Hybridization of Cultural Identity of Indian Diaspora

Abstract

A sense of belonging to a community, nation and culture is an integral part of a person’s identity. It strongly influences an individual’s self-perception, self-conception and a rationalised relation with nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any other kind of social group. Culture informs the identity irrespective to the causes of migration, for instance, culture remains a defining force in forced migrants i.e. the ones impacted by the push factors as climate disasters, refugee crisis, poverty, wars etc. and it is of equal persuasion for the ones who willingly went for better livelihood and job opportunities abroad. In both cases the immigrants undergo acculturation and therefore they imbibe the cultural aspects of another country. But the ways in which the diaspora negotiate with the sustainability of their ethnicities, identities and cultures while simultaneously undergoing the process of acculturation are intriguing. These complex processes form the subject of the research. It is difficult to ascertain the extent of a person’s need for support in sustaining his cultural spectrum, we rather intend to measurably explore whether culture needs to be preserved and sustained at all given that the blending of the cultural spectrum of two different regions has already taken place. And we need to substantiate our findings by exploring nuances and narratives and through secondary research. If an individual or community successfully transmits the cultural identity through practices to other people or coming generations, then it can be taken as the sustenance of the cultural identity. Our intention here is to give a platform for them to connect with the sense of belongingness and for safeguarding the cultural identity of the diaspora. We have tried to avoid the colloquial underdone while using the word culture and have rather used the etymological definition which is ‘to cultivate’- It has basically originated from the French word- ‘culture’, which translates into cultivating or idea of promoting growth. The word growth here signifies the true meaning of care which is conserving. By extension, it can be said that culture grows when intangibles are taken care of and conserved.