Why do we hold Western culture superior to our own?
BY AMEEN IZZADDEEN
13 February 2007
VALENTINES Day on February 14 does not remind many of us in Sri Lanka that
we are blindly following whatever that comes from West. The West is best
appears to be the motto of many youngsters for whom the struggle against
colonialism is just a history lesson in the school syllabus. Making the
maximum of this day, which was among the horrible side-effects of the
open-economic system, are the commercial establishments. A visit to any of
Colombos posh or not-so-posh shopping malls will show the extent to which our
society has been valentined. Television and radio channels and newspapers are
full of advertisements for Valentines Day special menus at restaurants,
candle-lit dinners, chocolates and jewelleries.
The third century Irish saint, in whose memory this day is celebrated by
lovers all over the world, would be turning in his grave, if he learns how his
holy mission to help unhappy lovers has been adulterated and commercialised.
During my courting days, February 14 had been a day of argument. It helped me
to stick to my Asian roots as I crossed swords with my fiancée. I would argue
that the West did not celebrate any of our customs, so there was no need for us
to adopt Western culture blindly. I would tell her that I would celebrate
Valentines Day when the West followed at least a few of our customs giving
up the fork and spoon, wearing sarongs or saris, etc.
Dont we have our own celebrated lovers in our history? Why shouldnt we set
aside a day in memory of them and celebrate it as our lovers day and call it
anything but Valentine?
Last month, I was in the ancient city of Anuradhapura in the North Central
province of Sri Lanka with my family on a recreational cum educational holiday.
One of our stops was Isurumuniya, a temple built by King Devanampiyatissa some
2,300 years ago. The museum in the temple premises exhibits a Gupta style
carving of two lovers on a stone slab. The woman was seated on the mans lap,
expressing her coyness, resisting the mans advances, yet allowing him to do
what he wants. There is debate as to who these lovers are. But some scholars
say the man in the carving was Prince Saliya, son of King Dutugemunu, who
succeeded Devanampiyatissa, and the woman was Asokamala, who was from a low
caste. According to historical records, the prince gave up the throne for his
love. So, long before King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry
his mistress, Wallis Simpson, a Sri Lankan prince had proved that love was
greater than kingship. If we want to celebrate a Valentines Day,
why dont we celebrate a Saliya-Asokamala day with lotus or Araliya flowers
instead of red roses on a day other than February 14?
But we dont. The height of our stupidity is when some of our nursery schools
also celebrate Valentines Day. A few years ago, I was at the office of a
nursery school, finding fault with the head teacher for asking my little
daughter to come wearing red to celebrate Valentines Day. The young and pretty
teachers response was that their Valentines Day was focusing on childrens
love for their parents. She won the day, but at home, I gave my little daughter
a teeny-weeny lecture on blindly following Western culture.
In some highly-Westernised Colombo schools, not only Valentines Day, but
also Halloween is celebrated. At this rate, we will soon celebrate the American
Thanksgiving celebration too.
It is not that we should be anti-West or oppose the West wholesale. But we
must preserve what is ours for the next generation, while not looking down upon
other peoples customs and practices. Ours should be a fight for the
development of a culture that recognises cultural egalitarianism. Throughout
history, cultural traits, material objects, ideas and behavioural patterns have
spread from one society to another. Anthropologists call this process cultural
diffusion.
Cultural egalitarianism occurs when cultural diffusion is a two-way process.
But what we have been witnessing since the European colonisation began is
forced cultural diffusion one-way traffic whereby the European culture was
imposed on the conquered people. In the post-colonial world, the process of
imposing the culture of Western developed nations on the people of developing
countries is taking place in a subtle manner. It is once again the captains of
Western capitalism who are eager to promote their lifestyle on us through films
and television through Hollywood and through Bollywood masalas with the
hope of finding markets in the orient for goods and services which are shaped
to initially and primarily to suit Western culture. Some of my social-justice
friends say Aishwarya Rai, Sushmitha Sen and Diane Hayden were crowned world
beauties because the Western cosmetics capitalists wanted to capture the huge
Indian market. Havent they done so already with
even the Indian male being told that being dark skinned is ugly?
We have been programmed to think that anything West is superior to ours and
adopt the Western lifestyles, clothes, systems of education and everything and
anything. We do not pause and think as to why we should adopt Western cultural
traits wholesale. Neither do we turn to our own culture or the cultures of
other Asian people for solutions.
Ameen Izzadeen is a Sri Lankan journalist based in Colombo
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