Rites and Rituals: Rooting For Tradi

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Rites and Rituals


Reading Rooting for Tradition T

Peking is in C h ina
As Kingston is in Jamaica
As Delhi is in India
As n owhere d o we belong
You and I.
And sho uld we ever run away
Where shall we ru n to?
And sho uld we ever fight a war,
Who shall we fight for
You and I?
At the end of the rain bow
Is a cou ntry of goo d ness
If we form an alliance
W ill we ever be free
To belong?
Or sha ll we alwa ys be carryin g
O ur ancestors ' coffins in a bag?
Searching the g lo be
For a place to belong
You and I.
M eilillg Ji ll

lntroduction 1 Read the poem and discuss what you think it is saying.
2 What is it about a place that makes you feel 'at hom e'?With a partner, make a list of
the thin gs you would miss most about your own culture if you lived in a country
which was very different from your own.
Would you find it hard to do without certain things?

Reading UNIT 9 111


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Read ing 1 Qui ckly read th e a rticle opposite. Can yo u name two of the di fficulties th at people
ex pe rie nce w he n the y live in a fore ign culture?
Multiple matching
2 Now look at the to pics below. Sca n the text a nd id entify wh ich sec tio ns (A-H) refer to
whi ch top ics. So me sectio ns may be chosen more than once.
Exam tip '"
Wh ich section refer s to the followin g?
In some multiple
matching tasks, you have Asian attitudes to love and marriage. 1_ _
to scan a text and match Expe riences at sc hoo l. 2_ _ 3_ _
sections of it to particular The influence of co nservatis m. 4_ _
topics. As you scan, look Remaining o n the o uts ide o f society. 5_ _
out for vocabulary that is Re-evaluat ing and accepting Asian culture. 6_ _ 7_ _ 8_ _
relevant to these topic The ad vantages of Asia n custom s. 9_ _ 10_ _
areas.
3 What views a nd att itudes to west ern life ar e mentioned in th e article? In yo ur
opinion, how important is it for people to ret ain their own cus to ms and traditions
when they se ttle in a new count ry?

Vocabulary 1 Forceful langu age is used in thi s a rticle, both by the wr ite r and the people who a re
quoted. What do es it add to th e a rticle? Her e are some exa m p les:
Forceful language
1 leavin g acrimoniously (pa rag ra ph A)
2 her famil y was devastated (pa rag ra ph A)
3 a passionate ad vocate (pa ra grap h E)
4 feelings ... ar e furt her exacerbated (pa ragra ph G)
5 his cu lture is often denigrated (pa rag raph G)
6 yo u a re a distorted im age of yo ur self (pa ragra ph H).
Look at the wo rds in italics. What do yo u think the y mean? Check your an swers in a
di ctionary.

2 Now mat ch th e words from th e article to words with th e opposite meaning on th e right.
1 ac rimo niously a impro ved
2 devastat ed b indiffer ent
3 passiona te c delighted
4 exacerbated d truthful
5 deni grat ed e amicably
6 distorted f acclaimed

3 Use one of th e words in 2 to complete se ntences 1-8.


For years, Na ima was towa rds her fam ily, until he r life we nt wrong
and they were the re to support her.
2 Despite previous bad relations, pa y negotiations between management and the
un ion we re reso lved . Both parties felt th ey had secured a good deal.
3 Although he ha s some libera l views. generally Sim on is a believer in
conservativ e family valu es.
4 Th e play was a n a m az ing bo x office success, as we ll as being hi ghly _
by th e cr itics.
5 Th e ea rt hqua ke struck with suc h force tha t it co m pletely the city
a nd th e surround ing a rea.
6 During th e protest. crowd vio lence was by heavy-hand ed police
tacti cs.
7 Sensationalism in the popular pr ess often results in a im pression of
what's go ing on in the world .
8 Emma wa s bot h surprised and wh en she wo n her Acade my aw ard

112 I UNIT 9 Reading


for Best Actres s.
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Going back to
their roots
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores
changing attitudes in Asian society.

