The Dialogue on Humiliation

by Sultan H. Somjee, September 2004

I give workshops on dialogue in which I attempt to show how we tend to undermine peopel different from ourselves because of our own ignorance. I select subjects that are commonly downgraded by mainstream society and media.  See Workshop on Dialogue and Diversity across Cultures.

My approach is through ethnography. One way to begin the dialogue on humiliation would be to learn and understand as much as we can how human dignity and humiliation are articulated as social experiences at community levels among different cultures.

For example among the Swahili communities of East Africa, humiliation is thought of in terms of breaking relationships. In the Swahili thesaurus one word refers to "pain" under humiliation. Other meanings of humiliation have social contexts such as to "break respect," "lower the status," "spoil the name" and "create embarrassment." Culturally it is understood that humiliation affects the respect/dignity of the individual as well as of the family, society or a group.