The Latin etymology of “culture”, cultura, means “cultivation” or grown under human hands. Culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns such as the norms, values, knowledge, language, and symbols that are communicated among people who shared a way of life. It is a living entity, which produces patterns to distinguish one society or group from another.
Compared to the “melting pot”, the United States of America, where different cultures are assimilated into a larger community, Singapore prefers to be a multicultural society, whereby people should preserve their own cultures with the different cultures interacting peacefully. In Singapore, the best way to observe an intercultural scenario would be to visit the ethnic quarters, such as Little India, Kampong Glam, Chinatown, etc.
Compared to the “melting pot”, the United States of America, where different cultures are assimilated into a larger community, Singapore prefers to be a multicultural society, whereby people should preserve their own cultures with the different cultures interacting peacefully. In Singapore, the best way to observe an intercultural scenario would be to visit the ethnic quarters, such as Little India, Kampong Glam, Chinatown, etc.
Little India is the focal point of the Indian community in Singapore along Serangoon Road (or the Little India MRT station along the Northeast Line). I went there once recently and the moment I stepped out of the MRT station, I was greeted (or assaulted) by the scent of the spices. It took me a while to get used to the “aroma”; thereafter the smell boosted my appetite actually. The smell of the spices might be unpleasant, or even overwhelming, for people who go there for the first time. However, spices are essential in Indian cuisines partly due to the hot and humid tropical weather in India. The spices accentuate flavors in the food and have medicinal values that boost our appetite. Many Chinese who adopted the use of spices in their food, as well as parents who want to grind rice to make congee for their babies, patronize the shops that provide grinding machines primarily meant for spices.
I have come across people who commented that Indians have a smell on them. Some feel that “you are what you eat”, so the smell comes from the heavy use of spices in their food. However, I have also learnt that the smell might be that of coconut oil, since Indian ladies use coconut oil as a natural conditioner for their long hair as a traditional hair beauty treatment (I am not sure if Indian men condition their hair or not). After knowing this, I began to accept the smell since I understand the importance of beauty to females. If I knew any effective traditional beauty treatment from my culture, I might use it even if it smells as long as it is proven effective.
On Sundays, numerous migrant workers will gather in Little India to “hang out” and spend time with their friends, since the only people they have here are people from their hometown. Sunday evenings are especially crowded, often making it inconvenient for residents staying there. I have been warned to avoid the place during Sundays if I did not want to dampen my spirits for the trip. I went to Little India on a weekday, although not as crowded as on weekends, the sight was interesting enough. Many workers gathered in an area nicknamed “Little Bangladesh” where they leisurely sat down on the grass patches to chitchat and drink. I even saw one who just lied on an abandoned table and slept there. The scenario was an eye-opener for me because I have never seen Singaporeans “picnicking” just anywhere. The foreign workers seemed so comfortable while I felt like an “alien” there.
Occasionally, cases of drunken fights among the workers are reported in that area, thus security cameras were installed in certain alleys that were more secluded. It serves as deterrence and has been proven useful in crime prevention according to the residents. Furthermore, Little India is filled with men. I have not seen many females walking around in that area, other than my friends and myself. Females who pass by that area might feel threatened, as if they were going to be engulfed by such an astounding population of men (try walking there on Sunday evenings). The installation of security cameras and heavier patrolling by the police thus reassures the safety. However, I feel that installing security cameras would be invading the workers’ privacy and telling them that we do not trust them. We should understand that Indians belong to an ethnic group that loves to celebrate occasions and thus are used to having parties.
Often, we tend to judge other cultures according to standards of our own culture. This behavior is called ethnocentrism. An ethnocentric person assumes that his or her own culture is of a higher status or value and is intrinsically better than other cultures. It thus results in the difficulty of acceptance of and interaction with other cultures. In Singapore’s multicultural society, this is especially important. In dealing with intercultural scenarios, we need to practise sensitivity, self-consciousness, empathy and knowledge about the taboos of other cultures. We need to learn to practise cultural relativism, whereby one’s beliefs and activities should be understood in terms of his or her own culture. We would then be able to accept cultures different from our own better and the different cultures can live in harmony.
I have come across people who commented that Indians have a smell on them. Some feel that “you are what you eat”, so the smell comes from the heavy use of spices in their food. However, I have also learnt that the smell might be that of coconut oil, since Indian ladies use coconut oil as a natural conditioner for their long hair as a traditional hair beauty treatment (I am not sure if Indian men condition their hair or not). After knowing this, I began to accept the smell since I understand the importance of beauty to females. If I knew any effective traditional beauty treatment from my culture, I might use it even if it smells as long as it is proven effective.
On Sundays, numerous migrant workers will gather in Little India to “hang out” and spend time with their friends, since the only people they have here are people from their hometown. Sunday evenings are especially crowded, often making it inconvenient for residents staying there. I have been warned to avoid the place during Sundays if I did not want to dampen my spirits for the trip. I went to Little India on a weekday, although not as crowded as on weekends, the sight was interesting enough. Many workers gathered in an area nicknamed “Little Bangladesh” where they leisurely sat down on the grass patches to chitchat and drink. I even saw one who just lied on an abandoned table and slept there. The scenario was an eye-opener for me because I have never seen Singaporeans “picnicking” just anywhere. The foreign workers seemed so comfortable while I felt like an “alien” there.
