INTERFACE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT www.ignca.gov.in INTERFACE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT Edited by BAIDYANATH SARASWATI 1996 xxi+290pp. ISBN: 81-246-0054-6, Rs 600(HB) Contents It is the inaugural volume of the Culture and Development series, Foreword (Kapila Vatsyayan) comprising 23 presentations of Prologue (Francis Childe) a Unesco-sponsored meeting Introduction (Baidyanath Saraswati) of experts: 19-23 April 1993 at IGNCA, New Delhi. Highlightng 1. Interface of Science Consciousness and Identity (S.C. Malik) the basic distinctions that exist 2. Humanization of Development: A Theravada Buddhist between anthropocentric and Perspective (P.D. Premasiri) cosmocentric approaches to 3. Universal and Unique in Cross-cultural Interaction: A Paradigm the question of cultural identity Shift in Development Ideology (Lachman M. Khubchandani) and development, the authors reflect on what constitutes 4. Universality, Uniformity and Specificity: a View from a Developing culture and development Country (Anisuzzaman) not per se, but as an integral 5. Identity, Tribesman and Development (Mrinal Miri) holistic notion of culture and 6. Cultural Identity and Development in the Torres Strait lifestyle, culture and Islands (Leah Lui) development, culture and 7. Identity, Ownership and Appropriation: Aspects of Aboriginal region, culture and Australian Experience in Tertiary Education (Olga Gostin) linguistic/ecological identities, 8. Crisis of Cultural Identity in Mongolian Nomadic and how some of the viable Civilization (Otgonbayar) alternative development 9. Quest for Cultural Identity in Turkey: National Unity of Historical paradigms could be evolved Diversities and Continuities (Bozkurt Guven) from the convergence of mystical ancient insights and 10. Popular Culture and Arabesque Music in Turkey (Meral Özbek) modern science. 11. Cultural Pluralism and National Cultural Identity: The Case of Nepal (Dilli R. Dahal) Authored by eminent National Identity and Development in the Plural Society of 12. anthropologists, scientists and 1 INTERFACE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT www.ignca.gov.in Indonesia (S. Budhisantoso) other area-specialists from 13. Cultural Pluralism, National Identity and Development: The Indian Australia, Bangladesh, India, Case (A.R. Momin) Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, 14. Secular Sovereign and Artha (Parthasarathi Banerjee) Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey, the papers here not 15. Technology, Man and Spirituality: Sanctifying Technology only consider diverse Through Sacrifice (Mohammed Reza Rikhtegaran) theoretical issues of cultural 16. Culture and Technology: The Cultural Aspect of identity and development, but Technology (Fatemeh Farahani) also set out case studies in 17. Civilizations and Settlement Societies: Cultural Development and different field situations. Identity at the end of Twentieth Century (Ravindra K. Jain) 18. Cultural Preconditions for Development: Tradition and Modernity Reconsidered in the Light of Post-modernism (Dawa Norbu) 19. Cultural Identity and Development Process in Thailand (Wit Wisadavet) 20. Freedom to Grow and Growing into One (Baidyanath Saraswati) 21. Taming Structural Transformation: The Significance of Community Resolve of Mavalibhata (B.D. Sharma) 22. Development Activism: The Importance of Being Voluntary (Bunker Roy) Recommendations List of Contributors Copyright IGNCA© 1996 Co-published: IGNCA and D. K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd., F-52, Bali Nagar, New Delhi - 110 015. No reproduction or translation of this book or part thereof in any form, except brief quotations, should be made without the written permission of the Copyright Holder and the Publishers. The views expressed in this volume are those of Participants, and are not necessarily those of the Editors or the Publishers. 2 INTERFACE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT www.ignca.gov.in Foreword Kapila Vatsyayan One of the major programmes of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts is the lifestyle studies which aim at exploring all fields of cultural knowledge with a view to understanding the functioning of various communities in their totality. In 1989, an international Workshop on "Cross-cultural Lifestyle Studies with Multimedia Computerizable Documentation", was organized under the aegis of Unesco. The proceedings of the Workshop have been published in two volumes. The deliberations on general concepts, theories, and methods, were followed by a series of pilot studies of various cohesive communities in different parts of rural India. Each of these studies pointed out not only the processes of inevitable change but the pace and speed of change. All societies undergo change, adopt, assimilate and reject influence. However, trauma