Our Transnational Identities & Links

Lifestyle Relationships
1

The other day, I was thinking our how our world changing, getting smaller while creating distances that were not there. Since most of us are Pakistanis here, I wanted bring up the question of identity - our shared background that allows us to talk to a stranger in the Scottish highlands who speaks in the perfectly Karachi accented Urdu despite being country for 35 years or connecting to your half-Pakistani cousin on the edge of California who has a Pashto music collection that would put you to shame. We are more connected yet a lot more distant.

Even though my family members have far flung across the globe for decades due to their banking and diplomacy occupations, our family would always connect at my grandparents house in Pekhawar. We would go to our ancestral home in Mohmand, pay respects to our ancestors, have a feast at the maliks house, and I would lie under the clear, hot sky… and feel home. Sure I was not born there, my pakhto is more than rusty, and the only cousins left there are distant ones..but that feeling of belonging and contentment can never be duplicated.

I guess the reason why I place this message in life instead of society, is because we may be living life on a day to day worrying about the material benefits.. the tangible things like cars, houses, going to college etc. Although all of those things are important and have their place, we humans are more complicated than that and we need to do things that are good for the soul. I hope that you will all stay connected to Pakistan in your own way.

Sometimes I get home sick, even though my passport is not green, my friends don’t know what the words izzat and takkaluf, and I have done well for myself professionally… but being so far away, makes me wonder about the future and the next generation..

2

:-O! This is sort of how i feel lol. I feel really connected to pakistan and feel homesick for it sometimes, though i too wasn't born there. Sometimes i feel sad that i wasn't born there and have to deal with 2 identities (one british, one pakistani)at the same time. I however, don't feel like i could ever truly belong there, although it feels like home to an extent, i don't feel like a full pakistani, cos im not i guess, and so this always makes me feel somewhat different and isolated from people when i'm there. But mostly its all good, lol. I adore Pakistan :)

3

Re: Our Transnational Identities & Links

I was born and raised in Pakistan and moved to US in a matured age. I am married have kids. I spend all my time worrying about taking care of my family. Spend all my time with them. But when I go to bed I almost always end up dreaming about Pakistan in my sleep. I guess it is a very powerfull bond.

4

It will change, it is inevitable.
If we go with the argument that many people in pakistan are descendents of arabs, turks and persians. how much of that shows in our daily living?
similarly, the bonds with the ancestral homeland will become weaker generation after generation.
How many italian americans can even speak italian or know much about italy at all?

5

Re: Our Transnational Identities & Links

It is sad. Every time the plane lands on the runway in karachi, i feel this strong emotion of having returned home, and the feeling i get every time i leave is one of regret. Its tough being caught in two worlds, my life is here, but I still feel more attached to pakistan, always have. I often wonder about the issues you've raised. We often travel back to visit my parents family, but in future, if one settles here, and our parents are here, then i cant see a reason to travel back as much... the next generation wouldn't have that connection with my homeland, and personally, this thought doesn't sit well with me :(

6

Re: Our Transnational Identities & Links

Generation gap folks.

7

I don't deny the inevitability of change, however I am concerned about holding on to the distinctness that makes us Pakistanis.

I don't buy into the myth that the majority of descendants are of Middle Eastern origins. If that had been the case, some of those links should have persisted. For example, Kurds and Pakhtuns are both distantly linked to Iranian peoples, although the cultural divergences have significant, some of the Persian (even pre-Islamic) elements like Noruz have been preserved. Most Pakistanis are essentially Persian Indians - culture reflects the Indian element, language reflects the Persian influence to this day.

I agree on the Italian-American question, however their impact on American culture has been significant (mostly due to their numbers/ethnic enclaves). What has been the Pakistani-American impact on America? Is Lassi as common as Pizza? What I am trying to highlight is the fact that this cultural shift has largely been a one sided affair with us conforming to the larger non-Pakistani society.

8

Re: Our Transnational Identities & Links

I think the responses are great. We are likely to spend the majority of our time at work, school, which leaves the smaller portion of time available for us to freely spend on our own. We need to make the special effort to cultivate the sense of Pakistani culture in our lives. It doesn't necessarily have to mean vacations in Pakistan (although they sound nice), but more on a day to day level including following the news, going to cultural shows, being connected to the local expat community etc.

9

dude, thats the way it is. I have not been back in 9 1/2 years now because my parents come over and spend more time with me than I can go and spend there. After my grandparents passed away my reasons o go back are further limited, most of the family that I am close to is in UK, canada or US, rest are in dubai etc, very few in Pakistan.

I dont feel regret when i leave pakistan, I feel sad. We had moved to pakistan after growing up abroad with many hopes, and always thinking of it as home, and I left disillusioned, I tried again after undergrad to go spend some time there in the 90's and it just was not for me.

I definitely do not have as much of a connection with pakistan as my parents do, and I think my kids will have even less. I see it in my nieces and nephews right now.

It simply can not be duplicated, I did not have much of a connection even though as a kid I went for vacation either every summer of winter break, but it was not until I moved there that I developed some connection, which still tugs me off and on, but its nostalgia, the Pakistan I thought i was going to was not there when i went there, I still got attached to the pakistan I saw, and that does not exist anymore. I suppose I can go back and bond with the place again.

and when i see my nieces and nephews, cousins kids, or younger cousins, they simply dont have that connection, going to pak for a few weeks every few years is not going to give u the type of connection that someone who has lived there will have. right now the kids are lernign about pakistan thru their parents eyes, from their info..the experience gets lighter and lighter and thius each generation gives the next generation even less of a connection.

