Personally, I have not encountered or experience any intercultural conflict. Perhaps there was an incident during my junior college days, which might have came close to it.
A was an Indian-Chinese who understands and speaks fluent Mandarin. One day in the LT, A was sitting on the row in front of me and clique. One of my friends said in Mandarin that A was big size and that Indians are usually so big size. And he went on laughing and joking about it with my other friends, unknowing that A could understand every word of it. Thereafter, A turned around, stood up and scolded my friend in Mandarin. My friend’s face turned pale as he was shocked that A could understand and speak Mandarin. Knowing that this argument would lead to nowhere, I immediately appeased both of them before anything bad happens. I remembered this incident happened quite early during my first year in JC.
Strangely, A eventually became ostracized by the class. I had a clique in class, composing of several Chinese and Malays. We were close friends and always sat together in class, away from A. The class was small, comprising only about 13 people. There were a few cliques in my class while A belonged to none. The cliques naturally sat together, thus leaving A sitting alone most of the time.
Apparently that incident made my clique felt uneasy being around A. While other classmates told me that they were just uncomfortable being around an Indian-Chinese. So I felt bad for A but there was nothing much I could do. At least no one in class did anything bad to her. That was the only relief I felt for A.
Personally, I had nothing against A but I would rather sit together with my clique. Coincidentally A was in the same CCA as me and I would talk to A sometimes. There were even instances that my clique asked why I was talking to her. I felt the class was being too unfair to A.
Being caught between my clique and A, what could I do? The best I could do was to do nothing. This tension between the class and A then lasted till the end of my JC days.
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Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interesting post! In this case, it seemed that the conflict arose from intercultural differences as well as discrimination against people with a certain image, making it more serious.
Like you, I personally feel that your classmates were too unfair and went a little overboard as well. May I know if A did anything before the lecture incident that might cause your classmates to dislike her more?
Being in your position must have been very tough as well. On one hand, you do not want to ostracize on but on the other hand, if you befriend her, you might lose a bigger group of friends. Personally, I feel that while she might not have received any physical hurt, the emotional hurt might cause a sufficiently great impact on her, perhaps one greater and more lasting than if she had been physically hurt. Therefore, I will still try to remain friends with her. But as I mentioned, it definitely won't be an easy job and I think it's great that you've at least tried to remain neutral (:
~Ji@LIn
Hi Jialin,
ReplyDeleteI don't really know why the class dislikes her actually. I guessed it was from that initial incident and maybe something more, like cultural discrimination. Seeing an Indian-Chinese perhaps is not very common creates a little uncertainty towards A. Uncertainty then leads to some sort of discrimination and eventually an intercultural conflict. This is what I can think of.
Hey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI suppose your friends felt uneasy about A as she probably did not seem like anyone they had met before. Such unfamiliarity can often lead to discomfort and fear. I guess in such a global society where racial lines are being blurred more and more, we have to be more willing to look past a person's skin and focus more on their personality.
I guess that not knowing much about a person and thus being uncomfortable around them is understandable. What is rather sad is picking on someone without knowing anything about the person in the first place. I feel your stand was the most diplomatic choice in the situation. Maintain neutrality.
Hey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThere is a phrase - "Unfamiliarity breeds contempt." Like Gerard says, this might be very true in the situation you have mentioned. For some, interacting with a person who doesn't fit into any of categories that they have created brings their insecurities to the forefront.
Nevertheless, I feel that your clique could have tried talking to A after the situation to provide some form of explanation. The ostracization faced by A must have taken a toll on her emotional state.
I also feel that you made the right choice by trying to maintain a neutral stand although I know it must have been a difficult choice to make.
Thanks for sharing :)
Dear Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI felt quite sad for A after reading your blog post. It was rather surprising to me that A being an Indian-Chinese seemed as unfamiliar to the rest of your classmates as an Indian would have been. Would you not feel like you have more in common with someone who speaks your language and is thus closer to your culture in a way?
I empathize greatly with your position as I have been placed in a similar position during my secondary school days. A girl used to be ostracized and even bullied by my classmates as she was from another country and a very different culture. Luckily though, the clique I was part of used to feel sympathetic towards her and thus we tried to interact with her. Sometimes we also tried to discourage the rest of our classmates from picking on her. However, over time I have realized that it can be very difficult to convince people of something especially when they think they are right and don’t feel that they should be tolerant of different cultures. I thus understand that in your case remaining neutral could have been the best option.
This incident highlights the need to understand and be tolerant of people from other cultures and to refrain from making judgments without knowing the person. In these times of globalization, people are becoming more mobile and thus this gives everyone further incentive to inculcate this tolerance and understanding.
Cheers,
Jigna
Hey guys,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all your fervent comments and also for your time.
In a situation like this, maintaining neutrality is the best as I feel this would not hurt either party or breed any misunderstanding from any party as well. But I would be really caught in a tougher situation if either party asked me to choose a side. Luckily this did not happen or else I would not know what to do.
Like what Jigna and Gerard have mentioned, we should look beyond our skin colour and inculcate better understanding between cultures in this globalized society.
I will be looking forward to a day when everyone put the issue of cultural disparity aside and work well together.