A Paper on Ethnicity and Identity Difference

Typecasting and stereotyping is often frowned upon and called racial profiling. A person? s mannerisms can be attributed to his or her upbringing, a brief study of a person? s background can be made use to help people understand each other easily. Avoiding eye-contact and keeping your head down is a show of respect in Japan but is seen to be the sign of a person who might be lying, in most of the countries. A basic knowledge about this can help avoid misunderstanding between people. Classification and study of people based on their race is not advisable as this would mean too many small but important details are missed out.

So we shall study characteristics of ethnic groups. Ethnic group comprises of a set of individuals who identify with each other because of similar social beliefs a person is born into. For the formation of ethnic identity combination of factors-common descent, socially relevant cultural or physical characteristics, and a set of attitude and behaviors is necessary. In this process, common descent may be real or putative (supposed); it is not necessary that there actually be a common racial origin.

Cultural attributes like distinctive beliefs; institutions, practices, religion, and language often form the bases of identity. In some instances, physical attributes pigmentation of the skin or body shape-provide the foundation of ethnic identity. To consolidate such an identity the members of an ethnic group must also share ideas, behavior patterns, feelings, and meaning. They should distinguish themselves (we) from others (they). They should also perceive that they share a common destiny. There are two main approaches to the understanding of these new ethnic phenomena.

The primordialist approach to ethnic identities and ethnicity considers common descent as the more important factor, for primordial loyalties can be activated more easily than rational principles and organizations founded upon them. The other approach is variously known as situational/subjective/instrumental. Its main emphasis is on the members’ perception of being different from others and the implications of this for the groups’ present status and predicament and to the understanding of contemporary realty, but they do not offer any final answers.

They are often no more than grand exercises in the reconstruction of the past (even by manipulation or outright manufacture); the definition and redefinition of situations to explain the present; and strategies for achieving a desired future. Ethnicity in India India has a distinct culture which it has retained and has developed new customs from different invasions through the years. The invasions by Muslim Kings brought in Islam but Hinduism remained the dominant religion. Later they were under rule of European countries, during which time unlike many other countries they managed to keep their culture and identity intact.

Western culture is making its way into India in more recent times, from the 90s. India has been a center of attraction for trade since European Middle ages. They have one of the largest consumer bases for different products. They have a huge host of natural resources and exceptionally large man-power. In order to deal with a country like India where Western culture in not fully embraced and a few practices are frowned upon, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the culture in India.

India has diverse culture based on language, religion, region and few other characteristics. People following different cultures can be classified into different ethnic groups. In a survey taken, most of the people said they regard region a person comes from defines their ethnic identity, while few felt that religion and caste play the major role in ethnic identity. Race or color does not play any role in ethnic identity of a person as numbers of immigrants from other countries are very less. Various Ethnic groups in India Assamese:

The Assamese people are defined by the Assamese government as the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-linguistic people of Assam but can also refer to the Assamese-speaking Indo-Aryans of the Brahmaputra valley. In the period before 1826, the eastern part of present-day Assam was called the “Kingdom of Assam”,[8] presently known as the Ahom kingdom, and the word “Assamese” was used to refer to the subjects of this kingdom. “Assamese” was also used to refer to the soldiers that fought under the Ahom king’s command that included subjects of allied kingdoms.

Therefore, in this period, Assamese was a political category, not cultural or linguistic, that was used to define those associated with the Ahom kingdom. The group that now identifies as Tai-Ahom was historically seen as “Assamese” people. However, the term “ethnic Assamese” is now associated by the Indian government at Delhi with the Assamese-speaking Indo Aryan ethnic group of Assam. The latter group is the majority people of Assam while the Tai-Ahom people were a dominant minority during the Ahom Rule. The Tai-Ahom people, at present, are settled in eastern region of the state, Upper Assam. Bengalis:

The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the region of Bengal. They speak Bengali which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent. They are mostly concentrated in the states of West Bengal and Tripura in India and in Bangladesh. The people of Bengal originally belonged to various tribal communities divided into different categories like Aborigines, Indigenes, Ancient Peoples, Extra-Indian and Intra-Indian etc. , possessing divergent ethnic and cultural characteristics. At last all these tribal communities have mingled with each other. The result is a grand ethnic and cultural synthesis.

