of the task of twisting it back to light. Allowing me the opportunity to do what I was assumed to be equipped to do: sit back, watch and perhaps write a poem:
ஒரு
ட்யூப்லைட்டே
ட்யூப்லைட்டை
திருகுகிறதே
!
March 5th, 2009 at 9:28 am
dagalti makes a great point about ones own experience. The flip side of that is that another experience to the contrary or one that exposes a different side of the subject of prejudice or strong opinions is the most effective @ removing or modifying it. The influence of parents, relatives, friends early on life also plays a great role (next only to one’s personal experience). This whole notion of needing to know something inside out or have perfect proof before we become “qualified” to talk about is also rather puzzling. Just imagine applying this to politicians. Human behaviour is a rather weakly understood area despite all the punditry you hear - most of the explanations are just after the fact rationalisations.
March 7th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
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