Man, the migrant
M.S. NAGARAJAN
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The book puts in perspective the whole gamut of the immigrant experience.
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Striped Zebra: The Immigrant Psyche, Uday C. Naval and Soofia K. Hussain, Rupa and Co., 2008, Rs. 595.
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Alfred Tennyson
Time after time, the leitmotif of most post-colonial writing has been the question of assimilation of migrants into the culture of the host countries. Bharati Mukherjee and Jumpa Lahiri among others have dealt with this problem in imaginative terms.
Indeed, assimilation has always been the favourite subject of sociological inquiry on immigration. Uday Naval and Soofia Hussein, two American social scientists of Indian origin, have treated this subject comprehensively in their book Striped Zebra: The Immigrant Psyche. The two metaphors which are often invoked to refer to the dynamics of immigration are ‘the Melting Pot,’ which asserts the assimilation of the migrants into the mainstream culture, and ‘the Salad Bowl’ in which the migrants manage to maintain their separate identities in the countries of their settlement. The authors suggest a third paradigm, ‘Striped Zebra,’ based on their hypothesis that the migrants neither get absorbed by the host group nor severed from it. Within the mind of the immigrants, there develops two distinct characteristic traits or ‘stripes’ as they are termed. The ‘Seed’ stripes are the value systems of the native culture which are ingrained in their consciousness, and the second, the ‘Feed’ stripes which are the values imbibed or acquired from the host society. The two different value systems run parallel to each other like the two rails of the railway track. They hardly ever converge in most cases. It is, however, possible for the ‘seeds’ to get coloured or tinted by the ‘feeds.’ “To the extent it happens — if it happens — the ‘Striped Zebra’ is striped zebra no more; it has metamorphosed into the ‘Spotted Leopard” (p.155).
The book explores the ‘Striped Zebra’ hypothesis. The basic native values that the immigrants hold on to are: religious faith, ceremonies related to them; first language preference; family values such as parental authority, respect for the elders, extended family, etc; native preferences in food and dress and home hospitality. The ‘feed’ values (quite flexible in most cases) borrowed from the host society include the following: “The American Dream” of self-betterment, wealth and success through hard work and perseverance; family role, wife’s independence, rights of children; personal freedom, sense of privacy, choice of life-partner; the importance of time; adventurousness, venturing into new areas. The five parts of the book discuss the whole gamut of the immigrant experience in terms of stories of success, cultural assertion, struggles and sufferings, cultural adaptation and racial discrimination.
Towards mutual respect
The authors hold the view that migration augurs well for the world as a whole. In this era of globalisation, migration becomes easier enabling the human race to come together as it has never done before. This leads to an intermingling of different races, mutual respect and concern for the welfare of others. Why shouldn’t we hope that a day will come —though not in the near future — when there will be no restrictions on people to go and settle in any country of their choice? Anywhere in the solar system! No visas, hopefully! Merrily man can call himself a citizen of the world!
Packed with a profusion of facts, interspersed with real life episodes, the book enlightens us on all aspects of man’s movement from one place to another in search of a better life. The Zebra hypothesis is not a conjecture, but a result of serious field work administered to more than 700 international students of varied ethnic and linguistic groups. It is said that the results of this research validated the Zebra hypothesis by 95 per cent. Striped Zebra is an astute and highly informed book, lucid in every minute detail!
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