Representation and Reality
Apparently the police have arrested over 70 Sikhs in Mumbai for vandalizing MTV’s headquarters there. The reason for the protest and vandalism? Apparently MTV’s poster promos featured a sardarni massaging a man, which they found offensive to the faith community and its principles.
Now, I typically do not advocate vandalism or violence as a means of protest, but I think this incident brings up a larger issue around representation, especially for minority communities. Is it possible that there is a Sikh girl, somewhere, who is a masseuse? Probably. However, the issue at hand is whether or not such a representation is offensive to the teachings of Sikhi (I have not seen the poster, so I can’t comment on how salacious it is), and if so, what an appropriate response would be.
Like many other minority communities, Sikhs face a unique task in trying to combat stereotypical and lampooned representations in the media while dealing honestly with the diversity of experiences and viewpoints within the broader faith community. This event, while very different, reminded me of the gurdwara incident in the UK a few years ago. Many feel that it is dangerous to “indulge” negative representations because they tend to produce new stereotypes or to violate the ethic core of the community (a good example of stereotypical Sikh representations would be the buffoon/drunkard or villain/nemesis in Bollywood films). So, if this poster was offensive, how should the community have dealt with the issue? I don’t know if they had tried other tactics (e.g., letter writing, phone calls, non-violent protest), but then again, it’s not hard for a non-violent protest to turn to vandalism or other outward action.
In the U.S., SMART (now SALDEF) originally started as an organization to combat misleading and incorrect stereotypes in American media. The Mumbai case is different on many fundamental levels: Sikhs are a much larger and much more visible minority in India, there is less of an “excuse” for ignorance on the part of national media networks (or international, in this case). However, it doesn’t seem like there’s a great mechanism for dealing with incidences like this.
How can Sikhs work to balance negative representations against the reality of community issues without recasting themselves as another stereotype or caricature?
4 Responses to “Representation and Reality”
This happens every week in India. India is the land of the mob. Either some Shiv Sena thugs, or some Muslim activists, or some RSS goons will take it upon themselves to cause a mini riot or beat up some artists or journalists over some supposed 'hurt sentiments'. As it is, these particular thugs were engaging in a long serving activity of Indian identity politics mob rule.
Whenever you respond to a grievance with the use of mob rule and violence, you're going to appear menacing, coercive, and intolerant. The way to deal with these perceived offensive 'representations' is to be less immature and grown up about things, and don't make excuses for a bunch of thugs intimidating people and destroying property.
This happens every week in India. India is the land of the mob. Either some Shiv Sena thugs, or some Muslim activists, or some RSS goons will take it upon themselves to cause a mini riot or beat up some artists or journalists over some supposed ‘hurt sentiments’. As it is, these particular thugs were engaging in a long serving activity of Indian identity politics mob rule.
Whenever you respond to a grievance with the use of mob rule and violence, you’re going to appear menacing, coercive, and intolerant. The way to deal with these perceived offensive ‘representations’ is to be less immature and grown up about things, and don’t make excuses for a bunch of thugs intimidating people and destroying property.
how did they know she was a sardarni or sikh ?
how did they know she was a sardarni or sikh ?