4. India through the lens of Bollywood; Pilot FGD and its results
4.6 Tradition, religion and the caste system
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presumed that if females are sent for education away from home, they will become “amoral”.
In Indian society, the sexuality of females is strictly regulated when compared to men.
During the FGD the participants spoke a lot about sexual harassment and rape. What I believe is that sexual harassment and rape are only the visible manifestations. In case of rape and sexual harassment, it is the survivors who are blamed. Many of the cases of rape or harassment do not make it to the courts, as families believe that it will bring “dishonor” to the survivor and the family. This is also true for domestic violence against women, which is not reported, because of patriarchal culture. The strictly regulated gender relations also need to be brought in focus. We also need to criticize the ways in which women are sexually objectified in movies.
4.6 Tradition, religion and the caste system
The other theme which emerged was surrounding religion. One of the respondent said that the first thing which comes to her mind when she hears the word India is – Bollywood, religion. Another respondent believes that India is a “Buddhist nation”. Another participant was curious about the sacredness attached to the river Ganges. While many referred to ubiquitous presence of temples. Bella a female participants believes that presence of a number of festivals and religion is unique thing about India. The respondents were familiar with Hindu festivals of Holi and Diwali. These two festivals have had strong onscreen presence in cinemas of Bollywood.
For many of the respondents the sources of image were movies, textbooks and Holi celebration organized by Indian expatriate in Taipei .Here it is to be noted that religion does finds important place in Bollywood, which is through the presence of religious priest or
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place. Eric, a 25-year-old male student doing Masters, referred to the popular Bollywood movie by 3 Idiots actor called, ‘PK’: “Familiar as in...I know it from ‘PK’ movie’’ (Eric). In this movie a good amount of onscreen time was given to discussion on futility of religion and rituals.
Presence of religion in Bollywood has been in vogue in Bollywood movies. They had a dominant on screen presence. Kumar (2013) in his work presents reading of post 1990s movies. He argues that the movie border on propagation of majoritarian religion and also maleness. For further reference works of Khan (2009) and of Dwyer (2006) would be illuminating to follow. The other thing about FGD is that, contrary to my expectation, I did not witness discussion on communalism or communal violence. There was vibrant discussion on the question of caste. Discussion on caste I was least expecting. I found that the participant had good understanding of caste.
During the FGD I found that participants had good knowledge about caste system in India. They through school textbooks learned about it. However, I found that those who have been to India had little or very few things to share about it. The possible reason for it could be caste is not as observable as it is with race or gender. System of caste, unlike race and gender, is not based on physical feature, thus it cannot be easily observed. Although there are theories on caste which argue that there exist racial basis for caste.
In case of caste surnames become crucial markers of identity. It is from surnames Indians try to guess caste. Ghose (2006) writes that, it is important that we be aware that names and surnames could and do “signify power, wealth, social rank, artistic qualities, beauty and so much more”. Such signifying power may not be obvious as they have been normalized in our day to day practice. This becomes much more difficult for those not from
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India. Pandey (2013) writes that surname denotes our caste affiliation. Although surnames may not be that reliable way of ascertaining caste, but in compelling situation where there is lack of information it is through surnames that caste is ascertained (Jogdand, 2013).
Maurya (2016) in his work has tried to analyze the surnames of leading caste of Hindi serials and also Bollywood movies. Findings from his study point that the surnames in Bollywood movies is predominantly of upper caste. Thus, we could argue that upper caste surnames have been normalized among the audiences of Bollywood cinema. The same goes for the Bollywood movies which are popular in Taiwan. From my analysis of textbook I found that detailed attention has not been given to these aspects. The participants shared curiosity about caste system. For them it was unbelievable that a system of occupational division determined by birth could exist for so many years.
Understanding on caste: The case of Taiwanese schools textbooks
Jason, a 24 year old male participant doing Masters initiated discussion on caste:
“…other than that, my knowledge about India is that you have caste system and it can’t change.’’(Jason) Afterwards the other members of group shared their opinion on the same.
Interestingly, everyone had something or other to say on caste. From the view it was obvious that they have had good understanding of caste.
The understating of the FGD members was enough to arouse my interest about source of the same. Caste being a specifically Indian phenomenon I least expected such an understanding. Rarely have Hollywood or Bollywood movies have engaged with question of caste. Caste question largely remains absent from mainstream media. Thus, it was imperative that I enquired with the participant for sources of this image/information. They
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told that they have been learning about caste in the schools, the school textbooks. It is imperative that a critical appraisal of Taiwanese school textbooks be done. (See, Appendix 6 for details)
Discussion was found on caste in a second year junior high school textbook on Society (refer to figure 6 and figure 7). It was under the chapter on South Asia, the topic was population and social issues. In the figure 6 representation of caste system as hierarchical society is shown through a pyramid like figure. In figure 7 references is made to a Bollywood movie Devdas. In the description accompanying the poster of movie it is mentioned that the “Devdas is an Indian film. It’s about wealth inequality and the gap in caste system in India.”
