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CULTURE consists of ideologies and customs that we associate with any set of people. It defines what they stand for, how we recognise them and how we react to them. It is the identity of a person. Culture of no group can develop in isolation; it is affected by and in turn affects cultures around it. It is determined by its ecology, geography, history, occupation, colonisation and independence. Smaller cultures flourish as microcosms within the wider framework, yet holding on to their own ideals. Khalsa College, Patiala, is celebrating 2010-11 as its Golden Jubilee Year and has held various functions and published a number of books to mark the event. Literature of Small Cultures is the fifth publication of the college. It is the collection of research papers presented by eminent scholars during a two-day national conference sponsored by the UG.C. It highlights the place that small cultures share with their more extensive counterparts.
Gurbhagat Singh says when culture is subordinated, it develops creative and resistive ideas as in the case of Africa, Ireland and South-East Asia. The differences between cultures produce a re-interpretative, renewing and resistive effect. He explains this by way of Mayan and Native American cultures. In his another paper, he cites the problems in the translation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. He avers that no translation can fully translate all dimensions of a text which has a multitude of connotations and denotations that are culture specific. Manjitinder Singh explores the developments that led to the analysis of a culture’s language, meanings assigned to it and their ideas. Morality, truth and ethics have been at the centre of debates like never before. Aparna Lanjewar Bose critiques the autobiographies of Dalit women. She sums up by saying that Dalit women are denied her humanness by even Dalit men. Quoting the autobiography of Lakshman Mane, she suggests that the writer is so absorbed with himself that he fails to acknowledge the role of his female counterpart and resigns her to be an outsider. The women characters are not fully developed, although they are at times put on a pedestal as mothers, sisters or grandmothers. In An Assertion of Difference with Islamic Route, Ishwar Gaur illuminates the vernacular roots of Muslims in the qissa of Hir Waris. It has become the symbol of cultural sanctity of Punjabi people across the world. According to the author, Waris Shah has not only transformed the oral collective memory in the qissa form but also made it a memory to travel and re-travel and look into the multiple layers of meaning and messages. Devika Khanna Narula ponders over the literature of minorities as an assertion of the community’s presence, identity and culture. Only when a culture has come alive by freeing itself from the various shackles can it appreciate its differences as not being inferior. In Dalit Autobiography, Swaraj Raj tries to answer questions of identity, location and differences. These texts reject the contemporary ideas of literary and aesthetic and are a mere literature of protest. They not only assert their independent identity as distinct from the Hindu culture but also resist politicisation of identity. In Lilliput v/s Brobdignags, Charu Sharma illustrates how small cultures are edged out by dominating forces. She takes the example of Bama and Gaikwad to show that Dalit literature is a form of protest. Delving into Raja Rao’s Kanthapura, Harneet Sandhu shows how this story of a small village showcases the rich culture and uses a unique narrative to achieve its own identity and space. Haris Qadeer identifies the cultural suppression and a search for identity of the prisoners at Guantanamo from their poems. Most of the poems deal with the pain and humiliation of the prisoners at the hands of the US Army. Md. Sajidul Islam deals with Brick Land and Salam, Paris. The intermixing of cultures in these books gives the characters’ lives a new dimension. Either through assimilation or through preserving their own in alien cultures, the characters create their own identities. Dr Neena Arora states that feminist, post-colonial and minority literature is the literature of protest. She says just as literature of any period is connected to political, economic and social perspectives, criticism cannot be considered to be free of these influences. In Voice of Protest, Navjot Kaur analyses Soyinka’s plays. She infers that minority literature does become the voice of liberation. Shahla Ghauri refers to Maya Angelou’s autobiography. She stresses the importance of autobiographies in creating new images and replacing new ones. Rashmi Attri focuses on racial and gender concerns in the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks who writes about the world through the perspective of a Black woman. In From Periphery to Centre; Dalit to Madiga, Mattimalla Surya Raju portrays Dalit literature as a force to counter caste prejudices. All the papers in the book
are well-researched and this makes it a must-read for academicians or
for anyone interested in the subject. It delves into the mechanics of
small cultures in the global context.
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The
aim of the conference was to highlight the importance of small cultures
in shaping global cultures. An insightful study by many researchers has
shown their true place in the bigger context. The conference director,
Deepinderjeet Randhawa, states that each small culture that arises as a
result of negotiation of two diverse cultures subverts the politics of
homogenisation. The diversity of cultures disrupts the designs of a
universalistic framework. She quotes the example of the sacred texts of
the Sikhs as being a cultural multilogue.