Punjabi Youth
For a while now, I've been wanting to write a post about youth from Punjab. As most of us (western Sikhs) know, there is a huge crisis with Punjabi youth... one that involves drugs and general religious apostasy.
In a previous post I noted that while globalization has certainly impacted India and made many of the youth "western" in their tastes, it still seems as if they don't fit it once they actually move to the west.
I think there's a few reasons to explain this:
1) The root of everything is western envy. This is probably too simplistic, and I'm only writing about the youths that I've come into contact with, but from what I've seen, many Punjabi youth, while retaining a number of Punjabi customs (Bhangra, Punjabi music, etc.), look towards western (American) society with envy. American culture is something to be emulated, and this could of course be both good and bad. In one sense, it could be good, because to be frank, American society IS better than Indian society in general. In the other sense, it could be bad because of the abandonment of the good parts of Punjabi society as well as the bad.
2) The problem starts with assuming that western society is completely monolithic. I've had Indian relatives move to Canada, and they just automatically assume that I'm as familiar with completely useless parts of American pop culture as they are. Some could watch really messed up movies (Scarface, etc.) and that could build up their image of western society and combined with the western envy issue, dangerous consequences follow.
3) Following up on point 2, American movies and other forms of popular culture form an impression of what American society is actually like. A generally uniform image develops of what it's like to be "cool" or "hip" or whatever. And that image results in general conformity. No one likes to diverge from popular perceptions of what it's like to be cool, according to what they perceive the west to be like. Remember, I'm only speaking from what I've noticed and witnessed, which might not be very representative.
4) Following up on point 3, being different is not seen to be "cool". And in actuality, it is. What they miss out on western society is that it's much more diverse than they think.
Anyways, sort of gone off on a bunch of weird points. I sound like a sociology or psych major.
I just wish that many Punjabi youth were a bit more critical in their thinking. I just wish that they didn't so blindly accept portrayals in American movies as what it actually takes to be popular or cool. And if they just knew, most westerners would think they're a joke. What many of them do is undignified. They envy the west while abandoning the potentially much more dignified way of life available through being themselves, not pretending to be others. The only way out of this downward spiral with Punjabi youth is to preach to them that diversity is so much cooler than confirmity. That trying to make up their own minds of what's cool or popular is better than blindly accepting unrepresentative portrayals in American movies.
Western envy is alright - there's a lot to envy. Blindly accepting western culture out of that envy is often destructive... from what I've seen.
In a previous post I noted that while globalization has certainly impacted India and made many of the youth "western" in their tastes, it still seems as if they don't fit it once they actually move to the west.
I think there's a few reasons to explain this:
1) The root of everything is western envy. This is probably too simplistic, and I'm only writing about the youths that I've come into contact with, but from what I've seen, many Punjabi youth, while retaining a number of Punjabi customs (Bhangra, Punjabi music, etc.), look towards western (American) society with envy. American culture is something to be emulated, and this could of course be both good and bad. In one sense, it could be good, because to be frank, American society IS better than Indian society in general. In the other sense, it could be bad because of the abandonment of the good parts of Punjabi society as well as the bad.
2) The problem starts with assuming that western society is completely monolithic. I've had Indian relatives move to Canada, and they just automatically assume that I'm as familiar with completely useless parts of American pop culture as they are. Some could watch really messed up movies (Scarface, etc.) and that could build up their image of western society and combined with the western envy issue, dangerous consequences follow.
3) Following up on point 2, American movies and other forms of popular culture form an impression of what American society is actually like. A generally uniform image develops of what it's like to be "cool" or "hip" or whatever. And that image results in general conformity. No one likes to diverge from popular perceptions of what it's like to be cool, according to what they perceive the west to be like. Remember, I'm only speaking from what I've noticed and witnessed, which might not be very representative.
4) Following up on point 3, being different is not seen to be "cool". And in actuality, it is. What they miss out on western society is that it's much more diverse than they think.
Anyways, sort of gone off on a bunch of weird points. I sound like a sociology or psych major.
I just wish that many Punjabi youth were a bit more critical in their thinking. I just wish that they didn't so blindly accept portrayals in American movies as what it actually takes to be popular or cool. And if they just knew, most westerners would think they're a joke. What many of them do is undignified. They envy the west while abandoning the potentially much more dignified way of life available through being themselves, not pretending to be others. The only way out of this downward spiral with Punjabi youth is to preach to them that diversity is so much cooler than confirmity. That trying to make up their own minds of what's cool or popular is better than blindly accepting unrepresentative portrayals in American movies.
Western envy is alright - there's a lot to envy. Blindly accepting western culture out of that envy is often destructive... from what I've seen.
posted by Japnaam Singh at
8:53 PM
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