Indian Culture development in Malaysia
To understand Indian Culture development in Malaysia and to know how much Indian community in Malaysia is acculturated (acculturation can be referred as a transition when a social group has to adapt to new norms of the new country they moved to (“Acculturation: Definition, Theory & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com,” 2020)), I had the opportunity to interview one of my colleagues. Since culture is very subjective, two different people from the same social group might experience the same event differently, especially when we are comparing a social group from its native land and a third country. Hence some of the answers from my interviewee might contradict with your belief, research and studies done, this paper will try state and reason the contradictions.
Firstly, we will start by introducing our interviewee following that this paper has fours parts.
- Introduction
- General (tradition, customs and practices)
- Work, health and death
- Family dynamics
- Motivation and socialization
Introduction:
The name of the interviewee is Aditya (pseudonym), she is 29 years old, who was born and raised in Malaysia in a Sikh family and practices Sikhism. She is happily married for about eight months to an Indian gentleman who practices Hinduism. Upon asking it came to the knowledge that interviewee family is entirely open-minded in terms of international marriage, as long as bride or groom practices Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism but strong opposition was shown to the idea of marrying people who practice Christianity and Islam.
This opposition is widespread in Indian families, especially among families in which religion is one of dominant influence on marriage and finding a life partner. People who are from Sikh culture do have freedom of speech in making life decision such as marriage. Still, the consent of both families is required with one condition that both partners have to be Sikh, which is changing nowadays as families are becoming more modern. Families are becoming more open to marriages in some of the other cultures, as mentioned by the interviewee. But still marrying in Christian and Islamic culture is highly discourage because Christianity and Islam have their own and contradictory beliefs to Sikhism regarding marriage. Furthermore marrying in Islamic culture require a non-Muslim partner to convert to Islam, which is not accepted morally right by many cultures (Mahajan, Pimple, Palsetia, Dave, & De Sousa, 2013)
Aditya graduated with an upper-class honours psychology degree from Help University, and she is currently doing master’s in education as she believes in developing an education system in which no children lack the most basic human right of having primary education. To further develop towards her objective, Aditya is working in an NGO, Dignity for children foundation, which is one of the few educational platforms for many underprivileged and refugee students in Malaysia. Aditya teaches science to middle secondary students, aged from 14 to 16. She has been teaching at Dignity for children foundation for two and a half year, and she loves her job despite the up and downs of life.
General (traditions and customs):
A tradition can be considered as customs, but customs are not considered as a tradition. One of the main differences between traditional and customs is the length of the time it has been practised. Tradition has usually been practised longer compare to customs because they have been passed from one generation to the next. Whereas customs have usually been around for a short while and one custom might only be observed in one specific family, customs slowly become traditions if they are passed on from one generation to next (“Difference Between Customs and Traditions | Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms,” 2020).
Traditions: Some of the traditions that were observed by Aditya are as following,
- New year rituals: Aditya and her family start every with prayers and by paying a visit to Gurdwara because it is believed that new year should start with blessings from almighty God, which is a tradition for many cultures around the globe. Where many Sikhs people come together at Gurdwara to recite hymns and read a passage written by Gurus, is not an obligation hence some don’t people choose not to participate (“Sikhism: Holidays, Traditions & Rites of Passage | Study.com,” 2020).
- Hospitality: According to Aditya, giving and sharing what she or her family has with other people, especially who are less fortunate is another tradition, which she has observed since young. Every working family member donates money or clothes to homeless and orphanages a least once a year and this donation are not just limited to clothes and money, but there is a lot more to that.
The reason behind this generosity is the teaching of Sikhism, were giving the hungry is considered the same as giving to God. The generosity is more influenced by the story of Guru Nanak (founder of Sikhism) who was once given money from his father and was asked to find a profitable investment. Still, on the way to town, Guru Nanak saw a group of homeless people who were trembling with cold and hunger so Guru Nanak spend all his money which were supposed to be used for business purposes to feed and buy blankets for a group homeless people. Guru Nanak believed that helping one need is the most rewarding use of money. Hence Sikh community is considered one of the most generous communities (“Traditions of giving in Sikhism – Alliance magazine,” 2020).
Customs: Some of the customs that were observed by Aditya are as following,
- Birthday Celebration: Aditya and her family celebrate the birthday of their family members by cutting a cake. The size of the cake doesn’t matter as long as there are cake and candles to blow. The birthday person will cut the cake, and every family member will feed him or her a piece of cake. The cake ceremony symbolizes best wishes and fruitful year ahead filled with positivity and only experience of goodness in life.
Now the reason why this is considered as a custom is that many people who believe that its western way of celebrating and the birthday celebration varies from one family to another. Some religious people believe that birthday is a reminder of death and we should pray to Guru Nanak because we are only death away from God (“Do we celebrate Birthdays? – SikhNet Questions: Open Sikhism Question & Answer Forum,” 2020).