Figure 6 The caste system (Source: Second year junior high school ‘society’ textbook, vol.4.Edited by Nan I Book Enterprise Co., Ltd, 2014, p.75)
Figure 7 Devdas is an Indian film. It’s about wealth inequality and the gap in the caste system in India.( Source: Second year junior high school ‘society’ textbook, vol.4.Edited by Nan I Book Enterprise Co., Ltd. 2014. p.75)
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In a third year junior high school textbook on society at attempt at a thorough engagement with questions of caste is done, under the chapter ‘India ancient civilisation’, and under separate topic ‘Aryan and caste system’. The text accompanying the image describes the genesis of caste system with reference to writings from Brahminic scriptures:
“According to the Brahmanic scriptures, the Brahman divided the mouth, arm, legs and feet of the giant “Perusha” (the first human being) as four classes in the society. The classes can’t be changed, as the mouth, arms, legs and feet can’t be inverted.”(Figure 8)
Figure 8 The caste system from Brahminic scriptures. “Perusha”(Source: Third year junior high school ‘society’ textbook, vol.5.Edited by Nan I Book Enterprise Co., Ltd, 2013, p.89)
The school textbooks have been successful in imparting education about caste.
However, the understanding which is being imparted is book view of caste. It is generally assumed that caste doesn’t exist in urban spaces. The recent development in caste study emphasise on experience, taking inspiration from debates on experience generated by black and feminist writing.
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Religion: Bollywood vis-à-vis personal experience
The participants in the pilot FGD and the one with those who have never been to India, pointed that India has a number of religion. Some associated India with Buddhism. They told that they got to know these things through movies, magazines and school textbooks.
Similarly, in this FGD members think that India maintains distinct cultural heritage of its own. They told that western culture has not been able to much influence India. Many Indian hasn’t much influenced from western cultures. Further, they also observe that religion is central to Indian culture. They believe that religion is “very important to aspects of Indian way of life”, and find that Indians are “kind people and pious disciple.
Sam, a male participant expressed his views that he had image of India through Slumdog Millionaire movie, media, school textbook, and geography magazine. These sources helped him form image about India. Most of the image which were formed through these sources got reaffirmed after his travel to India. Before visit he thought that India is multicultural, having Sakyamuni Buddha, the image of Gandhi was prominently imposed on his mind. Through his travel he got to see the “multicultural society and different sub-local cultures”. He found Indian history and philosophy to be profound. Further, he got to see the sacredness which is attached to river Ganges.
Given the fact that religious site and some of the holy cities are big tourist destination we should not be surprised by the results. For example, places like Varanasi, Hardiwar, Mahabaleshwar, Hampi and such other places have old and big temples which are a major tourist destination. It is witnessed that the Tourism Department also publicizes the religious cities and sites. Thus, the advertisement of tourist department manages to attract tourists to
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these places specially Varanasi. This is why we don’t find much difference between the image formed through Bollywood, media and those formed through personal experience.
Apart from Bollywood and tourism adverts, textbooks also play their role. For example, following two images are from second year junior high school textbook (see figure 9 to figure 14). The description in the book indicates towards the religions and cultures of India.
Figure 9 The Ganges River is India’s holy river.(Source: Second year junior high school
‘society’ textbook, vol.4.Edited by Han Lin Publishing Co., Ltd, 2012, p.77)
Figure 10 The Taj Mahal. (Source: Second year junior high school ‘society’ textbook, vol.4.Edited by Han Lin Publishing Co., Ltd, 2012, p.77)
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Figure 11 A worshiper is prostrating. (Source: Third year junior high school ‘society’
textbook, vol.5. Edited by Nan I Book Enterprise Co., Ltd, 2013, p.90)
Figure 12 The Mahabodhi Temple.(Source: Third year junior high school ‘society’
textbook,vol.5.Edited by Han Lin Publishing Co., Ltd, 2016, p.101)
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Figure 13 The facade of the Hindu temple. (Source: Third year junior high school ‘society’
textbook, vol.5.Edited by Han Lin Publishing Co., Ltd, 2016, p.101)
Figure 14 Buddha statue in India. (Source: Second year senior high school ‘history’
textbook, vol.3. Edited by Han Lin Publishing Co., Ltd, 2009, p.71)
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My personal opinion
During the initial phase of this research, I was of the opinion that my Taiwanese friends and acquaintances had not read any books about India. My view was based on my enquiry with them; they responded negatively and said that they have not read any books about India.
But now that I have gone through Taiwan’s junior/senior high school textbooks, I realize that they were modest or they did not consider the knowledge which they got from their school textbooks sufficient to answer in affirmation.
Apart from the above, another point I have to make here is in regard to caste. It was observed that no one in FGDs with those who have already travelled to India discussed the caste system. The probable reason could be this: almost all of my participants travelled to urban areas, and in urban areas and cities the caste is not obvious, especially to those who are not aware about how surnames designate caste identity. Apart from the above reason, another is caste in modern city spaces functions in subtle ways. Generally people do not discuss it if they do not know another person’s caste, as it is a sensitive and touchy issue.
