I have a couple of friends who have a bit of a fascination (bordering on fetish) with certain cultures and have been thinking about this for a bit. I found it interesting as neither of them have any direct experience or extensive contact with said cultures. Both of these individuals are quite knowledgeable and are familiar with the culture they have an interest in. One of them even learned to speak the language and speaks it reasonably alright (well, conversationally). While they’re both quite intelligent, ironically though, they aren’t the anthropological sort who have an interest in cultures in general.
I’ve met other people that are this way too (but to a lesser extent) and was curious as to what draws some people so deeply to other cultures. Part of it may be that we tend to be drawn to the exotic (or rather, what is exotic to us) but I’m curious to whether there is more to it.
What do you guys think it is that makes people interested in specific cultures?
I'm interested in different cultures.. the world outside Europe really fascinates me..
I find it a bit strange they're that interested but don't have direct experience or extensive contact with those cultures though.. in this day and age it's easy to meet people from all sorts of backgrounds and travel to see these things first-hand..
May be some common folklore and history draws attention and interest in other culture. True for me.
I find it a bit strange they're that interested but don't have direct experience or extensive contact with those cultures though.. in this day and age it's easy to meet people from all sorts of backgrounds and travel to see these things first-hand..
In one of the cases, I believe the interest may stem from what muqawwee described about having an interest in folklore and history. My friend has quite an interest in Scandinavian, particularly Danish, culture and this seems to have begun after taking a class during our first year at uni about the subject. I believe it was about Scandinavian literature and Norse folklore and the impact these have on the contemporary cultures. I can see why that would draw interest to a culture as folklore and culture are inextricably linked, so that makes quite a bit of sense now that I think about it.
The interest my other friend has is what I find more unusual. She has quite an interest in our culture and I’m not quite sure what this stems from. She’s had this interest as long as I’ve known her. Interestingly though, she doesn’t have much experience with our culture other than a gentleman she’s dating and couple of acquaintances. She’s even learned Pashto and speaks reasonable well. What I find more unusual and ironic is that she doesn’t seem bothered by certain aspects of our culture that most people find unpalatable.
The interest my other friend has is what I find more unusual. She has quite an interest in our culture and I’m not quite sure what this stems from. She’s had this interest as long as I’ve known her. Interestingly though, she doesn’t have much experience with our culture other than a gentleman she’s dating and couple of acquaintances. She’s even learned Pashto and speaks reasonable well.
Bano Qudsia (famous urdue writer) said: When we love / like someone, we want to let that person know about our background, childhood memories, roots, etc and we also want to know same about the that person. This is not possible without developing interest for cultural background, customs, etc followed in areas the person belong to.
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What I find more unusual and ironic is that she doesn’t seem bothered by certain aspects of our culture that most people find unpalatable.
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Ashfaque Ahmed (Husband of Bano Qudsia) said : Mehboob wo hota hai jis ka na-theek bhi theek lage. :)
Tor is one of the more sensitive ones. People tend to misinterpret this protectiveness and sometimes view it as infantilising towards women.
Another aspect that many people find a bit unpalatable is the concept of Badal, which, although literally translates to “justice,” is more often understood as revenge. It is not always literal and often takes the form of people holding a grudge for ages. This comes across quite vindictive and unnecessarily resentful to most people.
Bano Qudsia (famous urdue writer) said: When we love / like someone, we want to let that person know about our background, childhood memories, roots, etc and we also want to know same about the that person. This is not possible without developing interest for cultural background, customs, etc followed in areas the person belong to.
Ashfaque Ahmed (Husband of Bano Qudsia) said : Mehboob wo hota hai jis ka na-theek bhi theek lage. :)
You know, I never really thought of it that way. I think you're quite right about that. :)
Bano Qudsia (famous urdue writer) said: When we love / like someone, we want to let that person know about our background, childhood memories, roots, etc and we also want to know same about the that person. This is not possible without developing interest for cultural background, customs, etc followed in areas the person belong to.
:)
So true. We do indeed have that tendency, like the saying that jis se mohabbat karte hain us ki khabar rakhte hain. Leads to stalking too, but yes, it's true.
It refers to the honour of women in traditional Pashtun culture (Pashtunwali). In the overall context though, it relates to the fact people are quite protective of women (ie. wives, sisters, female cousins, etc.) in our culture and even minor things, such as staring or being a little too familiar, are taken rather seriously.
The interest my other friend has is what I find more unusual. She has quite an interest in our culture and I’m not quite sure what this stems from. She’s had this interest as long as I’ve known her. Interestingly though,** she doesn’t have much experience with our culture other than a gentleman she’s dating **and couple of acquaintances. She’s even learned Pashto and speaks reasonable well. What I find more unusual and ironic is that she doesn’t seem bothered by certain aspects of our culture that most people find unpalatable.
That explains it :D
I know quite a few people who've become fascinated with a new culture after becoming involved with someone from it..
I have an intense fascination for Pakistanis and pakistani culture. This actually existed before I met any Pakistanis. I also know some Indians in India who have fascination from watching either pakistani tv shows as well as comedy shows. They live in India never met a pakistani but as a result want to learn Urdu. I tried learning Urdu on this site , learnt a bit but found it hard. I made some pakistani pen pals who I communicate with and one day hopefully can write them a decent Urdu letter.
People in my real life wonder about this obsession but somehow i have also made them curious and into watching pakistani dramas :) Now my parents even tell all people they meet, desi or middle eastern, about pakistani dramas.
I agree knowing friends from that culture helps. I know so many more Pakistanis online than in real life and in my country we don't have a big desi community. Even my Pakistani friends are not that into culture so i don't know where my interest was sparked. I think it was through watching Indian and Pakistani news channels and seeing generalisations i couldn't relate to. I always thought how can there be hate between individuals when there are similarities in language, food, clothing, even some common cultural heritage.
I am also fascinated by afghani culture and have 1 afghani friend but I don't know much. So appreciate your thread.
I don't know much about Afghanistan other than a few Internet forums, but if there is one country outside Pakistan that id be interested in is Afghanistan (their culture as an extension), maybe the fact that what we are in Pakistan depends upon those areas to some extent.
