Babita Naagar

MDes, Interaction Design

Perspectives on Indian
Society
As informed by learnings in the module

Identity - a crisis of belonging ?

We began this module by listening to calming, soothing voice of Tara
Brach, an American psychologist. She talked about how identities are formed on
various levels - identity of body, identity of thoughts and feelings, and how
increased attachment to small identities leads to increased suffering.
Problems because of attachment to identities are too apparent in the world.
Con icts and civil wars often occur because one group feels their identity is
being threatened. Thus, identity has a crisis associated with it.
But another aspect of identity is a sense of belonging. Identity is who we
are and unless we know who we are, we might feel lost in the world. We might
not know how to behave and what to do in a given situation. All of us might not
be equipped to handle the challenge of guring out their identities.
Tara talks about a larger sense of identity - loving, kind beings who do
make mistakes and occasionally stray away from their true selves, but there is
always chance to come back and heal. However, a lot of people who choose not
to be religious or spiritual might not be able to relate with this idea.
We, as common humanity, have eventually come to agree upon certain do’s
and don'ts across cultures and have often framed these rules into laws. For
example, killing someone is universally considered as immoral. So, our

SLA REPORT 1
fl

fi

 identi cation with identities might not be entirely harmful. Maybe someone refrains
from killing because he is a christian and Bible said, “Thou shalt not kill”.
So, when does identity actually become a problem? Maybe when goals of
an identity group either con ict with goals of larger humanity or infringe upon
the rights of a person or a group. But as is immediately obvious, it might be
hard to separate personal identity from their groups’. For example, a person
may have constitutional right to marry whomsoever they wish but people
(especially girls and women) get killed over such matters in rural India.
A common sense of spirituality or humanity may help in dilution of
identities but how to effectively install it into society remains to be seen,
especially when certain cultures are not open to new ideas.
Certain organisations like Isha Foundation have emerged to teach spiritual
practices and encourage people of all faith to come together. However the
undertones are still Hindu-istic and thus a step back from secular ideal that
might be required.

How much Ubuntu India’s got?

One article introduced us to African philosophy of Ubuntu.
“I AM BECAUSE WE ARE” summarises this philosophy. It also stresses
on the importance of seeing yourself as a part of a larger community. In fact, it
says our very existence and well being is dependent on our community. In the
paper, the author discusses several informal and formal practices that are based
on the ideas of helping the needy, lifting each other up and forgiving mistakes.
One idea that appealed to me most was formalising these principles. For
example, our education system punishes children for making mistakes and after
20 years we wonder why there is no entrepreneural spirit in our youth. If we
forgave children and developed a fear free environment of learning, we will see
more innovation and creativity.

SLA REPORT 2
fi

fl

 Prison systems across different countries also provided an interesting

perspective. In Norway, the focus is on taking care of the offender and help him
become a healthy functioning member of society once again. This comes from a
place of forgiveness and belief that everyone has the capacity to be good. And
hence, they have open prisons with one prisoner per cell and rooms that look
like college dorms.
In contrast, US prisons are crowded, suffocating and punishing, despite it
being a developed country.
Similarly in India, prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. Inmates,
most of them belonging already to lower socio-economic conditions, live in sub-
human conditions.
I feel India does have certain cultural norms that relate to this philosophy.
For example, food and water is not refused to any one, guests are supposed to be
treated well (athithi devo bhava - guest is like a god), but most of them have
religious roots.

Resilience of Cultures
Another article told a story about Aquarela Project in Brazil that helped
children living in compromised socio-economic conditions to build resilience
through art.
This led me to several questions :
- What, other than art, can be used to build resilience?
- Are some cultures more resilient than others?
- Cultures that have survived through time must be resilient. What did
these cultures do that others didn’t?
- How resilient is Indian Culture? How do we even measure resilience?
- Are some of these cultural resilience practices or ideas be intentionally
applied somewhere else?

SLA REPORT 3

 Answers to these questions would require a lot of research, expertise and

pondering, but here are my initial thoughts.
First, we need to understand what is it about art that made it appealing to
people? First is universality (No Barriers) - Art’s ability to reach across
socio-economic barriers. We all understand art, we don’t need to buy or learn
something to be able to enjoy looking at good paintings or listening to good
music.
Individual Expression (Heal) - Art’s ability to give means of
expression. Many of these children were going through dif cult circumstances
in life and they might not have had a kind patient ear to unload their mind on.
Art helped them to tell their stories, express their anger, sadness, shame etc.
Reach out to the community (Connect)- Through their art, these
children were able to connect to other people and receive adulation which
boosted their con dence and improved self esteem.

Religious or spiritual practices like praying, meditating etc might also

be used to build resilience.
• They require no barriers, at least within a community.
• Heal - People are able to talk about their circumstances and sufferings
without judgement (Practice of confessing privately and anonymously to a
priest in Christianity comes to mind),
• Connect - In ceremonies, people gather and connect (mass prayers,
Pooja in Hindus etc).
Communities - Communities based on a common suffering build
resilience ‘together'. For example : Alcohol Anonymous (AA) is nonprofessional,
self-supporting, and apolitical group that has the goal of “stay sober and help
other alcoholics achieve sobriety.”

SLA REPORT 4

fi

fi

 A community can be informal also. For example : Rural Indian housewives

might make use of religious gatherings (like Satsangs) as place of meeting and
talking about their lives or dif culties.

References :
• Freedom in midst of dif culty
• Ubuntu : Re ections of a South African on Our Common Humanity
• Resilience Processes Of Brazilian Young People Overcoming Adversity
Through An Arts program

SLA REPORT 5
fl

fi

fi