Language Loss and Negligence
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Mo Muse's Friday is an impactful piece of work that stands against the Islamophobic acts that have unfortunately become so prevalent in today's society. This alienation that is imposed on anyone who looks, speaks or acts differently severely harms regular experiences for those people. Lines such as "Friday is the only day we feel we belong" exemplify that communal events such as Friday prayer give these people a sense of otherwise non-existent belonging. This is furthered by lines like "every dirty look given to a woman with Hijab," which highlight the subtle and continuous microaggressions that are rampant in the daily lives of Muslims. My biggest takeaway from this, however, was towards the end of the song when Muse references how normalized these attacks have begun, that the public is desensitized to the more significant issues at hand — "We had to wait, 51 janaazah services to surface, just to have a debate, about whether there's hate". Even after countless acts of violence against Muslims across the world, there exists a reluctance to face this issue, downplaying the severity of Islamophobia in the West.
Mohabir's Antiman dives into the emotional and cultural effects of language loss and cultural negligence. Throughout these chapters, Rajiv and his father are relentlessly at odds about their approach to heritage. Like many first- and second-generation immigrants, Rajiv's father falls victim to the pressure to assimilate into Western society. I found the language aspect interesting. When Rajiv shows interest in Hindi, his father is dismissive, noting it as an impractical language compared to Hebrew or Greek. Not only is this done with the intention of keeping Rajiv from exploring his roots, but it also instills a sense of cultural inferiority where assimilation seems reasonable while connecting with one's own culture is backward and unproductive. Rajiv actively shows opposition to his father's point of view, making conscious efforts to learn as much as he can from Aji, who teaches him Bhojpuri and various songs.
His desire to connect with language and culture is not free of external hampers either as he attempts to learn Hindi, and when telling his teacher about his lack of knowledge, his teacher says he is "not a real Indian." This is particularly important as it shows the deep connection and intertwining between a heritage and its native language. When I went to Pakistan in Grade 6, I was confronted with a similar linguistic issue as I spoke perfect English, but when put in a classroom with all Pakistani kids, the only relevant part of my identity became my broken Urdu. So, even within my own country amongst my people, I was still an outsider. The intentions behind this trip to Pakistan were to deepen cultural connection, and it became evident that to do so, there would need to be an improvement in my communication. As for Rajiv, his pursuit of language became a means for him to "connect with [his] Indianness."
The most interesting aspect of Australianama was Khatun's examination of marriage, particularly Mahar. Khatun uses the story of Adelaide Khan and her dual engagement as a means to open discussion regarding the intersection of South Asian and Australian marriage practices. The term attributed to these marriages was "brideprice," portraying concepts like Mahar as transactional and women as commodities. On the contrary, Khatun continues to develop on Mahar, identifying it as a key concept in Islamic judicial tradition, which extends far beyond just attaching a price to a bride. By highlighting this distinction, Khatun is emphasizing additional disconnects that exist between common beliefs and actualities of religions like Islam, a theme that occurs consistently throughout the text as well as Muse's Friday.