Diverse ethnic features like Austro-Dravidian and Mongoloid-Aryan were amalgamated and the Bengali people have been formed. The Bengali culture has evolved out of this grand ethnic and cultural synthesis. Biharis: The Biharis are an ethnic group originating from the state of Bihar in India with a history going back three millennia. Biharis speak Bihari languages such as Magahi, Bhojpuri, Maithili, amongst other local dialects, as well as Hindi or Urdu. Hinduism is the majority religion of the Bihari people although a large Muslim and a smaller Christian minority exists among the ethnic group.

Gujaratis: Gujarati people or Gujaratis are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in India. The Gujarati people live in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, in the state of Gujarat. Many Gujaratis inhabit the states Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh of India and the Indian capital of New Delhi as well as the former Portuguese-ruled territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Kannadigas Karnataka is home to Kannadigas, Tuluvas, Kodavas and Konkanis.

Minor populations of Tibetan Buddhists and Siddhi tribes plus a few other ethnic groups also live in Karnataka. Major speaking language is Kannada which is the official language of Karnataka. Hinduism is the most widely followed religion by them. The people here are amiable in nature and have proven to be very good hosts. Whereas people from the Kannada identity feel that their culture is being diluted with the influx of outsiders, and the Kannada culture is declining because other cultures are gaining ground here. They feel that the Kannada culture is being lost and there has been a major fight in the Karnataka to retain Kannada Identity.

The kannadigas feel that the others are overruling them and enjoying what is actually the right of the kannadigas. There have been a lot of movements to regain their identity. Marathi people: The Marathi people or Maharashtrians are Indo-Aryan linguistic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages. Although their history goes back more than a millennium, the community came to prominence when Maratha warriors under Shivaji Maharaj established the Maratha Empire in 1674. The Marathi people are also known as “Maharashtrians”.

The whole community was called Maratha or Marathe (plural of Maratha) between the 17th and 19th centuries. However, at the beginning of 20th century, due to the efforts of Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur, the peasant Marathi class called Kunbi started using the word Maratha to describe themselves. So in current usage the term Maratha applies mainly to the former Kunbi caste as well as the 96 clan upper caste “Maratha” group and not to the wider Marathi community. In the Marathi language, they refer to themselves as marathi manoos. Religion: The majority of Marathi people are Hindus.

There are also significant minorities of Muslims, Christians and Buddhists. Most of Buddhists are followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Christians account for 2% of Maharashtra Population. There is also a 3000 strong community of Marathi Jews, popularly known as Bene Israel Most of the rest have migrated to Israel. Malayalis: Malayalam is the official language of Kerala. The people in Kerala are referred to as Malayalees. Majority of the people are Hindus and also has a significant population of Christians. The people are simple, culturally inclined and traditional, with a love for feasts and festivals.

Kerala is known as the land of festivals. The people in Kerala are very social and the festivals are marked by the family get-together, joy and excitement. It is this readiness to undertake any job with equanimity that takes a Keralite to his/her heights. A Keralite brain can easily display multiple skills. Malayalis, as they are called are considered more as being job seekers and less as job creators. Oriya people: The Oriya, classically known in various names Odiya, Odri, Utkaliya, Kalingi, Dakhini Kosli etc, are an ethnic group of eastern India and of eastern Indo-Aryan stock.

They are found primarily in the coastal province of Orissa, with minority populations in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The Oriya people are known for their history of Sun worship, and Orissa is home to some of the oldest Sun temples in India, including Konark. They can trace their history to the early Indo-Aryan Kalingas, who built a mighty eastern coastal empire here that was later absorbed into the Mauryan Empire. There are also descendants of the Dravidian peoples, now found chiefly in South India, and the early Austro-Asiatic peoples, whose tribal descendants still live in large numbers in Orissa. Punjabis:

The Punjabi people are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group from South Asia. They originate from the Punjab region, which has been host to some of the oldest civilizations in the world including one of the world’ s first and oldest civilizations, the Indus Valley Civilization. Punjabis are mostly and primarily found in the Punjab region, of India & Pakistan. Punjabi is the most spoken language in Pakistan and 11th most spoken language in India and 3rd most spoken language in South Asia. Tamilians: The main religion of Tamilians is Hinduism but there are Tamil people with Christianity, Islam and even Jainism and Buddhism as their religion.