Occasionally, cases of drunken fights among the workers are reported in that area, thus security cameras were installed in certain alleys that were more secluded. It serves as deterrence and has been proven useful in crime prevention according to the residents. Furthermore, Little India is filled with men. I have not seen many females walking around in that area, other than my friends and myself. Females who pass by that area might feel threatened, as if they were going to be engulfed by such an astounding population of men (try walking there on Sunday evenings). The installation of security cameras and heavier patrolling by the police thus reassures the safety. However, I feel that installing security cameras would be invading the workers’ privacy and telling them that we do not trust them. We should understand that Indians belong to an ethnic group that loves to celebrate occasions and thus are used to having parties.
Often, we tend to judge other cultures according to standards of our own culture. This behavior is called ethnocentrism. An ethnocentric person assumes that his or her own culture is of a higher status or value and is intrinsically better than other cultures. It thus results in the difficulty of acceptance of and interaction with other cultures. In Singapore’s multicultural society, this is especially important. In dealing with intercultural scenarios, we need to practise sensitivity, self-consciousness, empathy and knowledge about the taboos of other cultures. We need to learn to practise cultural relativism, whereby one’s beliefs and activities should be understood in terms of his or her own culture. We would then be able to accept cultures different from our own better and the different cultures can live in harmony.
The following table was taken from the website, http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/cultural_intelligence.html, which discussed about cultural intelligence and I thought was interesting to share. Cultural intelligence (CQ) is a new domain of intelligence that relates to the workplace and it is one’s capability to grow personally through continuous learning and good understanding of diverse cultural heritage, wisdom and values, and to deal effectively with people from different cultural background and understanding. It is usually in the corporate world where we get to meet more people of different cultures. Take note! =)
4 comments:
Dear Jia Yi,
This is a very interesting post whereby i have such experiences during one of the field trips to Little India for one of my modules.
Some locals may actually see the immigrants who slogged so hard to make sure that our roads are safe, dangerous and risky jobs, as a group of people who are "extras". This is certainly not right. What can we do without them? Hire graduates to do these jobs? In my point of view, more should be done by the authorities to engage them in our activities. However, there may be some complications.
It is certainly very strange to have the concept of "you are what you eat". A very interesting point brought up by you here.
Anyway, a very indepth analysis and cohesive posting. Well done!
Binglin
Hi Binglin,
I agree that it is not right for us to be prejudiced against the immigrants, who have also contributed to Singapore. However, there may be complications at times.
I live in an HDB estate and there is a cleaner (a foreign worker) who is in charged of the apartment block that I live in. My father keeps many pots of plants, which tend to leave many fallen leaves on the ground. However, the cleaner never complained about the fallen leaves and was dedicated to his job. Thus, we were grateful to his efforts and started to share with him our goodies if he happened to pass by.
The relationship went well until one Chinese New Year, when he passed by our unit and greeted us "Happy New Year" and asked for a red packet. My mother was shocked and did not know how to respond. In the end, she gave him a red packet but did not explain the traditional practice of giving red packets on Chinese New Year.
I think the cleaner misunderstood or did not have a clear understanding of the Chinese culture and thought that anyone who greeted during Chinese New Year would be given a red packet. It was again an interesting intercultural experience. It was a pity my mother could not explain further about the practice since they could not really understand what the other party was saying.
Hello JiaYi,
Thank you for putting in the effort to explain the Indian culture so explicitly. I enjoyed reading the post and learnt much through it, especially the use of coconut oil for the treatment of hair, I shall try that as I tend to get dry hair and am close to resigning to fate after trying almost all the conditioners available in the market.
I do believe the cultural 'discrimination' that is done subtly and democratically in Singapore is due to the jobs generally held by these races. It would be discriminatory to say this, but I dare say that most people would think of a Bangladeshi national upon the mention of the word 'construction worker'. This influx of international workers is a measure taken by the government to partially solve our lack of man power due to the population size in Singapore.
Thus, I think that more could be done to promote these niche racial areas to encourage intercultural mixing and thus promote cultural understanding and reduce discrimination or prejudices.
Hui Ming
Hi Hui Ming!
I do agree that when Singaporeans see foreign workers, the first few words that come to mind would be "Bangladeshis" or "construction workers". Many are so used to seeing indian or bangladeshi foreign unskilled workers until it gives people the wrong ideas that the countries are poor, the people are uneducated, and "people who look like them are construction workers".
In fact, many foreign talents come from India and there are highly educated (university graduates) people among the construction workers. Furthermore, there are many types of nationalities among the foreign workers, including Singaporeans. Thus, I really feel that Singaporeans should increase their awareness and knowledge about other countries and cultures, which would not only improvintercultural interaction, but also reflect better on themselves.
By the way, my mum used olive oil to condition her hair too, in the past, so maybe the coconut oil works in the same way too (like leave-in conditioner). Our hair is dead around 10-15 cm from the roots (I think) so we only have to condition from that length onwards. And do not let the conditioner touch your scalp so that it would not clog the follicles!
Jia Yi =)
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