Admittedly, I have been influenced in the past years by authors who argue from the view that current events are being driven by culture (religion being also heavily involved). Sam Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” and Vali Nasr’s “The Shia Revival” represent the conflicts of culture (Hindu vs. Muslim, Western vs. Muslim, etc.) or religious identification (Shia vs. Shiites).
While there is truth embodied in such conflicts, there is a need to be reminded that no one is ONLY driven by a culture or a religion. There are other identities a person (potentially at least) has.
Amartya Sen’s “Identity and Violence”, focuses on the need to understand how our cultures have been historically influenced by each other, e.g., West received decimal system from India and printing, gun powder, and magnets came from China and persons can identify with multiple groupings, e.g., political, professional, nationality, religion, etc.
The trick is to contribute to the expansion of reasoning so that more people will see beyond their traditional identities and choose priorities among the various possible identities.
The book (compilations of a series of lectures) is somewhat repetitive in zeroing in the need to expand the people’s need to be more inclusive. But the repetition serves to clarify his propositions.
No comments:
Post a Comment