It’s History class, and your class is studying India. Maybe you’re excited because the teacher is treating you as a primary source, or maybe you’re scared silly for just the same reason. The teacher starts off by asking what images come to mind when the word “India” comes up. Other students reply with elephants, vegetarianism and perhaps the Bollywood film industry. Next comes geography/topography….and your teacher talks about the importance of the Ganges River.
Wait….Ganges? The term grates in your ears. You raise your hand to correct her.
“It’s not the Ganges River, it’s the river Ganga...”
Congratulations! You’ve just been inducted into a long series of history classes throughout elementary school, middle school, high school, and even college which will include not only colossal amounts of incorrect information, but also generalized and often insulting statements about Indian culture and Hinduism.
Oh, and by the way, you’re extremely lucky if your teacher believes you, thanks to the British legacy of mispronunciation which still permeates Western culture.
So, what do you do when your teacher ignores you? Well, I decided to use whatever terms my teachers liked in written papers and got used to it.
Until Indian scholars make a concentrated effort to use correct terminology in their own papers and to inform those of their Western peers, we will always have this dichotomy of terminology.
Perhaps times have changed enough that students’ input is more valued by teachers, and maybe the information they find in their own research will no longer contradict you. I hope this is the case, and that hopefully your own foray into the scary world of correcting teachers will be more fruitful than mine
Expect the reading to be slightly demeaning toward Indian culture…expect your books to make references to nonexistent extreme sexual facets in Hinduism.
Okay, so all of this might make you slightly annoyed with the quality of Western scholars who study India, and just plain confused in regards to the Indian scholars who don’t do squat in the way of encouraging correct terminology usage.
Just remember that whenever a person studies a different culture, faith and mindset, that person is bound to project his or her preconceptions upon that culture. It is simply not possible to study something like religion or culture and remain completely objective. In my experience, I’ve learned that it’s nigh impossible to fully and correctly comprehend a culture unless it one has been completely and actively immersed in it for more than five years.
Remember as well that the whole of India is so diverse that there is no single homogeneous Indian culture, rather there are hundreds of cultures dependent upon various factors which vary from climate to climate, village to village, and city to city.
(See Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_India)
Okay, so maybe if your teacher isn’t a crotchety ego-maniac, he or she and your would probably appreciate correct information from you. Just be aware of the general trend in Western scholarship of India, and don’t be surprised if your well-meant information comes to nothing.
Tags: cultural dichotomy, culture shock, dealing with teachers, desi life, Ganges, River Ganga, the river Ganga
