Does some knowledge belong only to particular communities of knowers?

Object #1: Yoga Mat

A yoga mat is a basic mat with a specialised fabrication that is used to prevent hands and feet slipping around during yoga practice. Yoga is a very old Hindu spiritual practice that includes breath control, simple meditation and the adoption of specific bodily postures and is widely practiced for health and relaxation. Yoga was developed in Northern India over 5000 years ago and is even mentioned in many of the old ancient scripts. When relating this back to my TOK prompt, Does some knowledge belong only to particular communities of knowers?, Yoga is a perfect example as for thousands of years, Yoga has belonged to the Hindu community and was a very unknown topic. However, the mat really became popular in the 1980s. This was when the knowledge of yoga had started to spread and had become popular in the western world. It only became popular later on because that was when travelling started to become a much more common practice between people in the western world. Travelling to places in India allowed westerners to gain that knowledge as the Hindu community shared it with them. Nowadays, yoga is one of the most practiced exercise in the Western World as people have realised the importance and the impact that yoga can have on their everyday lives. I chose the yoga mat as my object because it has a close connection to the relationship I have with my grandparents. Since I was young, I would always sit with my grandmother and she would teach me some breathing exercises. Yoga is something that represents lots of knowledge as its ways and techniques are past down from decades.  A simple thing such as a yoga mat has helped to spread knowledge all over the world for people to leave peaceful lives.

 

Object #2: Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka masala is a common well-known dish that originated in India. Although it originated in India, Chicken Tikka masala is UK’s national dish and some even trace the origins of the dish to the South Asian community(basically Indian community) in Britain. Many people, especially Indians, were confused rather than outraged when they found out that Chicken Tikka masala was being identified as UK’s national dish although it evidently was from India. After all, the definition of a national dish is a culinary dish that is strongly associated with a particular country. When people think of popular British foods, they usually consider the stereotypes such as Fish & Chips or Trifles. This object relates to my TOK question, Does some knowledge belong only to particular communities of knowers? as it is a perfect example of communities feelings of entitlement to an object they consider as their own. When the British colonised India, locals probably had more to worry about than sharing a few recipes with them. Before they could realise, their recipe was now the new national dish of the UK. Personally, I don’t think that the UK’s national dish should be Chicken Tikka Masala as it doesn’t make much sense. Not only can it cause conflict, but it also causes confusion and leads people to not know where the dish is originally from. If they credited India for the dish then they would be entitled to this knowledge too but they don’t. It would be easier if they chose a dish such as Fish & Chips to just avoid conflict and confusion.