I envision myself sitting there and meeting my biological family and they place a spread before me and before I can even make them understand and like me, they will see me hesitate at the food items and judge me. I don't like beans, both of my ethic cultures typically love beans. I don't like spicy food, both of my ethnic cultures like spicy food. See what I mean? What an absurd reason to not do something for fear of offending people that I might not ever meet.
In the chapter the author writes about culture shock and comfort and I don't know if I am prepared to experience culture shock and the level of emotion that might come with it. That there could be a level of "This should have been me" meeting up with "I am glad I am me" and that internal sadness that might rise up as I realize the difference between who I am and what I know is vast. However I might be depriving myself of an opportunity to be a "guest" and to learn. As much as my birth family doesn't know about me, I don't know about them and then it could be a shared opportunity to learn together. "Such learning permits one to join the culture every now and then as a participant."
page 169
page 169
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think about to what extent does our ethnicity place a role in our narrative? As you described you like different foods and can't imagine eating spicy foods. Hence, it makes me think about all the elements within peoples cultures that make them a certain culture. For example, an outside culture could conclude that American's love sports, but not all Americans love sports. Does this make them Un-American? How much variation do we allow before someone can no longer be apart of a certain culture and who decides that acceptance?
Obviously a lot of components make up a culture and I think that some components have more importance than others. First of all, I would say geographic location is very important when it comes to how an individual will be socialized. I grew up in Brainerd MN and there isn't a whole of diversity their. However, coming to the U has definitely shaped me into the person I have become. Thus, the university I chose has shaped me dramatically in being able to acknowledge and respect differences in culture. Being exposed to many different cultures and learning about them helps in being able to reflect on yourself and how you interact with other cultures. The main point is that they're many different cultures and until we are exposed to them it is difficult to fully understand them.