Culture and Identity

On 15th September 2013, there is a short video that is called Why I’m still…Muslim. It was published by a TV program named Compass. You can watch this video through this link: http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s3838948.htm.

This TV show emphasized the values of 5 Australian Muslims through their individual stories, and also revealing that culture as an invisible power is in the position of influencing their behavior through various parts of their life.

At the beginning of the conversation, everyone shared their thoughts about why they were still Muslim. They demonstrated that being a Muslim was not just about religion, however it was about the nitty-gritty of the life and automatically affected their behavior. Anne Phillips also indicated this same idea in her book that people have their own complex and coherent cultures.

I was so impressed with Maha’s story. Born in Lebanon, now she is a policewoman living in Melbourne. She said others called her a ninja and a towel head when she was working only because of the hijab she was wearing. Personally, questions like “why are you wearing that?” or “what’s that on your head?” maybe just out of curiosity, sometimes they could be quite discriminated and insulting for those people.

Regarding education, in my research, by 2030 the global population will be reach over 8 billion and 26.4% of that population will be Muslim. In addition, there are lots of students from Islam family background. If the educators lack knowledge of culture, they might not be able to understand the behavior of the students. The school norms are influential as well. In NSW schools, students are required to wear uniforms, which could become a huge issue about hijab.

Additionally, from her perspective, Susan gave her opinion about being a Muslim could make the most sense to herself. Assad Karem reinforced this idea that the faith could help them to find the answer and make the decision. I think it is the magic and power of the culture, there is no reason for your action but you are just being like this.

In common, they all stated the same thoughts that it is totally wrong for people to treat others differently just by their outside characteristics. This reminds me to look back on the video that we watched during our first week tutorial. The guy was assuming the women’s background only by her outside. Moreover, they didn't want people to define them as a Muslim unilaterally, but focused on more and deeper on themselves. They believe that religion is very personal and it doesn’t define who you are.

Another issue I was interested in was the inequality between men and women in mosque, which was mentioned by Susan. She said once she visited a beautiful and peaceful mosque, there was a huge difference between the men and women’s pray environment. My thoughts are consistent with Anne Phillips (2006) that the cultural disadvantages need to be identified and remedied.

Therefore, I think it is vitally important for people to understand and embrace different cultures rather than just notice the existence of cultural differences.

Reference:

Hannamayj. 2.2 Billion: World’s Muslim Population Doubles. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/27/2-2-billion-worlds-muslim-population-doubles/

Phillips, A. (2006). What is culture? In Arneil, Barbara and Deveaux, Monique and Dhamoon, Rita and Eisenberg, Avigail, (eds.) Sexual justice / cultural justice. London, UK : Routledge, 2006, pp. 15-29.