Name of Institute

One Hundred Percent Pakistani and American

Name of Student

Name of Professor:

Name of Course:

Submission Date:

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 Essay

National identity is defined as a sense of a nation as a cohesive whole and there are

several factors contributing to the national identity including culture, tradition and language.

It is also referred to as a person's sense of belonging to a country or a nation. The national

identity is also referred by some individuals as pure identity in which they assume that their

culture and traditions are not borrowed from any particular nation, tribe or some foreign

entity[ CITATION Lin37 \l 1033 ]. The essay written by Ralph Linton presents a different

perspective, as he states that diffusion of ideas, exchange of material objects and a pattern of

behaviours is always a two-way exchange between two different societies. The example of

American nationals has been quoted by Ralph in this context of pure national identity and he

is of a view that every trait, habit, custom, tradition, ritual and activity of the life is influence

by some foreign culture[ CITATION Lin37 \l 1033 ].

The particular examples of American life influenced by foreign culture has been

illustrated in the article by Ralph. The clothes which are used by American citizen are made

from a garment of Indian origin[ CITATION Lin37 \l 1033 ]. The furniture in their use is built in

Asia minor or Persia. Even the methods of transformation of raw materials into finished

goods (clothes and furniture) were developed in South-western Asia. Even the American

breakfast is influenced by the foreign culture as the coffee is accompanied by an orange

which is produced in the Mediterranean region. The grapes which are used by them also

belong to Asia Minor[ CITATION Lin37 \l 1033 ]. The train which is being used for commuting

purposes by American people is a British invention. Hence, the American culture is heavily

influenced by the cultures of other parts of the world which leads to the hypothesis that there

is no pure culture at all and if there is no pure culture how a national identity can be 100%

pure[ CITATION Lin37 \l 1033 ].

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 In addition to it, if a comparison is made of the American Identity and that of the

Pakistani Identity, several similarities on account of “pure national identity” can be found.

Pakistani people are proud of their “national identity” and they also have a strong belief on

this identity on the basis of religion[ CITATION Maj14 \l 1033 ]. Hence, according to the “Two-

Nation Theory” which is considered as the basis of the creation of Pakistan, Muslims and

Hindus are two separate nations in the context of religion, customs, social norms and moral

point of view. The two-nation theory provides a basis to the Pakistani identity that the

Muslims of the country want to spend their lives according to the code of conduct devised by

Islam in a separate homeland but there is a different perspective as well – the Pakistani

identity is also not 100% pure. It has been already explained with reference to the American

context that how American culture is being influenced by the culture of other countries, the

same thing is applicable for Pakistani culture[ CITATION Ver01 \l 1033 ]. People of Pakistan use

several products which are produced by the Western countries and examples can be quoted of

the language “Urdu” which is a composition of Persian and Arabic language. Some words of

Urdu are also borrowed from the Sanskrit. Pakistani cuisine is also influenced by Afghanistan

and India cuisine[ CITATION Maj14 \l 1033 ]. The gadgets (cell phones, laptops, machinery etc.)

are all produced by Western Countries and used by Pakistani people. Moreover, the official

language of Pakistan is Urdu but English has the same level of importance as it is used in

offices and as a medium of teaching in schools, colleges and universities. Hence, to say that

the Pakistani identity is pure in the given context will be of abstract nature as every part of

the routine of Pakistani nation is influenced by some foreign entity or culture[ CITATION

Ver01 \l 1033 ].

Hence, from the above discussion, I am in a position to conclude that the hypothesis

of 100% Pakistani Identity may not hold valid under the given circumstances. Pakistani

people and their lifestyle is heavily influenced by their neighbour countries and even by the

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countries at a greater distance. So, one needs to clarify that what is meant by "national

identity" for him and based on that definition, he will be in a better position to determine that

whether the identity is pure or not. The need for cultural harmony is always there and it will

help people to understand each other's culture and increase the cross-cultural diversity in this

regard.

References

Linton, Ralph. One hundred per cent American. 1937.

Majid, Abdul, Abdul Hamid, and Zahida Habib. "Genesis of the Two Nations Theory and the

Quaid-e-Azam." Pakistan Vision (2014).

Verma, Anand. "Reassessing Pakistan: Role of the two-nation theory." Lancer Publishers

(2001).