A Teacher Writes to Students Series (61): Multicultural Bonhomie
By Annavajhula J C Bose, PhD
Former Professor, Department of Economics, SRCC, DU
Do you know that there is Multicultural Economics Coalition (MEC) in the Michigan University’s Economics Department? It is an organization sponsored by undergrad econ students to establish a community of underrepresented minority, primarily for black and brown, students to encourage coalition building between aspiring economists, and to advocate for diversification in the field of economics. Students of any and all backgrounds are encouraged to join it and support the organization’s mission as well as enjoy some academically, professionally, and socially engaging events along the way.
Do you think you in India must also create such organisations to prove that there is genuine friendship among all the students; that economics is for everyone from every background; and that there should be a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive field of economics? Or, do you think that economics is the intellectual preserve and pastime of only the so-called high-IQ, upper-caste, upper-class privileged people?
Hope you are not indulging yourself in doing discriminatory things in everyday life in relation to Women; Refugees and Displaced people; Indigenous or Tribal People; Religious and Ethnic Minorities; LGBTQ Community; Older People; People with Disabilities; and People with Mental Health Needs as follows: Use of derogatory language; Assuming someone’s accomplishments are not based on merit: Expecting individuals to act a certain way based on stereotypes held about another’s identity; Denying someone academic or professional opportunities because of their identity (i.e. racism, sexism, ableism); Not providing equal access to certain resources based on membership in a particular group: Assuming preferred pronoun without asking; Assuming sexual orientation without asking; Overlooking, criticizing, or interfering with other’s cultural or religious traditions and values; and Systemic and/or institutionalized barriers to access and support.
James Falconer Kirkup (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009), a famous English poet, translator and travel writer, had written a great poem warning us that we mustn’t hate our brethren because they belong to a different country or speak a different language. The poet reminds us that all people are similar and part of the brotherhood of men, and it is unnatural to fight against ourselves.
It goes like this:
No Men Are Foreign
Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign
Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes
Like ours: the land our brothers walk upon
Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.
They, too, aware of sun and air and water,
Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starv’d.
Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read
A labour not different from our own.
Remember they have eyes like ours that wake
Or sleep, and strength that can be won
By love. In every land is common life
That all can recognise and understand.
Let us remember, whenever we are told
To hate our brothers, it is ourselves
That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn.
Remember, we who take arms against each other
It is the human earth that we defile.
Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence
Of air that is everywhere our own,
Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange.
This universal brotherhood feeling is integral to cultural pluralism underlying India as a civilization. Poet-critic and art lover Ashok Vajpeyi has beautifully written about safeguarding this as follows:
“India is one of the world’s few old civilisations world has seen…India is one civilisation with several cultures…which means that the country has over four thousand sex hundred sociologically definable communities, over seven hundred languages and dialects, eight living religions, several forms of costumes and cuisines, and hundreds of customs. All this come together to constitute the mind-boggling plurality called India…nothing is allowed in India to remain singular for long time. Every Singularity ultimately turns into Plurality.
So the idea of one language, one religion, one set of rules, etc. just does not hold good in India. India is not merely plural, it is open and accommodating. Also religions, religious communities, social communities, ethnic communities, etc., they have all been interacting with each other and learning from each other…not one of the communities could claim to be racially pure…India is ceaseless celebration of racial impurities. So nothing is pure. In India, all notions of purity, whether in language, in religion, or in conduct behaviour, etc. seem completely irrelevant to the civilisational enterprise, which India is…cultures in India are created, nurtured, changed, reformed by people. It is the people who create culture. The state has a very limited role…However, cultures and cultural institutions have lost their autonomy in last decade or so.
So, one of the things that will have to be done is to come back and give them autonomy…what is contained in culture is incredible corpus of knowledge, visions, ideas, critical insights, works of imagination, thoughts about language, meaning, sexuality, drama, music, dance, literature, spirituality, liberation, morality, conduct, faith, philosophy, logic, arguments, contestations, dialogues and debates, meta physics and a lot of every day wisdom. Unfortunately, these days we are given to understand as if debate, dissent, disagreement, etc. are things that have come to us from outside, that they do not belong to the Indian cultural ethos which is not true.”
In honour of this viewpoint, enjoy the following poem titled “In the multicultural town” by Francis Duggan:
So many different Races of black and white and brown
So many different Nationalities in the multicultural town
From every different Continent that one might wish to name
Perhaps we would seem boring if we all looked the same
Our differences makes us interesting that’s how ‘twould seem to be
And to others I would seem boring if they all looked like me
This thing called multiculturalism we all ought to embrace
We would seem uninteresting if we were all of the one Race
The streets crowded with shoppers from places near and far
So much brightness and colour where different Races are
Mixed amongst the locals are people from elsewhere
So many different Races of the Bigger World out there
All different shades of colours of black and white and brown
It has a Worldly character this multicultural town
The following poem by Nissim Ezekiel explores the theme of cultural difference and the struggle to reconcile one’s own identity with that of the dominant group. It is a poignant reflection on the poet’s feelings of alienation and otherness, and his desire for acceptance and understanding.
Minority Poem
In my room, I talk
to my invisible guests:
they do not argue, but wait
Till I am exhausted,
then they slip away
with inscrutable faces.
I lack the means to change
their amiable ways,
although I love their gods.
It’s the language really
separates, whatever else
is shared. On the other hand,
Everyone understands
Mother Theresa; her guests
die visibly in her arms.
It’s not the mythology
or the marriage customs
that you need to know,
It’s the will to pass
through the eye of a needle
to self-forgetfulness.
The guests depart, dissatisfied;
they will never give up
their mantras, old or new.
And you, uneasy
orphan of their racial
memories, merely
Polish up your alien
techniques of observation,
while the city burns.
Homework: Explore https://www.landscapesofhope.org/project/social-and-economic-marginalization/ in general; & the work of Centre for Equity Studies & Inclusion Economics India Centre, KREA University, in India.
Also explore multicultural economics: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/multicultural-origins-of-the-global-economy/68FCD3E0BCC9B3A52737D6234D890DBF
Explore what is cultural economics and multicultural economy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/economics-of-culture
https://lifestyle.sustainability-directory.com/term/multicultural-economy/
References
https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/undergraduates/student-groups/multicultural-economics-coalition.html
Shabnam Hashmi and Leena Dabiru. 2023. Reclaiming India: Views of Public Intellectuals. Frontpage.
