CULTURAL IDENTITY

Multiple narratives make up the cultural identity of a group. Cultural narratives serve as a collective representation for categorical identities with ‘dis-embodied’ social actors. The categorical identities generally associated with family, gender, religion, nationality and ethnicity are constantly being re-created, challenged and negotiated. Loseke (2007) argues that these cultural identities are ‘formula stories.’ Such stories pertaining to ethnic identities serve to re-enforce cultural expectations and perceptions of morality, as well as simplify complexity. She states, however, that the way individuals make sense of their lives (personal narratives) are varied and complex. They do not always fit into a neat and compact formula story. While new stories are being constructed, those already created become modified or even discarded according to individual and broader experiences (Loseke, 2007). Many researchers (Brah, 1992, Phoenix, 1988, Westwood and Bhachu, 1988) felt studies on black people used a narrow definition of cultural influence to explain their behaviour. Such explanations are unsatisfactory because they oversimplify cultural influence and in doing so, serve to reinforce the social construction of black people as deviant from the norms of white British behaviour. In the case of Gujarati women in Britain, contrasting cultural narratives of identities play a major role in creating and re-shaping their personal identity narratives, as they each influence one another.

Rege (2006) has argued that religions and cultural practices within India are patriarchal and the belief that men are dominant/superior to women. Although the traditional cultural

narrative in the Indian subcontinent dictates women to maintain the home and family, and exercise unconditional self-sacrifice and nurturance, there is literature that illustrates how women challenge the image of passivity and exercise agency. (Brah, 1996; Puwar and Raghuram, 2003; Mirza, 1997). One line of research suggests that cultural pressures to maintain these aspects of traditional female identity continue. Not adhering to these expectations often translates into perceived failure and dishonour (known as ‘izzat’) of the community they belong to and/or family (Rege, 2006; Brah, 1996).

As part of my research, I interviewed long term settled Gujarati women who entered the UK 30/40 years ago. Many of these women entered the labour market in the early phases of post-war migrations, taking up jobs in factories. They all, married or single, had housework and other caring responsibilities. Generally the cohort of elderly Gujarati women interviewed in this research, seemed to have internalised private forms of patriarchy, placed importance on culture and religion and accepted the cultural dictation through patriarchy.

Rashmi : No matter, where you go you should always remember.. I tell my son... never forget ..bhasha..sanskar and dharam….your language, your culture and your religion. We Gujaratis take these things with us ..wherever we go...

However, Kunju (82 years old), who has four sons, in different geographical locations including India, Africa, USA and UK, and she travels alone to visit each son at her own will, which might be read as a reflection of power management with domestic financial relationships.

“ I don’t expect anything from my sons... I live all alone.. I don’t like to ask for money from anyone else.. If I stayed with my daughter-in-law, she might not like it.. because I sew clothes for other ladies... I have visitors all the time... I prefer to live alone...” They also considered being married, having children and raising a family were the most important goals in woman’s life. However, they showed a great admiration for educated women and thought modern women’s lives to be much harder but fulfilling in some ways. They placed great emphasis on the need for women to be economically active. Where the families were initially reluctant to allow women to work, some of these respondents used a variety of strategies of persuasion to obtain consent to help negotiate a desired outcome.

As Purewal (2003) argues, the choices available to women to collude, play on or challenge patriarchal mores and ways are vast. Brah (1996) argues that patriarchal norms and practices cannot be regarded simply as ‘external constraints’ but the women may be positioned or consciously position themselves differently within patriarchal discourses. Naru, whose daughter in law works as a civil servant, talked about helping her daughter-in- law by looking after her grandchildren when she took evening courses to complete her degree. The daughter-in-law, who was present during the first few minutes of the interview, had to leave for work. After she left, Naru was full of admiration of her achievements. It struck to me that she was not the same stern mother-in-law figure that she appeared to be a few minutes before.

“....She works so hard...she was young when she came to us... we were new in this country.. everything was difficult... I couldn’t speak English... she wanted to finish her degree... I was not very happy about it in the beginning... but she was so strong..I had to look after the boys... which I didn’t mind... look at her now...she helps so many women like me in her job.. all women.. even goras (white people)..I tell everyone..” This is an example of performing ‘traditional’ South Asian mother-in-law within the household to keep the patriarchal norms but playing out a shifting identity to express a possibility of patriarchal ‘redemption’ whenever possible. (Brah, 1996)

According to Parekh (2007) although religious, Gujaratis carry their religion rather lightly and are prepared to make such changes as the circumstances require. At the same time, Gujarati as a community is well known for retaining close ties with Gujarat, and is more easily influenced by its religious and political movements. (Ballard, 1994; Ramji, 2003) Moreover in the modern diasporic world, technology plays a vital role in transferring and reconstituting cultural patterns and social relations in new setting, one that usually involves the migrants as minorities becoming set apart by “race,” language, cultural traditions and religion. It also enhances the key role women play in reproducing religious practice -- particularly by way of undertaking domestic religious practice (Rayaprol, 1997). Simultaneously, secular and civil society discursive practices of the diasporic society are also

inculcated on them. Naru, mentioned above, is a good example of how traditional women mould to accommodate new standards of behaviour and relations inside the household.

7.4 LOCATION

The participants in the present research reveal that the cultural narratives of identities of Gujarati women are shaped by their location. Twice migrant Gujarati women participating in this research have been shown to take more initiative and flexibility to adapt culturally, the first aspect is learning the language of the country of their settlement. Most participants acknowledge that for social inclusion it is important to participate in the language learning communities of practice, however, the post-migration society exerts coercive norms that position the migrant language learner as ‘other’. Temples, mosques or other places of worship and community activities are the locations of utmost important to these women’s lives. Being active in a religious movement allows women a legitimate place in a public sphere which otherwise might be blocked to them by the process of ‘othering’. For women of racial and ethnic minorities, it can also provide the means by which to defend themselves as well as to defy the hegemonic racist culture.(Brah, 1996; Mirza, 1997)

Many Gujarati women who participated in the research can communicate in Kiswahili ( or other regional African dialects), Portuguese, Spanish, Malay apart from other South Asian languages such as Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, which signifies their ability to learn and speak other languages. It also underlines the fact that they may be persistently marginalised within communities of practice, due to racial, cultural or gender discrimination, where “non- participation prevents full participation” (Wenger, 1998:166). Brah (1996) argues that there was a remarkable continuity between the imperial discourses of Asian women and those which construct Asian women’s experiences in post-war migration. These discourses pathologised the Asian family, presenting it as the main site of problems faced by Asian women, rather than the effects of racial, sexual and class inequalities. When the participants refer to native English speakers as ‘they’ and talk about second language speakers as ‘people like us’, it signifies unequal relations of power. If these women managed to speak African dialects during their stay in Africa, it follows that they can learn to speak English in England. However, the main question that participants frequently asked is ‘Who do I speak

English with?’ Norton (2000) questions ‘What happens when the target language speakers avoid interaction with second language speakers?’ Having examined how location plays an important role in learning to speak English, I will discuss how cultural background can impact language learning.