GEOG 210 Research Project

The picture above is of the CAA in Brampton. Currently it is an empty field but many people will come here to play cricket or play Kabadi. The natural landscape is very green and there is a decent amount of parking space around the field.

Picture E

The last picture I took was of a restaurant at the night-time. It was filled with very Indian cuisine.

Synopsis

I would like to talk about the city Brampton which is known to be inhabited by an Indian community in the GTA. This would be a perfect opportunity to talk about geography and how the culture from India came into Brampton. How the world is a lot more globalized being able to see Indian stores, food and religion in Canada. I would also like to discuss how the people in Brampton’s identity came with coming from India. It is interesting to see how Canada being very Mosaic has been able to integrate all three of these factors into the geography itself. I will be able to discuss mobility and migration as well to further analysis reasons why Canada is such a great place to live in and why people decide to live there.

Brampton: (The India in Ontario)

Thesis and Introduction

Centuries ago before Brampton is the nice town it is now, European Settlers began arriving and it was in 1853 Brampton was incorporated as a village. In 1974, it became deemed a city but looking back, Brampton is definitely not what it used to be … one won’t go there and see a lot of Europeans living there. At the present, if one goes there they will see a predominantly Indian ethnicity and many actually call it Little India (Brampton, n.d). It’s amazing to see how much more the globalized the world has become, how a little European told came to be a predominantly Indian city, where people identify as Indian and share Indian culture. Brampton has brought back the culture of India through globalization and people’s identity and in this paper it will be illustrated through pictures from my excursion and other sources. 

Methods

The methods I used to gather information was through doing research online prior to going to Brampton to take pictures because I am unfamiliar with the city. Through doing the research I was a lot more educated about both Indian culture and the culture in Brampton which turn out to be very similar … whether talking about religion, ethnicity and other factors. Learning about their religion’s I am able to pick out certain temples to get a good picture. Furthermore, by learning about the culture I come to learn about the foods, the clothes, history of India and why they migrated into Canada. This is how I came up with the ideas of what I would like to take pictures of and why. Within this report it details the comparison of a flea market in Brampton, the clothing that people wear in Brampton, the sports they play in Brampton, the food eaten and a Temple in Brampton.

The method mainly used was photography. High quality photographs can be taken of the objects, events, and people observed during a field study. Photographs can help capture an important moment in time as well as document details about the space where your observation takes place. This will be very important to help in the description illustrating the similarities between Brampton and India.

Identity

In India the major determinants of social and political organization in India today are: Religion, Caste, and Language. The languages they speak such as Hindi and population of India. About 80% of the population is Hindu; India is the home of more than 138 million Muslims, the third largest Muslim population in the world (Richlandcollege, n.d). The question that arises is then how is this seen in Brampton? Well, in Brampton 35.5% of recent immigrants were born in India and 73.3 % of Brampton’s population are visible minorities (Statistics Canada, 2017). This means if one goes to Brampton one can visibly see there is a strong amount of Indians in Brampton.

Additionally, from the image to the left 50.8% of visible minorities originate from South Asian descent, India (Statistics Canada, 2017). These factors all demonstrate that the identity of the people living in Brampton mostly originate from India.

Another way the Identity of India has entered in Brampton is through the clothes people wear. In India, people can be seen wearing dhoti, lungi, Sherwin’s and kurta pajamas. Women also typically wear saris and many men wear turbans (Bresino, 2011). In an article by Wenderski, she talks about why those in the GTA call the city Brampton “Browntown”. Other names are also Bramladesh, Bramestan, Bramptladesh, Little India, Bollywood North, Singh City and Singhdale. She talks about how everywhere one goes in Brampton they will see groups of women wearing traditional saris, and/or salwar kamiz. Men in colorful dhotis, or kurtas. These are the garments usually worn in India by men and woman and its interesting to see and read how Wenderski paints a picture of India in Brampton (Wenderski, 2017). Evindently, it is illustrated that people in Brampton and India wear the exact type of clothes and can be visibly seen when walking through Brampton.

Globalization

The world day-to-day is becoming a lot more globalized. Not only are the people in Brampton able to buy their native clothing from India but they are able to buy and make the same foods. From the field excursions picture’s C and E of Jagjit Textiles and of the restaurant King Tandoori one is able to highlight the similarities it has to India. Jagjit Texiles sells kurta, sherwins, dhoti, lungis and many more clothing from India which was explained above.

On the other hand, globalization has made is a lot more easy for people to Brampton to experience their favourite foods from India. From the menu of King Tandoori, one see’s the restaurant in Brampton sells curry, vegetarian curries, tandoori and many more Indian cuisine. The traditional food of India has been widely appreciated for its fabulous use of herbs and spices. Indian cuisine is known for its large assortment of dishes. The cooking style varies from region to region and is largely divided into South Indian & North Indian cuisine. India is quite famous for its diverse multi cuisine available in a large number of restaurants and hotel resorts, which is reminiscent of unity in diversity. The staple food in India includes wheat, rice and pulses with chana (CulturalIndia, n.d). All the examples of the menu from King Tandoori largely represent traditional dishes in India and are a great example of how the world has become a lot more globalized.

