Cultural Identity |
For a lot of us, our conceptions of our own cultural identities have changed drastically over time and may continue to change. But what's happening, I think, is that we are - all of us - doing a lot more than picking and choosing parts of Indian culture and American culture and pasting them together to form some sort of disjointed identity. At the same time that we are borrowing from either side (and, probably, from countless other influences), we're integrating disparate beliefs and behaviors into something entirely new.
According to Shobha Srinivasan, "[t]his way of thinking, or being cultural pluralistic, is not unlike an Indian philosophical way of thinking, which does not accept an 'either/or' (analytical) way of looking at reality, but believes in a both/and (synthetic) way of perceiving reality. This perspective refuses to see things in oppositional terms, in terms of black and white, but believes instead in a multi-faceted description of reality...The best perspective is one which combines all facets and all labels."
According to Shobha Srinivasan, "[t]his way of thinking, or being cultural pluralistic, is not unlike an Indian philosophical way of thinking, which does not accept an 'either/or' (analytical) way of looking at reality, but believes in a both/and (synthetic) way of perceiving reality. This perspective refuses to see things in oppositional terms, in terms of black and white, but believes instead in a multi-faceted description of reality...The best perspective is one which combines all facets and all labels."