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5. Conclusion
This chapter presents a conclusion on the major findings of the thesis. The purpose of the thesis was to capture a range of images Taiwanese have of India and to investigate what are the sources of those images. In order to find out what are the India’s images among Taiwanese students, three focus groups were created for this purpose.
During the course of this study, various images of India came up. They relate to – food, people, gender relations, health, hygiene, security, tradition, religion and the caste system. Some of the images about the above aspects were positive, but mostly they were negative. This study in its attempt at exploring the images and perceptions which Taiwanese have of India has been largely successful. During the course of this study, particularly in FGDs, effort has been made to also trace the sources of the range of these images. This study finds that Taiwanese school textbooks and movies (Bollywood and, in some instances, Hollywood movies as well) are major sources for the majority of the participants. Subsequently, the sources of these images were further explored and critically examined. Further, this study tried to look at the ways in which the personal experiences of Taiwanese have impacted their pre-existing images. For this a separate FGD was conducted with those have been to India. Thus, this study has been able to look at how a personal visit has been an influential factor, and if the personal visits have in any way solidified or subverted the pre-existing images for these participants, who have been to India.
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This study reached some of the following findings:
1. The images about India are not much different between those who have been to India and those who have never been to India, as very little change in images was observed for those who have been to India.
2. For the participants of this study, the major sources of images are movies (Bollywood and Hollywood) and school textbooks. Among the movies, Slumdog Millionaire and 3 Idiots have been a major influence. It was observed that the participants made reference to these movies. For example, the image that Indians are good at mathematics and smart comes from movies like 3 Idiots. The image about slums and the Taj Mahal has been majorly influenced by school textbooks.
Another major influence has been Slumdog Millionaire in school textbooks. This study during its course of research and interaction with participants finds that the images of India, which have been portrayed in school textbooks are of – wealth inequality, slums, advanced technology, the caste system, rich heritage and culture, and a religious country.
3. When it comes to food we find that there are different images for those who have been to India and for those who have never been to India. Indian restaurants in Taiwan have influenced images for those have not been to India. Through their experience at these restaurants they find that Indian foods are spicy and mostly about curry, though, they have scepticism about authenticity of these foods. Those who had been to India said that they find that there is diversity in food, and Indian
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food is not only about spices and curry. They also shared taboos surrounding certain non-vegetarian foods, especially pork and beef.
4. We further find that the location of participants does play an important role. For example, gender has been crucial. Female participants shared concerns about safety.
Most of the participants felt that rape and sexual harassment is a major problem in India. The women who have been to India feel that there are issues with gender relations and it is not safe for women to go outside during night.
What has been surprising is the image about India in regard to yoga did not come up, except for the pilot FGD. I found that even those participants who do yoga did not share opinions about yoga being from India. This is surprising, because the Indian government has been aggressively advertising it in India and as well as in foreign countries. Non-governmental sources, for example, movies and fitness experts have also been propagating it.
The possible reason for this could be that yoga perhaps has been normalised among Taiwanese. The other reason could be that it came to Taiwan, not through India, but when it became popularized in western countries, it then became popular in Taiwan. The version of yoga which came to Taiwan is perhaps modern and westernised thus making it difficult to identify with India.
Apart from yoga, it is found that participants had nothing to say about sports, such as cricket and chess. In spite of the fact that sports, such as baseball, are quite popular in Taiwan, and is similar to cricket, which has cult following in India, cricket was not mentioned. Participants carried opinion and had good information about the cultural aspect, but the same has not been with other aspects. Here it could be put forth that the cultural
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elements dominates when it comes to country image. Somehow uniqueness about a country and its image is confined and relegated to culture only.
The research has been somewhat successful in tracing sources of images. Also, it has been successful in exploring two of the major sources and one other source, i.e. Bollywood Taiwanese school textbooks and Hollywood. This study comes to the conclusion that media does influence the shaping of India’s image. It is found that the participants’ images were dictated by their preconceived notions about photography, i.e. photographs are factual and objective. The interconnectedness of the times we live in, where time and space have compressed, makes us available to the opportunity to confront these images (Morley, 2000;
Wang, 2007). In the interconnected world in which we live, it becomes really challenging to represent a “true” and “authentic” image (Orgad, 2012). Neither is it possible to capture and represent all aspects of a country or society. The complexities cannot be located and represented sufficiently. Hence, it is imperative that a serious note of the constructivist approach be taken. For example, the constructivist argument that representations cannot be real depiction and are mere constructions. Representation produces meaning by selective depiction of some elements of reality. Similar is Hall’s (1973) argument. He writes that, “we give things meaning by how we represent them” (Hall, 1973, p.3).
Wang, 2007). In the interconnected world in which we live, it becomes really challenging to represent a “true” and “authentic” image (Orgad, 2012). Neither is it possible to capture and represent all aspects of a country or society. The complexities cannot be located and represented sufficiently. Hence, it is imperative that a serious note of the constructivist approach be taken. For example, the constructivist argument that representations cannot be real depiction and are mere constructions. Representation produces meaning by selective depiction of some elements of reality. Similar is Hall’s (1973) argument. He writes that, “we give things meaning by how we represent them” (Hall, 1973, p.3).