To Be American

A few weeks ago in one of my classes, I asked students to write about this question: "What does it mean to be Japanese?" As I was reading over all of the responses, I started to wonder what my own answer would be if I was asked to describe what it means to be American. Fully aware of the complexity of the question even before I posed it to students, I decided to tackle it as well and see what I was able to come up with. While I never arrived at a satisfactory answer, I did reflect on a few things that I have learned over the last few years.


It is worth mentioning that a lot of my perception of my own national identity has been shaped by the experiences that I have had outside of the United States. In other words, it's a lot easier to describe who you are after you begin to learn how you are different from others. I have come to believe that the most culturally informative experiences can only happen when you immerse yourself in something unfamiliar. Granted, not all differences are easy to notice right away, but over time, for example, it is possible to see unique characteristics of people who identify themselves as "American."


I was first introduced to this concept between my sophomore and junior years of university by a professor who was conducting my orientation before I was to go and spend a summer in Rome. "Remember," he said, "that when you stay in another country you have to reconsider your sense of right and wrong. Not all people have the same perceptions as you." Although I would amend my professor's counsel by saying it was my sense of what is "fair" and "unfair" that was ultimately put into question, rather than my sense of right and wrong, after arriving in Italy I quickly came to an understanding of exactly what he intended to teach us. Throughout the entire time that I stayed in Rome, I was frequently confronted with situations or observations that frustrated me. I found myself thinking, "I wouldn't have done it that way" or "they shouldn't be allowed to do that," but would then realize that it was my own cultural background that had formed the basis for those judgments, and I couldn't rely solely on those any longer if I wished to reach a deeper understanding of someone else's culture or society.


Additionally, most of us are aware--to a certain extent--of stereotypical notions that are held by foreign cultures regarding our own home countries. We also know that, while there can be elements of truth to them, they are frequently erroneous or at the very least based upon unilateral thinking. When I ask non-Americans what qualities they ascribe to Americans, I often get answers like aggressive, loud, opinionated, independent, overweight, and culturally uninformed. When I am in a foreign country, I find it fascinating to observe other Americans in that same foreign environment in order to see if I can identify why we have been given certain labels. It is the best way I know of to see my culture through someone else's eyes, and has helped me to form a clearer picture of why we Americans leave certain impressions in the minds of others.


When visiting or living in other countries, I have also found that I am more contemplative when it comes to differentiating between my own personal identity and my national identity. I must admit that this is one of the obstacles that prevents me from arriving at a sufficient description of those qualities which are uniquely American; I often can't distinguish those qualities of myself that are mine as an individual from those aspects of my character that are the result of spending my formative years in the United States. In other words, where do I stop being "American" and start being "Melanie" (and vice versa)?


While I do not profess to have even the smallest beginning of an answer to that question, my time in Japan has given me several opportunities to increase my self-awareness. In the end, for me anyway, it might not be worth a whole lot more of my time to focus on untangling the knotted-up characteristics and behaviors that I observe in myself and in others. I think I'll just have to be hopeful that whatever I do learn about my identity through the process will help me to become a better person.


▼▽▼▼【講師】Melanie先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【I heart 稲荷寿司...but not much else.】2009.04.24 (Fri)