Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wrapping Up
When I began writing this blog, I wrote it with the purpose of showing that everyone all over the world, regardless of race, ethnicity, or cultural differences, are essentially the same. Underneath everything, we are all human, sharing basic needs such as family and friends, and desires, such as wanting to belong to a community. However, the more I remembered my experiences in Guatemala and the Guatemalan bakery and the more I reflected on the U.S. culture that I was used to in comparison to the Guatemalan culture that I knew, the more I realized just how different they really are. From differences in driving, to playing soccer (or fútbol), to social interaction, Guatemala and the U.S. as I know it can at times seem worlds apart. I did learn that both countries are in fact similar in how people can categorize one another as "others" based on phenotype and culture. This thought finally lead to me to realize that as we all have the capacity to be "others", we are all indeed different, due to our diverse races, ethnicities, heritages, and cultures. Perhaps true cross cultural experiences not only serve the purpose as showing us that deep down we are indeed similar but also that at the same time we are unique, that there are indeed differences among cultures and there exists a need to respect that diversity. So, in hind sight, being a gringo amongst Guatemalans has shown me that culture is to be seen through its own perspective from living within it in order to fully understand it, to understand culture as a whole, and to respect cultural differences which in the end confirm my initial theory: if we are all diverse, then we are not so different after all.
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(Hi, David!) I decided to comment on your blog because reading Silence on the Mountain inspired me to know more about Guatemala. Latin American countries and Japan do not have many things in common, so I guess I have little knowledge of Latin America; however, reading your blog enabled me to experience a bit of Guatemalan culture. You engaged in Guatemalan life and its culture as a participant observer, and I totally agree with how you wrote “studying and living are two different concepts,” and in order to fully understand a country, it must be “personally experienced.” This is exactly how I feel after coming to the States. In class, we first learned Schneider’s definition of cultural understanding (looking at culture as a play) that people need to understand stage, physical place, that human beings follow their stage direction. But as you said, how hard (and interesting at times) it is to just be on “the stage”…mere research within your own country does not really help.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you pointed out in the driving article that the social notions we think is “normal” here are just something that we take for granted. Social notions or common sense are what people define in the culture they belong to and actually very fragile across different countries. Your story of being labeled “a gringo” reminded me of how I felt confused when I first came to the States. When living in Japan, I had never been called “Japanese” since there are not that many minority groups, so I had never reflected on my Japanese identity. But after coming to the States, I became one of minority groups here, and often think about what kind of expectations people have toward me as a “Japanese” person. Based on my experience, I feel that social norms and stereotypes are closely attached to these categories or labels (language), which eventually lead me to ask myself, “Who am I anyways?” About your experience, even though you played football just as Guatemalans did, you can speak Spanish, and you tried to interact with people there without bias, you can be still called “gringo” and merely be a one of “white Americans.” It is a little sad but something that we have to face when being in foreign countries.
Overall, I think your attitude and willingness to fully absorb Guatemalan culture really helped you learn the culture through interacting with Guatemalans, even though you did experience culture shock there. I personally experienced a long, long time of identity confusion in the States, but I really like how you ended the gringo blog saying, “Yes, we were gringos, and we were proud of it.” I used to not be confident of belonging to a minority group, but now I feel being a minority is not always pessimistic because now I can see how minorities in Japan feel. Above all, as you concluded, we are all different, and we all have possibilities to be "minority" depending on where you go. Being Japanese does not mean I can understand all Japanese people. Having Japanese identity does not mean I can never be a good friend of Americans.
Most importantly, I want to thank you for making Guatemala no longer “space” but “a place” for me :) Good job!
I really enjoyed reading your blog. As a white suburban American, it is so easy to forget about the constant labels that minorities are subjected to so I think it was really interesting to hear about your own experiences being labeled. I also thought it was really fascinating to read about you fulfilling the stereotypical Hispanic roles in our society. My question for you is: what, if anything, did you learn about yourself and American culture through these experiences of being an outsider or “other?” Another thing that really stuck out to me was when you wrote about playing soccer in Guatemala and how the Guatemalans were much more individual skill focused while the “gringos” were more team oriented. It was strange to me because I always think of the US as being very individual oriented and stereotype other countries as being more team/family/community oriented. I loved how your blog really was about a cross-culture experience both in Guatemala and here in the bakery. Your last post was a beautiful summary of your experiences.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog, David! I think this blog is a wonderful reflection on your time in Guatemala, as well as your time in the U.S. at a Guatemalan bakery. This blog really helps show the three phases of orientation that we learned about in class. I especially liked reading about how you mannaged to reaggregate yourself not only into the Guatemalan culture, but then into the Guatemalan sub-culture of the bakery you worked at. I found your analysis of race and nationality really interesting, as well as the questions you raised about the woman who works at the bakery. This example really shows how race and nationality are culturally constructed ideas, and that an individual may be considered one race in one cultural context, but a completely different race in another cultural context. I think this blog greatly fulfilled the assignment requirements because you had a clear cross-cultural experience, and were able to clearly articulate what you learned from it, how it relates to other things in class, and how it has changed you as a person. Also, I appreciated your comparison of dealing with racial liminality in Guatemala to the stiuation of the ladinos in Silence on the Mountain. Great work, and thank you for sharing your cross-cultural experience!
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteEven-though i commented on your earlier blog, I couldn't help but to comment on this post as well. I absolutely love your conclusion. In terms of studying various different cultures throughout this Anthropology course, I have often wondered. If this class is so focused on telling us how different the world is, how do we unite? For example, we have learned various different cultural practices, which I absolutely love, however, upon thinking about unity within the world...I just couldn't put the two together. How do we come together due to all of our differences?!
It seems as though your blog easily answered this question that has been lingering on my mind for the past few weeks. By stating your theory, "....my initial theory: if we are all diverse, then we are not so different after all." I have been able to answer my question, thanks to you! I definitely will apply this theory when further learning about other cultures.
Again, GREAT BLOG DAVE!
Adios Amigo!
-Rasheeda