A
a i lTIa hurries along excitedly, a b us sto p. To be part of the b rave

N bumping into people as s he


goes. Tra ili ng be h ind her, her
mother, tw o aun ts and a g rand mo the r,
45 new mod ern wo rld, you had to
cast off these people w ho wer e
'backward ' and ' u nclv ilised' .
5 w ho lease her in Gujarati as the y visit D
the glo rious As ian shops in Wemb ley, 'W e a re old -Iashton ed a bout
north London. There are two reaso ns for marriage: says Am ina, a middl e-
ce lebration . Na i m a, a 28-year-ol d 50 class Musl im from Birmingh am ,
b iochemist, is marry ing a solicitor - a 'b ut English fri en ds w ho wa nt to
10 man her parents suggested. But, more be liked by boys are prison ers of
importam ly, Naima has come home after love games. It is so deg rading.
leaving acrimoniously s ix years The boys w e kn ow are fam ily
previously. Her fam ily was devastated. 55 friends, th er e is resp ect bet w een
She was indi fferent . Then six mon ths ago us. We need o u r par ents, w ho
15 she tu rned u p, emaciated and s ha king. have wisdom, who love us, to d o
' I used to think Asia ns w er e stu p id and proper market resear ch before we give 'There is a differ en ce between a healthy
boring: s he says, ' b ut wh en m y life w ent our live s to so me bo dy . With roma nce, return to roots - a pos itive express ion of
w rong, I fell suc h a plastic person . I had 60 yo u sta rt at the top and come down. We pride in who yo u are - and a retreat into
10 co me back, m y hea rt's here:
have to w or k u p to love . You th en tr eat a meanin gl ess past w hic h comes from a
B it w ith so me respect: 00 sense of loss and confusion in w ho you
20 The rewards for this re instate ment are E are:
plent iful. Her aunts, after some intense Ot her aspects of trad itio nal life are a lso G
haggli ng, buy her 12 pure gol d bracelets becom ing popular aga in. Kaml a Ja lota, These feelings, says Jafar, a re fu rt he r
cos ting £2,000. Grandmother, no t to be 65 a d entist, is a pass iona te advocate of the exacerbated by rejections by th e host
ou tdo ne , splas hes ou t o n a dia mo nd ex tend ed famil y. ' I w ant my in -laws to co mmun ity. ' When an As ian ch ild goes
25 neckl ace and nose s tud. J ewels for her live with me. 1 think that ha vin g three 95 to scho ol, his cultu re is ofte n denigra ted.
feet, hand s and forehead ar e set as id e. gen e rations of wom en will he a rea l The ch ild feel s a se nse of an nihi lation
In th e next s ho p, ass ista nts unroll acres ed ucation for my daughter. 1 want th em and lim e mak es this wo rse. So he reacts
of w onderfu l w edd in g cloth. Na ima is 70 to tell me what to d o with m y childre n, either b y being as ha med of him self or
ju st o ne exam p le o f how As ia ns are so 1 d on't treat them w ith indifferen ce b y beco m ing vociferously Indi an , hating
eo ret hi nking their id ent ity in th is co u ntry. or tho ug htlessness; m y ch ildren w ill 100 wh ites or whatever:

C then learn th at, in our commu nity, to get H


Although t he expectations of th e old is to ga in respect > no t to lose it as in Arvind Sharma, a lectu rer with two sons,
co mmu n ity are that second and third 75 thi s u tilitarian society: These attitudes says, ' I sometimes want to cry w hen they
ge ne ra tio n imm igr ant s wi ll rea d ily h a ve becom e m ore co m mo n p lace go to school. All the ex perie nces o ur
assi mi late, mor e com plex processes tak e beca use m an y p a rent s h av e co me ch ildren have there are abo ut w ipi ng out
35 pl ace. Th e yo u ng fro m man y ethni c halfway to br id gin g ga ps. 1~ th eir heri tage: These pressures con tin ue
com m u nities long to link up with the ir F throu gh life, sa ys Arvind, so you ' beg in
heritage and h ist or y. Th is rethinking Perhap s th ese cha nge s a re a lso due to 10 chip bits off yoursel f to mak e yourse lf
usu all y follo w s a peri od of den ial, as it 80 th e fact that the yo u nge r ge ne ra tio n is mor e acceptab le, u n t il o ne d ay yo u
did for Na ima . The re was a ti me w he n a p rodu ct o f th e 8 0s, th e d ecad e o f rea lise yo u are a d isto rted imag e of
40 ma ny As ia ns fe lt ashamed of t he ir conservative va lues. 'Yes,' agrees Jafar 110 yourself and you are still on the fringes
backgrounds. I remember cringing w ith Karee rn, an Asia n psyc ho log ist w ho runs of society. It hurts because you expected
emba rrassment if my mother was o ut a cl in ic fo r eth nic mino r ities. But he to belong because you did all the right
with me, or if I saw a group of As ians at 85 warns tha t so met hi ng el se is go ing on: th ings:

~ 710 words
Reading UNIT 9 11 3

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