Culture

Within Brampton, there are many aspects that correspond to the culture in India such as vegetarianism, sports and temples. Temple’s in Brampton such as the Gurdwara Nanaksar demonstrate a culture derived from India. This Gurdwara is located in the heart of residential subdivisions of Cities of Brampton and Mississauga. In fact after the Gurdwara is built, a lot of Sangat belonging to this institution moved close to the Gurdwara. A lot of Sangat come to this Gurdwara in the morning and evening services. Pooranmashi is celebrated at this Gurdwara every month which is a celebration of many Hindu people (Gurdwara, n.d). India is home to 94% of the worlds Hindu’s therefore it is quite evident why there are many temples in Brampton such as the Gurdwara Nanaksar which celebrate these Hindu festivities and religious practices (Mujumdar, 2018).

Vegetarianism culture is also very prominent in Brampton. There is even a celebration called the Rath Yura. The festival is celebrated all around the world in over 100 countries and 500 cities which breaks the geographical and cultural boundaries and demonstrates the universality of spiritual love. Practices that originated from India such as a vegetarian feast, yoga, face painting, dance and music performances will follow a chariot ceremony which is a Hindu ceremony. During the pulling of the chariot they pull a wooden chariot decked in flowers and holding three Hindu deities. The procession will wind its way through the park with people singing, chanting and dancing to the beats of drums and cymbals. I believe this celebration is a great indication of how Indian culture is spread around the world and specifically in Brampton where this huge festival is celebrated (Music, dance and vegetarian fare part of festival of india in Brampton, 2016). India has the biggest vegetarianism culture around the world with 38% of the population being vegetarians. Evidently, this festival which is celebrated in Brampton is related to the big vegetarian culture brought from the Indian people to Brampton.

Lastly, is the sports played in Brampton which originate from India. Kabaddi is a popular, easy-to-learn team contact sport with its roots in the millennia-old history of ancient India and South Asia (User, n.d). The basic rules of Kabaddi are simple: two teams of seven players each face off in a large square arena for two halves of twenty minutes each. Players from each team take turns running across the center line to the other team's half of the court, tagging members of the other team, and running back. The more opposing team members they tag, the more points they score, but if the opposing team can physically prevent them from crossing back to their side of the court, they score no points (Wikihow, 2019). The sport that comes to mind also would be cricket but because many people already know what cricket is, the fact Kabaddi is played in Brampton really demonstrates how the culture of India has grown into Brampton. Since 2014, Brampton finally opened the Metro Punabi Sports Club where people now have a specific place to play Kabbadi. Clearly, there is love for the sport if Brampton is investing its resources into making an arena for a sport where the origins are essentially only played in India.

Conclusion

Throughout this report, it has been seen that Brampton is like a miniature India. Whether it is through the fact most of the immigrants, the clothes, the food sports and temples are from Southern-Asia … Brampton has become a hub for Indians and many other diverse ethnicities to gather and enjoy a taste of India.

Bibliography

Brampton. (n.d.). City of Brampton. Retrieved from https://www.brampton.ca/EN/Arts-Culture-Tourism/Tourism-Brampton/Visitors/Pages/BramptonHistory.aspx

Briseno, T. (2011, July 25). How Indian Traditions Work. Retrieved from https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/national-traditions/indian-tradition2.htm

CulturalIndia. (n.d.). Indian Food. Retrieved from https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-food/

Juzenas, F. (2014, June 12). Kabaddi stadium comes to Brampton. Retrieved from https://www.bramptonguardian.com/community-story/4575499-kabaddi-stadium-comes-to-brampton/

Richlandcollege. Indian Society and Culture. Retrieved from https://www.richlandcollege.edu/cd/instruct-divisions/rlc/business/documents/indian-society-culture.pdf

Gurdwara. (n.d.). Gurdwara Nanaksar. Retrieved from http://gurdwarananaksar.org/english/brampton_e.html

wikiHow. (2019, August 26). How to Play Kabaddi. Retrieved from https://m.wikihow.com/Play-Kabaddi

Mujumdar, S. (2018, June 29). 5 facts about religion in India. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/29/5-facts-about-religion-in-india/

Music, dance and vegetarian fare part of festival of india in brampton. (2016, Jul 26). The Brampton Guardian Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.libraryservices.yorkvilleu.ca/docview/1806995671?accountid=142373

Statistics Canada. (2017, October). 2016 Census Bulletin Immigration and Ethnic Diversity. Retrieved from https://www.peelregion.ca/planning-maps/CensusBulletins/2016-immigration-ethnic-diversity.pdf

Wenderski, M. (2017, April 16). Why Do We Call Brampton "Browntown"? Retrieved from https://peelurbanscapes.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/why-do-we-call-brampton-browntown/

User, S. (n.d.). History of Kabaddi. Retrieved from http://www.indiankabaddi.org/history-of-kabaddi