again...owning culture...

I was talking to a Pakistani student today. He was talking about language and he said that Urdu is Pakistani national language. "It is ours but it is also used a lot in India". So I asked him, "aren't there Indian who speak Urdu?" He said, "Yes." I asked him again if they only started speaking Urdu after 1974 (separation of India and Pakistan). He said, " No, they have used it for centuries,". Precisely my point...Language, which is an element of culture existed longer than present political boundaries were drawn. We are caught of with political boundaries and try to limit culture within the same boundaries. Culture, however, does not work that way. Of course, with political boundaries, different political systems in different countries, culture may evolve but it is ridicolous to put the same boundary for culture as for a country.

long hair...

I went to petrol station early this morning. After filling up my car, I was about to leave when one of the employee at the station asked me if my hair is actually my real hair or is just a wig. I burst out laughing and told him it is real hair not a wig. Then he explained that being in Malaysia so far he has only seen three women with long hair. According to him, everyone else has short hair. I guessed that he is from Nepal, so I asked him, do Nepali women have long hair. He said "of course. That is what makes them so beautiful. Here, everyone has short hair, like men." I am at them moment involved in a study on social construction of beauty. What he said reminded me of some of the things I have found in my study. Many things in our lives are socially constructed, from what is considered beautiful or feminine and masculine. Many of it are actually socially constructed. Beauty especially, different societies consider different features as beautiful. even though in recent years, such beauty standards are going through various changes, socialization still plays a role on what is considered beautiful. Having said that, in recent years there are also many studies which tries to identify biological standards for beauty. There have been some studies which have identified that biologically, there are certain characteristics which are considered more attractive.

Malaysian Culture

In recent times, there have been many arguments on what is Malaysian culture. There have been attempts to highlight that many parts of what we cherish as Malaysian culture is actually borrowed from other people. Well, I am not here to identify what consists of our culture vs their culture but to discuss the 'nature' of culture itself.

Culture is generally divided into material and non-material culture. Material culture refers to things like food, clothes, tools that we use etc. Non-material culture refers to intangible ideas by members of a society.

Culture is not something that is carved in stone. Culture is something that evolves. Something which is considered as a tradition today may not be 20 years from now if people stop practising it. Therefore, some elements of 'our' culture which we have today may not be there in future. When people meet and interact there are possibilities that some elements of culture are borrowed or shared. In addition to this, cultural boundaries is not the same as political boundaries. People who culturally same may be divided by political boundaries, that does not mean group A which lives in country A can claim ownership of certain cultural elements.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that, culture evolves and elements of culture can be borrowed and shared and that is what makes human interaction something fascinating.