Tamil is one of the oldest and richest languages of India. Today Tamil, with its rich literature dating from ‘Tholkappiyam’ and ‘Thirukkural’ is a language of the majority of the people in Tamilnadu, and an expression of their culture. Tamilians are proud of their culture and love to spread it. It is selfless and noble to dedicate one„s time and energies under God to one„s culture and one„s country. The Tamil sage implied that Tamil culture is the dearest possession of the Tamil people for the preservation of which no sacrifice would be great enough, not even life itself.

There is a culture shock experienced when one goes to Chennai for the first time for work. Everyone speak Tamil in the work place. Tamilians mostly like to keep to themselves! While in a meeting, everyone would speak Tamil. People in Tamil Nadu give disgusting look when we ask them anything in other than their native language Telugards: They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali. They are mostly native to Andhra Pradesh, with significant populations in Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. Hinduism is the most widely followed religion by them. The general physical traits of the Telugu people are tall, round-headed, and broad-faced, with a long arched forehead, thick and protruding noses, with straight hair and yellow skin. Certain castes of Brahmins and Kapus have the following features which accords with the description of the sub-races of the Mediterranean belonging to the main division of Caucasoid; short of medium height, with long and elevated or medium-sized heads, normal eyebrows, with short broad faces, prominent but medium-sized noses, straight hair and wavy tufts.

The general colour of the skin is wheat-gray. The people are achievers who display a rare hospitality and courtesy which makes the other people from different parts feel very comfortable to be with them. In Corporate lifestyle A group of scientists who work in R&D division of Ranbaxy, Gurgoan were interviewed. Gurgoan is a city that has recently developed near the outskirts of Delhi. The development was so sudden that the population is completely devoid of any local customs and is ethnically very diverse. People present are not just from different parts of India but also from different countries.

None of the above mentioned group of scientists is local but is from different states. There was a Telugard named Dr. Sailu, a Gujrati Dr. Jigar Shah, a Marathi Dr. Sandeep and a Tamilian Dr. Asutosh. All of them were from a rural background (their education till they graduated from high school was in village or a small town). According to the survey 72% of the people said that their upbringing influenced the way they receive people from other ethnic groups. The specimen I have here undoubtedly grew up in an environment where practices of their ethnic groups are staunchly followed and their social circle consists of people of same ethnicity.

The work environment was good and the ethnic diversity did not make any difference. Though they had their differences, none of them had a problem with each other personally. Long hours of the work they put in together does not make them friends outside the office. Each one prefers to spend time with people who sire from same region as they do. They explained this saying that it is more enjoyable to hang out with people who share same tastes and in no way has anything to do with Ethnicity. They say ethnicity does not have a role when it comes to year-end bonus or promotion as their boss is not of same ethnic group as any of them.

This removes any bias that might be possible. We can incur from this that ethnic identity does not matter much in professional relationships of the corporate world. Politics Politics play a major role in preservation of Ethnicity. There are political parties in India which survive by playing the card of Ethnicity. Recently Mr. Abu Azmi, an M. L. A. (member of legislative assembly) was attacked in the assembly for taking an oath in Hindi and not in Marathi, which is the mother tongue of most of the people living in the state.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (a political party) launched a violent and vicious anti-migrant campaign in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik. This is just one example; similar events have taken place in other states also. Politicians might not have a problem with other ethnic groups, but they do this in order to get recognition and get support of needy by blaming the other Ethnic groups for their plight. One can be certain of a set of votes just because the ethnic group support the political party you are contesting from or because they belong to the same ethnic group as you.

This does not mean that all political parties are evil. Most of these parties were originally started to help backward castes and help lift the standard of their living. Now most of backward castes have reservations for their upliftment and the recent increase of these reservations can be attributed to Political parties wish to add these classes into the vote bank. But these reservations have been hard on poor of the so called higher castes. What does the younger generation think? A small survey was conducted among the students of age group 17 to 23 in order know their opinions and views on ethnicity.

The following was outcome of the survey. The response for the question,” Whom does an ethnic group serve? ” was mostly in favor of „the politician? , followed by „none of the above? , suggesting that ethnicity is being exploited for political purposes. What Future holds For the question “What influence does ethnicity have on your relationships? ” and got a maximum response for the answer „Ethnicity has nothing to do with it. I just need to like the person.? This suggests that at least within the urban and well educated sections of the population ethnic identity does not matter.