Philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah argues that when considering religion we overestimate the importance of scripture and underestimate the importance of practice.
The lecture explores how our self of self is shaped by our families but is equally influenced by characteristics such as nationality, gender, class, race and religion. I think it is really important to recognise the intersection of all these different elements in a person’s life as they impact how we experience and perceive the world around us. Some of these identities are shared will millions of people.
Appiah states that religion is built on the following 3 dimensions:
- Practice – what you do
- Community / fellowship – who you do it with
- Body of beliefs
He argues that we tend to over emphasise the role of beliefs, rather than the shared practices and communities that upholds religion. These practices and communities shape and change belief, to evolve in a way that applies to the current way of life. Our ideas are constantly shifting and interacting with us. I can imagine how I practice my religion in a ‘secular’, western, Christian dominant space would be different to how my family in India, in a Hindu majority country practice theirs. Similar, how I as a British Indian Muslim have different traditions to someone who may be a British Pakistani Muslim – these experiences may be the same but not similar, yet they join us in a mutual understanding of each other.
He also make a reflective observation, we don’t merely follow traditions, we create them. One day we too would be ancestors, passing down our traditions to others, infused with our knowledge, understanding and beliefs.
In the book, ‘Can we all be feminists?’, Eishar Kaur in A hundred small rebellions writes
I am sitting across from my friend Amandeep in a Pret, both of us nursing overpriced coffees. We have different family backgrounds and we’re from different parts of London, but our shared culture transcends our differences”.
(Eric-Udorie, 2018)
While they are discussing the ways in which they find patriarchy intertwined with their Panjabi culture, they draw upon a very interesting point regard people of a diaspora. Our knowledge of a certain concept (religion, culture, traditions, etc) gained from our grandparents or parents, as a diaspora, is from a specific period of time.
“Our reference point is stuck in the past,” she says. “Music, clothes, Bollywood movies: I’ve got this locked version of Punjabiness in my head from my grandparents.”
(Eric-Udorie, 2018)
Additionally, in order to preserve this idea of culture as a minority, our grandparents and parents may be more resistant to change or adapting. This tends to become a lot more apparent when I visit my family in India and my parents have conversation of how surprisingly ‘progressive’ India/ Pakistan can be – because our idea of ‘indian-ness’ or religion, as a diaspora, is from when my parents/ grandparents left, and has not been updated much since.
Eisha kaur also has a very interesting conversation with her mother in regards to the evolution of roots:
So for your grandparents’ generation, having those roots meant being a certain way. For me and your dad, having those roots means having a foot in your grandparents’ camp, and being our own selves, and having a foot in your camp. For you, you have a foot in our camp, and in your own, and then you’ll have a foot in your next generation’s camp. With each iteration, you get a bit further away from the thing that anchored it in the first place.”
(Eric-Udorie, 2018)
This notion really resonated with Appiah’s closing remarks of how we will eventually be the ancestors that shape the traditions that others will follow, “Count that a burden, and a blessing” (Appiah, 2016).
This lecture is a great resource in expanding our understanding of identities and how malleable and changing they are. We are multifaceted and influenced by a range of different characteristics. Within teaching, I would reflect on this lecture to remind me that my students will be equally multifaceted, highlighting that many of them may share similar identities and experiences but also being conscious that these identities can also be practiced in different ways. This lecture is also important in highlighting the importance of community, how we collectively learn and how much it shapes our understanding of the world.
Bibliography
Appiah, K., 2016. Creed. [podcast] The Reith LecturesKwame Anthony Appiah – Mistaken Identities. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds>
Eric-Udorie, J., 2018. Can We All Be Feminists?: Seventeen writers on intersectionality, identity and finding the right way forward for feminism. London: Virago Press, pp.89-102.