What is culture? What is identity? This is something I have asked myself, and others, many times relating to a foreign land, foreign culture and foreign accommodations. The distance from my culture made me ponder more, obsessing over it even. I had assimilated an interdependence between culture and identity. But that has slowly passed now and I assimilate that although culture is existent in the circumference of its context, identity is a supplement of all the things one experiences and goes through in their lives. Whether that is through community, village-values, family upbringing (bigger joint-families), or even one-family unit, or outside influence which impresses upon. Your identity is built strength by strength from all these combined factors and they are not isolated cases of free-floating radicals as one may commonly perceive. So a Naga identity has Indian influence (yes, they do), influence from her neighbouring states of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and so on. We are not isolated, nor will we be exclusive from these influences. So, having separated culture and identity, I’d like to delve deeper into the spheres of culture. Eventually, what they mean to us.
Culture and its peripheries
Culture is how we perceive our surroundings, and then concoct that into something comprehensible for our sake. Chamber’s dictionary explains culture as: ‘to cultivate; to improve’, ‘cultivation; refinement the result of cultivation’. According to this understanding culture is an integral part of a society’s refinement, civilization. These could include beliefs, rituals, daily activities, and in our case community-life too. They form a long connecting chain where each is interrelated, spreading out to how we see our surroundings. Culture attaches Identity by replenishing it and also giving meaning; Identity can sprout out from Culture too. They are therefore correlative in this manner.
With the coming of colonialism different changes came to communities, people and civilizations. Where in the other parts of India one had witnessed the political and economical dominion of imperialism, in Nagaland it was more the influence through evangelism. Throughout its colonial years the British administration managed to control only 30% of Naga Hills (although there was not much interest to control these areas, they had merely wanted to protect their subjects from raids). But evangelism spread throughout the regions. Our identity is also layered by a Christian persona. Fürer Haimendorf comments: ‘…the missionaries encouraged their converts to disregard tribal laws and customs even in spheres not directly connected with religion.’ Here he meant the Baptist missionaries disapproving Morungs and Feasts of Merit within the communities that they had evangelized, or even the rigid enforcement of teetotalism. ‘In Christian villages’ he writes, ‘the rich, free of traditional obligations towards their neighbors and forbidden to perform Feasts of Merit, tend to hoard their rice or to sell it to the highest bidder. With the community spirit broken, individualism begins to assert itself, and the Western idea of pride in the possession of goods, fostered probably quite unconsciously by missionaries, replaces the Ao’s traditional pride in the lavish expenditure of his wealth.’*
Retracing our footsteps
To blame religion would be unfair, we are also inevitably influenced by it in a ‘modern sphere of Naga identity’. But to overlook the transitions from one culture to the other, from one belief to the next, would be critical and submerging us into a deep void. Something which is becoming more emphasized in our society today. To justify our materialism in Christianity would be wrong, just as it would be to justify modernism in Western influence. I believe cultural transitions suffered a heavy blow in this, one we sublimely fail to see. Those dismissals form unrelated patches of links or mis-associations. Whether a quasi-Christian or immoveable believer subjectivity is the key, not opposition, even in these areas.
Developing countries, once-colonized nations, third world countries struggle over the concept of westernization and westtoxication. India has a large dosage of westtoxication whether this is projected in Bollywood films or through the intricacies of the caste system, having been embalmed by colonial prowess also in its history. They will follow a complex route for a solution because the rigid and age-old tradition of caste system plays a vital role in the divisions of societies. ‘Westtoxication’ is coined from a Persian word which was much used during the Iranian revolution of the 70’s. Westtoxication or ‘plagued by the West’, a disease, ‘struckness’ is part of translation of the word gharbzadegi, or westtoxication. The difference here is that westernization conveys ideologies such as Marxism, socialism, democracy etc. and imbibing that into one’s society for a more modern society (after understanding their concepts). Or following, adopting western mindsets into one’s society. While westtoxication is understood as ‘struckness’, undiluted obsession with the West. Whether this influence has been through neocolonialism or otherwise, the void of unrelated overlapping can be seen again. I will quote Haimendorf again because it throws a little light on how we may have understood that influence. ‘Shorts and shirts, the blouses of women, tea, sugar and many novel household goods had all be imported and while the Mission was certainly pouring a good deal of money into the country and the pay of pastors and teachers as well as many gifts to converts accounted for most foreign articles, the economy of the Christian Nagas could very well be permanently based on such outside support.’*
What is Globalization? Where is its base-foundation? Will globalization exploit the poors of India, or the mineral resources of hitherto unexcavated regions of conflicted areas and edges of its boundaries? It is not only the exploitations of globalization but its influence which as much precedes one another. Consumerism and the insatiable appetite of consumers irrelevant to environment, exploitation or sensitivity. Consumerism could sustain itself in the middle-class of America but can it proclaim a higher demand in the middle-class of India without undoubtedly exploiting the poverty-stricken population? Whichever way consumerism does not bring much bright scope in its wake. Democracy is a far cry here, caste and class system prevails.
Summarizations
Our integrity was what entranced anthropologists, administrative officers and outsiders; whether we were under Anghs or practiced a form of democracy quite unknown in the outside-world. It defined a profound simplicity that most civilized and refined societies could not practice. But that cannot really mean we should all go back to our villages, head-hunting and primitive existences. Culture is always changing, ‘cultivating’, ‘refining’. That is the nature of culture; it is influenced or could be superimposed upon too. But the foundation and essence is where one should extract its values. This does not change. If you should look into Indian culture-outlook on caste, on women, on society it has not changed much even with western and outside influences. Culture should not be stagnant for it would then die off but replenishing, refurnishing and readdressal makes it stronger with new ideologies to accommodate, opening our eyes even.
We cannot fully regain what we have lost or confine ourselves to hypocrisy as a means. That also falls short of subjectivity. But there is a reason why culture exists; without which anachronism sprouts negligent of a root. Why does culture exist? Not as an obligation or constrain- that is tradition, but as an evolution. We are influenced by culture, whether that is outside or within. We are not exempted from it.
*Fürer Haimendorf’s quotes are taken from his book, ‘The Naked Nagas’, in the chapter ‘Heathens and Baptists’.
Clarification
Dear Sigonnaag Chakma, Sintu Chakma, Victor Talukdar, Hemanta Larma and Boyeer Changma and Lamba Pheda,
Firstly, I thank you for your rejoinders and corrections made to my article on 'The Bangladeshi issue in India.'
I would like to apologise for any pain caused by me to you using sources which I thought were reliable.
I welcome your corrections and since they are available online, I would request my readers to read these corrections in the light of my article.
Again I end with sincere apologies for hurting your sentiments.
Sincerely,
Rugotsono Iralu
