In an age of science, community, any community, is rarely in the textbooks of economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, accounting, banking or political science. And religion is deleted and barred from these books, except when it’s about cults or backward peoples or fundamentalists. Its importance is diminished.
Yet the phrase ‘community’ is commonly in the news and used in a wide variety of ways with different meanings and contexts – neighbourhood, religion, club or its fans, or village etc. As Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Jains, we understand community as an extension of family – there is no boundary and a continuum between individual, family, community, society and state. A common phrase ‘Satsang’ denotes a gathering of people to unite to learn the truth and help one another. Tradition has given us living experiences of community, such that we are unable to separate it from our daily lives.
Back to the textbooks. Why is our holistic definition of community which is a combination of family, neighbourhood, faith, truth-seeking, loyalty, duty and obligation, mutuality, NOT in the textbooks except in marginal ways? Why are we not seen as scientists in every sense of the word – people who strive to learn and live by the truth? Why are we split up into categories like religion, or minorities or dogmatic traditionalists unwilling to modernise and eat with a fork and knife or wear a dress instead of a saree? What is wrong with our lot?
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For our children who study these subjects, the lack of authentic representation makes them feel marginal without even being conscious of it. For them prejudice is not just in the comments and taunts, but the very textbooks which glorify war, conquest and empire. Their identity crisis is lived daily as they move from home to school to temple. They then start to hate their own culture and question the religion and doubt the gurus and sadhus. Instead of feeling happy and peaceful they feel tormented and confused.
As a diaspora we have an obligation to engage with the scientists and enable them to see our own wide canvas of community. By and large we are peaceful, resourceful, respectful and joyous, helping one another as a matter of duty not choice. We too can aspire to become scholars and academics at universities and thereby directly influence the textbooks.
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I am presently an advisor to a global project to rewrite the accounting textbook! We should encourage our scientists and help them stay rooted in their cultures and communities. We need them more than they need us.
Professor Atul K. Shah [@atulkshah] teaches and writes about Indian wisdom on business, culture and community at various UK universities and is a renowned international author, speaker and broadcaster.