The last couple of days in Nairobi is strangely funny (funnily strange) to me. I am not sure how to put my thoughts down in words, and if I should even post this entry on my blog. This might not be coherent, because the thoughts are still forming in my head.
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I had wanted to type this entry, primarily to sort out endless wondering in circles in my mind; about the way I was behaving in Kenya. I feel like I am at cultural crossroads and it is stifling. The surrounding environment and the way of speech and living of Kenyans is very similar to what I have been taught during my childhood, and yet, these have been slowly eroded, or replaced by what I have become accustomed to, during my 10 years in Singappore, or the last two at Carleton. And here in Kenya, with the group of 21 other American students, and a Kenyan host family, I find myself in the whirlwind of a cultural confusion.
Having lived in many places, I feel like I could juggle between the differences, and reason out certain behaviours, and adapt myself to any group, but instead, I feel responsible for having the knowledge about the difference but not knowing how to act. There are many instances, but if it would make it clearer to you, in what I am trying to say, here is an example:
Kenyans, like the Burmese have a culture of sharing. It is rude when you are eating something in the presence of someone you know and not share it. And that was the way I had grown up. But this is not a culture for the Americans/Europeans. This summer, I tried not think deeper into why a colleague just ate the snack she had, while myself and another watched. I tried to keep what I have to myself and I felt strangely uncomfortable. Now, at home, my host mother talked about how rude a boy was, for not offering the chips he was eating, while some of my classmates commented on how "sharing" I was with people. (I am not sure if they thought I was weird). There were many incidences such as these, be it in speech, behaviour or thought process of Americans vs Kenyans vs what I have learnt in Burma vs Singapore vs Carleton... it is confusion. You get the picture? I think I am confusing you enough.
I was going to try to reason those out but instead, I endeded up writing the entry on my childhood and the living conditions in Kenya, and decided that there were many other things that I should be thinknig about; that I should be thankful for being able to come here and study amongst these people, be they Americans or Kenyans; that cultral difference may not even matter, if I am not being over sensitive and try to reason out this confusion; that allowing these thoughts to run in circles in my mind is just a waste of time. There are many other things that I could be doing or putting my thought energies into-- won't you agree?
Please write down your thoughts/comments/advice; I would love to hear what you think.
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I don't think thinking about those sorts of things is a waste of time at all- in fact, I think that those "cultural differences" you're talking about are exactly why it's so important to study abroad and meet as many people from different backgrounds as possible. It's because we come to understand (or if not understand, at least be aware of these differences) that we can cooperate with others on a larger scale. Although I'm not saying that we could have world peace if we understood cultures of sharing, it'd at least be a start...
ReplyDeleteI've also been having similar struggles with cultural etiquette in India. There aren't really words, I'm told, for "please" and "thank you"- you just ask for what you want and you take it. This was an adjustment, because in America (esp. the Midwest) these little social nicieties mean a lot- they're what people judge you by. At first, I tried to stifle them in an effort to blend in if only a little more. Then I realized that that's just part of who I am/my cultural baggage. I AM an American, so why shouldn't I act like one?
Hopefully your thoughts will clear the more you think about it!
The more I travel, the more I think that different cultural things (like the please and thank you stuff Julie was talking about, you get sidelong glances from shopkeepers if you thank them for selling you something), the more I realize qualitative analysis is regressive in promoting cultural understanding. It is more useful just to understand the practice for what it is than to worry about whether or not it should be adopted across the globe.
ReplyDeleteThat said, don't ask me about latent sexism or its ilk. It's a valid counterexample, but you were only talking about smaller things, so my thoughts only pertain to those things as well :-)
Keep up the adventure!