Cultural Sensitivity in Meera Syal’s "Anita and Me"

Abstract

The world becomes a global village. Every nation is like an island. In the past, people did not require to communicate with people of other cultures like nowadays. They travel from their own countries to other countries for employment, business, tourism, etc. They need to communicate with people from various cultures. So, they have to be aware of the fact that cultures differ in several ways. A practice that is considered to be acceptable and respectful in one culture and it may not be considered so in another culture.

Literature represents the aspects of the culture and its origin. It can be used as a rich resource to develop an ability to communicate appropriately in alien cultural settings. Culture is like gravity. People do not experience it if they leap into the air. It jolts them out of their complacency when they are uprooted from their own environment and planted into another, either temporarily or permanently. It is attached with them from womb to tomb. Though, they can assimilate themselves into their adopted culture to some extent, their own culture stays with them permanently. It follows them like their own shadow.