10

cultural impact ofcourse happens with numbers. but the phenomenon is not unique, much of the people who moved to pakistan from other countries have slowly became more Pakistani. I had a pal in pak who was Vietnamese origin, but he was more pakistani than my cousins in Canada. he was less vietnamese than his folks ..

change as u agree is inevitable, keeping up with news, staying connected with community etc will keep aspects of teh common identity alove but that common identity will change as time moves. with injection of new immigrants it may keep the community groups more connected to the old country in ways but its a question of critical mass, as ppl who immigrated here start passing away and their kids are the elders..u will see a major shift in what it means to be a Pakistani american

11

Hm, i see what you're saying, but don't agree. I feel a great affinity with Pakistan, but i haven't lived there. I went to Pakistan after 11 years, and prior to this hadn't ever thought much about it, when i went though, i fell in love with the country and feel a deep connection to it. Having lived there or not is irrelevant. Pakistan is where my roots are, i'm proud of them :)

12

Re: Our Transnational Identities & Links

do you think your great grandkids will have the same level of affinity for Pakistan as u do?
very unlikely. Its not about having a connection but the depth of that connection and how it shapes your identity. Its also not about unique cases but of the diaspora as a whole.

I have Italian American pals who love Italy and everything about it but they simply are not as connected ss their great grandparents were.

It is hard to measure the depth and intensity of the feeling of connection, especially in a comparative manner between diff ppl now and between ppl now and in past. We can however say that whatever it is, it is likely to not be the same.

13

maybe they will! ask me in 40 or so years! i don't think the now and in the past thing is relevant, certainly not to me, cos i'm more enamoured with pakistan than my parents, who were born and raised there.

The connection i feel with Pakistan, to some extent does shape my personality, i think regardless of whether your grandparent lived in pakistan or your parent did, if you grow up or at some point start to feel something is integral to your personality, then it will shape your identity. thats how it is with me, and i don't see why it can't be like that for many other people too.

i hope that makes sense!

14

Re: Our Transnational Identities & Links

it's amazing how the jewish people scattered all over the world were able to retain their identity through centuries.

Most beautful female flight attendants
15

It makes sense but as I stated its a minority phenomenon
all cases indicate that as a whole generation changes decrease linkages to ancestoral lands

16

Religious identity vs national identity
I have Jewish pals of polish ba kground and they are not really polish anymore
language, music, literature, even food is no longer polish. This happened in 3 generations.

17

I agree with you, X2. Pakistani identity is itself to an extent religious identity. But I’ve always thought that when Jewish people talk about ‘their nation’, they’re talking about the nation of Israel. That’s why after centuries they came back to claim ‘their territory’. Muslims on the other hand may not be so much concerned about their national (territorial) identities because they have lots of territory under their control.

And let’s not forget what Iqbal said: Muslim he.n hum, sara jaha.n hamara! :snooty:

18

wheres your proof guy!? come on, i want evidence of this lol. and then, i'll maybe finally agree with you.....

19

Re: Our Transnational Identities & Links

Great discussion going on here.

Ofcourse the linkages with Pakistan will get weaker, but its not a given. If each generation is marrying someone raised in Pakistan/has spent a year or two in the country, that linkage will continue to be strengthened.

The other day I was reading about 'Birthright Isreal' and its newer version 'Birthright Armenia' both programs reintroduce teenagers to their country of origin through trips and cultural programs.I am not saying that we need a similar program, but an unofficial basis, younger kids can be sent to do 1st or 2nd grade there, so that a sense of identity is embedded into them during their formative years.

Integrating into the West has become easier for children, since they become fluent in language, adopting cultural norms...so its not something we need to be concerned with.

20

I gave you the proof of italian americans, vast majority of whom have never been to italy and dont speak italian.

here is some basic stuff, there are books written in aculturation and cultural assimilation by generation, all you have to do is read.

*http://www.danagioia.net/essays/eitalamer.htm

But each new generation of Italian-Americans finds its cultural links with the old country more tenuous. As the Little Italies disappear, and families disperse to the suburbs, the descendants of Italian immigration gradually merge their once sharply differentiated ethnic identity in mainstream America. Values change subtly but significantly. Intermarriage becomes the rule rather than the exception. If a third generation Italian-American speaks Italian, he or she usually learned it not in the kitchen but in college*

*Massey study shows rapid loss of Spanish language among Mexican immigrants in the United States

The authors found that although the generational life expectancy of Spanish is greater among Mexicans in Southern California than other groups, its demise is all but assured by the third generation. Third-generation immigrants are American-born with American-born parents but with three or four foreign-born grandparents.

In the second generation, fluency in Spanish was greater for Mexican immigrants than for other Latin American groups, and substantially greater than the proportions of Asian immigrants who could speak their mother tongue very well. In the third generation, only 17 percent of Mexican immigrants still speak fluent Spanish, and in the fourth generation, just 5 percent. The corresponding fourth-generation figure for white European immigrants is 1 percent. *