- Marriage rituals: In Aditya and her family before getting married, bride’s uncle (mother’s brother) will put red and white bangles for the bride, and she has to wear them for 40 days or till they break this ceremony is refereed as chooda ceremony. The chooda ceremony is believed to bring good fortune to the bride and groom, and red colour is believed to bring prosperity, fertility and strengthen a couple’s bond (@TheWeddingKnott, 2018). This custom has been passed on from the previous generation, and it’s only being practised in the Punjabi community; hence right now it’s considered as customs. Still, due to this custom getting more and more attention, it’s believed to become a tradition soon.
Upon asking Aditya how she came to learn these practices, she said through observation, instruction from elders and by asking questions from parents and grandparent. This phenomenon in Cross-Cultural Psychology is referred to as “enculturation”. Where enculturation is a process in which a person assimilated his or her culture through observation, instruction and experience so that a person can involve his or her self entirely in cultural practices and become an active member of his or her community (“Enculturation and Acculturation | SpringerLink,” 2020).
Career and health:
Career: In Indian families, one of the most common stereotypes is that parents want their children to be doctor, lawyer and engineer. Even though someone denies that there is no pressure from their family on them and their career choice, the family influence is still there on choices a person makes in terms of career and others, but the person is in denial (“‘82% Indian parents involved in deciding child’s career’,” 2015)
Upon asking Aditya regarding choices she made in terms of her career, we came to know this: just like every other Indian daughter Aditya was expected to be a doctor or at least a pharmacist and just like every good Indian daughter she was supposed to say yes. Upon completing college, Aditya was sent to medical school, although it’s not her career choice. During the first year of medicine, she went through depression, and she opened up to her mother. After that day, onwards mother started to support Aditya in her career choice. Still, it took some time for her father to accept that she wanted to pursue her career in psychology and education. At the moment, both of her parents are proud of what she is doing. During the interview, Aditya mentioned that “it was a tough journey for me to be who I am and is still is”. Now you might be wondering why is still a tough journey when you are happy about what you are doing, you have parents supports and your parents are proud of you? This is because Aditya in-laws have not accepted her career choice and they constant been trying to pursue Aditya to steer her career elsewhere.
This also reflects Aditya being from collectivistic culture, where Aditya was scared to cause harm to parents feeling in the beginning by showing opposition to their career choice. Collectivistic culture can be defined as a culture in which a person is more interdependent and values group (family, community and kinship) goals over individual goals (“Collectivist Culture: Definition & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com,” 2020)
Health: Generally, Aditya and her family seek professional help from modern medicine. Unless modern medical treatment is ineffective, then they will turn towards traditional medicine. Illness in Aditya family is not considered as punishment, but it’s believed that sometimes someone can only be cured with prayers. Aditya family’s belief in mental illness, unlike many Indian families. Her father had OCD and sister suffered from severe depression, and they both did seek professional help.
Many communities in Asia considered illness as punishment and believe that prayers can only cure this illness. And mental illness is not considered as illness. Sometimes it becomes a dilemma for people whether to follow custom bound practices and believes which reflects religious values and teaching or follow modern medicine which is often displayed better by media and health professionals (Islary, 2020).
Family dynamics:
In Aditya and her family, there used to be power distance in a sense that where the elder has already created certain parts of life where children couldn’t interfere or get to say in but things are different now. At the moment, there is nothing in specific that shows power distance, but there is still a barrier of respect. For example: as a symbol of respect elders are offered to take food first, then only younger ones take. The decrease in power distance contradicts with a study done by Geert Hofstede, which shows that India is one of the countries which has the highest Power Distance Index. One of the many explanations for these differences can be because of culture development. Culture is not static and keeps on evolving (“India Business Etiquette, Vital Manners, Cross-Cultural Communication, and Geert Hofstede Analysis,” 2020).
Aditya and her family are not much uncertainty orientated; they take into account everything before making a decision. For example, before buying a house, they will compare, investigate, research and consult, which agrees with results of Geert Hofstede which shows that India has the lowest index in Uncertainty Avoidance(“India Business Etiquette, Vital Manners, Cross-Cultural Communication, and Geert Hofstede Analysis,” 2020).
According to Aditya, she thinks that older people showed more collectivist culture characteristics compared to the younger generation because of the evolving modern lifestyle. People have started to stay apart and become more independent. This doesn’t mean that the new generation shows individualistic culture but a somewhat lower degree of collectivistic culture. Again, there can be a possible explanation to explain this difference. Still, we must understand that one of that significant reason is that culture is not static but rather evolve.
The motivation for behaviour and socialization:
Aditya believes that every person has their own set of values which motivate them for individual action. For Aditya, here is what motivates Aditya for her behaviour: The constant need to improve oneself – to become a better person and to be able to do better for others. To strive for perfection even though she thinks it’s impossible. For example: When Aditya teaches her students, and they don’t understand. Instead of blaming student, Aditya blames herself for not doing a good job and find ways to improve her teaching methods. From the above text, we can see that Aditya is showing collectivist culture characteristic, in which a person a more group goal orientated and doubts one’s self.
The way Aditya family socializes with one another is through giant family gatherings where extended families come in and spend some time together and by going on shorts trips for two to three days. Aditya said we don’t celebrate a festival celebration as a reason to get together, but a festival celebration is one of the times during which they meet. This behaviour also shows us collectivistic culture features where one values family time.