on the individuals and societal psyche occurs when pace is artificially accelerated or there is only an external impetus. Identity crisis is sense of loss of what is most precious in a human being. It is a matter of gratification that Unesco responded again to this concern of the IGNCA and facilitated a Meeting of Experts in April 1993, to examine the question of cultural identity, and to think about issues revolving around that other crucial word ‘development’. The broad area of cultural identity is, indeed, complex since it requires one to ask, initially, questions about the ‘self’ and the ‘other’. It means covering a whole range of variables and definitions; the notions about the self — individual and collective — and the cultural ‘other’ in terms of whether one is referring to economic, social or cultural dimensions. These debates are very active in the West, and elsewhere, wherever the idea of ‘development’ and ‘progress’ has taken roots. Closely linked with the crisis of cultural identity, are developmental issues which seem to take for granted the primacy of socio-economic man, and that, too, within the context of nation-state notions. But in doing so, it, in its very logic, tends to sow the seed of fragmentation, conflict, and crisis. This is so because it implies a confrontation between several interests, especially, between the individual self and society — the ‘other’ — at many levels. The area of cultural identity in this seminar, brought to the fore, the basic distinctions that exist between two world-views; one, the anthropocentric approach, and the other, the cosmocentric viewpoint. It seemed that cultures could be defined in these terms, as seen in their lifestyle within the content of the ecological environment. For example, cultures of the cohesive traditional communities, and those of the modern world, are clearly distinguishable. The attributes of the former, often referred to as preliterate, preindustrial societies, are characterised by the whole gamut of variables attributable to oral traditions; viz., a lifestyle discernible in their dress and food habits, music and dance, habitat, rites-de-passage and above all, in these cultures, the distinction between the individual and society is not only blurred but it is not one of confrontation as is the case in modern society. It does not mean that uniqueness and diversity are absent; it means that there is great deal of interdependence within the cohesive community. On the other hand, in modern societies while great emphasis is given to the individual personality, yet, at the same time, he/she has to conform to the other — society — in terms of some impersonally imposed standardization and homogenization that arises out of a monolithic world-view. Briefly, then, these are some of the problems which as well confront the developing world today. Clearly, one sees that today there cannot be just one universal model of development that can be applied to all cultures everywhere. The diverse nature of humanity, and the ecological environment which is essentially linked to this world-view, has to be taken into account by the ‘developing’ world. We are all well aware of the disastrous consequences of a homogenized global village, and, consequently, the increasing violent demand for cultural autonomy in many parts of the world. Not only are alternate paradigms needed to be evolved, but a reconsideration of the instrumentalities — ranging from policies and programmes, industry and technology — has to be urgently taken up. Of course, focus on the 3 INTERFACE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT www.ignca.gov.in convergence of mystical ancient insights and modern science has to be noted in seeking alternatives for the crisis of cultural identity and development. Bearing the above preamble in mind, the Experts in their meeting discussed and reflected on what constituted culture and development not per se, but as an integral holistic notion of, say, culture and lifestyle, culture and development and, culture as identity, specifically in its attributes of language which plays a very important role in the emergence of regional identities; that there is an equation between culture, language and ecological regions. This is why various linguistic groups demand national or sub- national autonomy — as is the case in India, and elsewhere. The seminar also highlighted the close linkages that exist between religion and culture. It was, naturally, hotly debated. It was pointed out that religion has to be given due cognizance at a cultural level and not politicised by viewing it only from the institutional level. This meant that the entire issue has to be contextualised within a cosmology — the nature of the universe, the fundamental debate on the role of man within the interplay of the macro-micro levels. In short, due recognition of the