Sunday, September 16, 2012

Identity issues


Identity issues

A recent (15th Aug 2012)issue of the Indian Express carries the story of an upcoming leader of a far-right Hungarian party (Jobbik) named Csanad Szegedi who was (in)famous for his loudly proclaimed anti-Semitic views. By an unkind twist of fate the 30-year old discovered in 2010 from a 'convicted felon' – whom he was unable to silence – that his maternal grandparents were Jews, and that his grandmother was an Auschwitz survivor. Jobbik has just disowned him, although Szegedi is not a practising Jew by any means.
The irony of this story is practically Kafkaesque, and it takes the phrase,” He's his own worst enemy” to a whole new level. One wonders what Szegedi will do: take solace in drink, commit suicide, re-invent himself (as what?), - or emigrate to Israel?

However, the story raises other questions that apply almost universally. One could easily change names and consider a Szegedi clone in the RSS (or the Laskar-e-Teuba) who hates Muslims (or Hindus) viscerally, and belatedly finds out that he has Muslim (or Hindu) ancestors. As Szegedi's story makes clear, it is not enough for Szegedi to denounce Jews – he must be free from any ancestral taint.

All identities are constructed. We share 'markers' with our in-group that differentiate us from all out-groups. But the notion that groups can be exclusive and 'pure' is a difficult one to maintain, at least for humans. The evidence indicates that groups are highly overlapping. The identity constructed (and constricted) by absolute exclusivity is fragile – and flies in the face of evidence. For example, the study of caste in India on the basis of genetics was initially expected to show significant divergences between different groups – considering that caste has been entrenched for at least two millenia. Interestingly, the study showed statistically insignificant differences between the so-called 'upper' and 'lower' castes' - evidence of considerable, and ongoing, miscegenation, by a variety of means [1].

Of course, today we believe that, since cultural evolution is faster than genetic evolution, it determines our future to a greater extent than genetic evolution does. Indubitably the culture you grow up in determines to a large extent the kind of occupation that you will end up in: goat-herder, politician or nuclear physicist. Your culture conditions your expectations and defines your opportunities.

With greater access all over the world to education, one may expect a widening of opportunities. However, the access provided by tools such as the internet may turn out to be illusory or non-existent for people on the wrong side of the digital divide. Also, some may be unable to access certain forms of knowledge because of their own cultural preconceptions: imagine a Taliban anthropologist, almost an oxymoron.

To return to Szegedi, he lived and defended a culture that he felt was under siege from inimical forces, much as the Taliban or Boko Haram fear Western 'contamination' and desire 'decontamination'. However, any culture that repudiates the influences of multiple others is inherently weak. The strongest is the culture that opens its arms to worldwide influences, assimilates and transmogrifies them. To a certain extent, the conservative tendency in a culture that insists on purity and exclusivness allows its identity to survive in a recognizable form. At the same time, no culture can remain static and that means that it must be open. Not completely open, perhaps, but at least partially open.

The irony does not end with Szegedi's quandary. The long-term future of Israel as a 'homeland for Jews' is in doubt, despite its overwhelming military and technological superiority. The problem the Jews face is the desire to acquire and retain as much of the 'Promised Land' as possible while denying Palestinians full citizenship, since they can never be bona fide Jews in a 'Jewish homeland'. Demographics mean that Israel will face a problem in remaining a 'Jewish democracy' in the longer term, even if in the short term they continue to out-maneuver the Palestinians and other Arabs.

But the question that Szegedi's story raises has an another implication. What is the difference between the Jews and the Arabs or Europeans? Some recent genetic studies by Harry Ostrer [2] indicate that both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews have common genetic markers, but these are traced back to the Levant, and that these are, in fact, shared with the much-reviled Palestinians. The Jews also have 30-60% non-Middle Eastern genetic markers. That is, Jews also have genes in common with Palestinians and non-Jewish Europeans [2,3]. Does it matter? Or is culture the primary determinant? In that case, an Arab or European child brought up by Jews would be Jewish? Why not?

The attempt by sociobiologists such as E.O.Wilson to explain human behaviour in terms of our evolutionary heritage were widely condemned as sexist, racist and elitist. Nevertheless, we desperately need to understand ourselves, our genes, our cultures, and what they mean for our future. Study of aboriginal tribes in Australia suggested that groups avoid inbreeding when intermarriage occurs at a level of about 7-10% [4] and that there is considerable genetic similarity across tribes.

Today, the metaphor of the 'melting pot' in America has been replaced by the 'salad bowl'. Xenophobia in Europe is undergoing a resurgence - like recurrent malaria - which it does whenever times are hard. The issues of identity are not, in an increasingly globalized world, going away any time soon. The idea of 'multiculturalism' is being touted by the British in the days of the Olympics, alongside ever stricter immigration controls: go figure! A country like Japan which is highly insular but rapidly aging will face a demographic crunch as surely as the Europeans, the problem in both cases being a birth rate that has dropped below the replacement rate.Will demographics and economics ultimately trump the distaste for outsiders, Auslanders?
Even if they do, who will convince Szegidi and Breivik?
  1. E.O.Wilson “Sociobiology: the new synthesis” Ch.27, p.11/31.
  2. Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People” (Oxford University Press) by Harry Ostrer
  3. “The Chosen Genes” by Josh Fischmann, http://chronicle.com/article/The-Chosen-Genes/131481/
  4. E.O.Wilson “Sociobiology: the new synthesis” Ch.27 p. 9/31.

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