Minorities are the biggest targets who face stereotypes and tend to get misunderstood through the media. It has become a platform for many to be evaluated by the way they dress and behave. The attention on North Indians has grown in the past decades. Their involvement in the film industry, has caused them to be center of attention. And due to the films, their culture has been showcased sometimes even modified towards an exaggeration. Being North Indian myself, I have experienced where I have seen a false representation of the Indian culture. I think the easiest way to convey that is people believe what they think they know or they showcase what they see one individual do. The main issue into regards of representation is the difference of cultures North India and the South India. Many assume that north Indians and south Indians are the same, however, they’re completely different. They have different languages, traditions, and values. But just because of the name and geographic closeness many others assume they’re the same. And others have that understanding that they’re the same and are represented in the media as one subgroup. This falls into racial biases and also showcases prejudice with others. I have had people come up to me and ask if I can speak Tamil, even though I mentioned the fact I am North Indian and am Punjabi. Due to the many states in India and the different languages each attain there are many cultures that seem quite similar. Punjabis and Pakistanis are more similar into regards of food and traditions. One can even say appearance, the dark hair and fair skin tone. But when it comes to religion, complete difference. Punjabi’s follow Sikhism whereas Pakistani’s follow Islam or Muslim (Marcel, 2011). Head coverings are very common in India looking at it in broad sense. Every woman in India wears a head covering, it’s recommended mostly in religious settings. Now if you were to look at a south Indian women, sure they do wear similar clothes to north Indians. However, it’s not recommended to cover their heads. Social media is a very broad platform that also presents biases and diminishes these two cultures in their sense.
Multiple Instagram pages are called “Punjabi” or “Desi” (which is a term that people use broadly for Indians). Sometimes the pages post images of celebrities or food. But they’re not always accurate with the information they provide. Hashags (#) are often used on Instagram as a caption and right after the hashtag usually a word or phrase is written which in a way summarizes the image or video being posted. For an example someone posts an image food of macaroons they would hashtag “#vanilla” as the flavor giving more insight on what’s being post and so on. There has been multiple representations of Punjabi food being posted on the south Indian pages or celebrities and vice versa. Which in a way causes one individual to assume that’s correct information (Desail, 2008). Especially someone who knows nothing about the Indian culture. These are one of the many factors that make a person believe what they see or hear is only true. Which is not case at all, one person can be passing down certain information that doesn’t even apply. It’s significant to educate others on culture and being able to differentiate living in such a diverse world. Each deserves to have their own identity and to be recognized for themselves not for each other. This can only change through more factual media.
Work Cited:
Desail, Santosh. “The Great North-South Debate Rages – Times of India.” The Times of India, 14 Apr. 2008
Marcel, Mari. “There’s no escaping racism in India” New Internationalist. 3 June. 2008
BISMCS 333 SUMMER 2017 