Offering channels for participation

There is an activity called the Spectrum Game. In this game, participants line up one behind the other – the middle line where they start is called “No mans land.” Then to their right is “Strongly agree” and to their left is “strongly disagree.” The participants are asked a series of questions to which they are supposed to move anywhere between the poles of strongly agree and strongly disagree. The only place they are not allowed to stand is in “No mans land.” They are then invited to share why they moved to the position they did.

The question I asked was “I can confidently communicate in my native language” – after a short pause most participants moved towards their left – towards strongly disagree. One participant moved to the right strongly agree.

When asked why he said “English is my native language.”

Its very instinctive to have an immediate reaction to that. Some people will place him in a particular box to say how he hasn’t been taught his native language and will see it as a ‘problem that needs to be fixed.’ (His grasp of Gujarati was actually pretty strong.)

This was during a programme in which he had come to India to explore the social development sector and through the process reflect on his identity and relationship with India. He was curious to find out more about India and his relationship with India, he wanted India to play a role in his life and yet his perception of his native language was not consistent this.

It demonstrated to me that given the opportunity, there is a generation growing up that is curious to understand themselves more deeply. That if we can inspire their interests it will have a knock on effect to culture, expressed through language, arts, dance, music, philosophy, etc.

The challenge is often the way these cultural practices is presented to them. That they don’t see the relevance in who they are as a young person growing up in Britain. Tools like language are often taught in a void where the application is simply to gain a GCSE early. When we create tangible opportunities, we give people an opportunity to experiment for themselves what they value and to what extent. The rest they will do for themselves.