Cultural differences have been the most influential sources of conflict in world history. These cultural differences arise due to the lack of understanding between the parties involved (Gumperz, 1998). However, deliberately acquired cultural awareness is the biggest weapon in overcoming the negative factors that arise because of differences in culture (Wunderle, 2006). The objective of this assignment is to contrast the cultural difference between India and Pakistan. Next, to show how these differences cause conflict. Finally, to describe a volatile situation that is between the two countries and how it might have been resolved peacefully.
A closer look at both India and Pakistan reveals several similarities between the two countries such as their facial and skin features and attributes. However, one of the most defining cultural differences between both countries is that they house two very different ethnicities. Arabs and Indians are two very different kinds of people with different cultures and different perspectives concerning life. The Arab community adheres to a very demanding form of life while the Indian community’s values vary according to personal preferences (Mohmand, 2009). According to Wunderle (2006), the awareness and pride among Arabs in regards to the historical ranking of Arabian influence over the world has been a major drive towards some risky attitudes that the Arab community displays toward other ethnic groups. In fact, a closer look at history shows that the Arab community has been established since the Middle Ages and has lasted for over 700 years (Mohmand, 2009).
Religion is another huge cultural difference between India and Pakistan. India is a country that is very religiously tolerant as it houses ma...
... middle of paper ...
...ndia and Pakistan are different ethnically, religiously, and both have different thoughts on governing. Peaceful intervention in their current border struggles has proven very difficult because the situation has been heavily marked with bloodshed. Therefore, forceful military intervention from the outside is the only means to make both parties humble themselves.
Works Cited
Gumperz, John J. (1998). The conversational analysis of interethnic communication. Interethnic communication, p. 13-31.
Mohmand, M. I, (2009). Relations in 21st century/ Latest Interventions. Pakistan’s Cultural Diplomacy With India, p. 9-11.
Werbner, Pnina. (2012): Introducing South Asia. Social Analysis, p. 23-40.
Wunderle, W. (2006). The Arab World. Through the lens of Cultural Awareness: A Primer for US Armed Forces Deploying to Arab and Middle Eastern Countries, p. 26-31.
Tucker, Judith E., and University Georgetown. Arab Women: Old Boundaries, New Frontiers .Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
The world is not perfect and is full of people who have differences with people. The differences may be the different type of religion, culture, or even the different skin color. People have morals and values of what they believe in and this will most likely be different than everyone else's. Differences will always remain the same whether it’s in another nation or here in America. Racism is a worldwide issue not just an issue in America or some other country. Similarly, cultural and religious differences is a worldwide issue too. In this case the cultural and religious differences between people of India, West Pakistan, and East Pakistan doesn’t just take place in those nations, rather takes place anywhere and everywhere depending on people
category ‘Arab–Middle Eastern–Muslim’ enemy and rendered persons associated with this category as embodying a ‘culture’ and/or ‘religion’ th...
I do not consider myself Paki-American. I am too "Americanized" to be Pakistani. (although by birthright, I am American), and I am not quite up to par with the American way of life. So what does all this have to do with my culture, what does a label really matter to cultural identity? It matters much. I believe that this seemingly trivial confusion over labels reveals the even greater confusion that surrounds my cultural identity: Am I a bridge between these two multifaceted cultures, or have I become a mosaic displaying colors from here and there, and elsewhere too? Perhaps both, and I could be a colorful bridge, or perhaps neither. Whatever the case, I cannot seem to separate these absolutely disparate realities within me. Their forces are still clashing, coming together within me, creating a wonderful confusion out of me. I believe that to truly analyze my culture, the roots of this confusion must be explored. In the span of this essay, I must try to encompass the widths of two worlds, their unique interactions within me... which I hope constitute what is called culture.
Differences among among culture has sparked conflict for centuries because humans fear change. They fear difference. They fear it because nothing is scarier than being told your life is a lie. Years ago people conquered other people through force. Now, with lots of leaders against war, culture is one of the strongest ways to unify and achieve a sense of
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1991. Print.
The Arab world has been one of the most confusing areas known to the western world. Because of this confusion, the people of the Middle East have been made to suffer, not only at the hands of the west, but also by their own. Even though Arab and western world relations have been stabalizing, they are still long way off from achieving a lasting peace.
According to Said (1978) the entire concept of ‘orientalism’ is compromised, in the eyes of most Arabic and Asian peoples because it appears to them to be filled with archaic prejudices against Eastern cultures. Moreover, the word ‘orientalism’ is also used to refer to the definitions of Middle Eastern cultures by scholars who hold more pro-Eastern attitudes. Another common complaint is that Western historians and scholars’ definitions of orientalism do not seek to make distinctions between the different tribes and cultures that make up the Middle East (Varisco 2013). Their definition of ‘orientalism’ is based on similar constructs to those in the West where, even though different nations may have different ethnic groups, they all embrace a progressive culture based on Judeo-Christian co...
Ibnouf, Fatma Osman. “Women And The Arab Spring.” Women & Environments International Magazine 92/93(2013): 18-21. MasterFILE Elite.Web.31 Mar. 2014.
The people of India and Pakistan hate each other with a burning passion that goes back thousands of years. Because of the constant border wars you had to be stealthy when talking to people. For example if we were both on India's land and were both Indians we could be buddies; on the flip side if you spoke Sindhi, a derived form of Hindi, and I spoke Hindi I can assume you were Pakistani and we would have to fight it out.
The Arab world consists of twenty-two countries encompassing all of North Africa and much of the Middle East. The Arab people number over 360 million and while they share a common language, there is a surprising degree of diversity among them, whether in terms of nationality, culture, religion, economics, or politics. (McCaffrey, 3) Most inhabitants of the Ar...
Joyce, James. “Araby.” Literature: The Human Experience. Abcarian, Richard et al.,. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 92-96
India is the center of a very serious problem in the world today. It’s a very diverse place with people from many different religious backgrounds, who speak many different languages and come from many different regions. They are also separated economically. Two of the country’s religious sects, Muslims and Hindus, have been in conflict for hundreds of years. Their feelings of mistrust and hatred for each other are embedded in all those years and will not leave easily. What’s most disturbing is that there seems to be no plan for reconciliation available. There are numerous reasons for this conflict.
The concept of orientalism refers to the western perceptions of the eastern cultures and social practices. It is a specific expose of the eurocentric universalism which takes for granted both, the superiority of what is European or western and the inferiority of what is not. Salman Rushdie's Booker of the Bookers prize winning novel Midnights Children is full of remarks and incidents that show the orientalist perception of India and its people. It is Rushdie's interpretation of a period of about 70 years in India's modern history dealing with the events leading to the partition and beyond. Rushdie is a fantasist and a creator of alternate realities, the poet and prophet of a generation born at the degree zero of national history. The present paper is an attempt to study how Salman Rushdie, being himself a writer of diasporic consciousness, sometimes perceives India and its people as orientalist stereotypes and presents them in a derogatory manner.
Our world is constantly changing and it requires a society that is well versed in understanding the problems deriving from culture differences and tolerance of one another’s beliefs and perceptions. We are dealing with systemic problems in education, economic, government, religion and culture differences.