My group has not necessarily experienced cultural frustrations here in the United States; rather, it would be more applicable to label it as cultural confusion. The biggest source of confusion that resonated within the cafes I host is the notion of political correctness. For instance, one of the members in my chat cafe was very confused about why it would be bad to dress up as an Indian or Hispanic for Halloween. To him, he saw the act as paying homage to such cultures, that one would go through such time and effort to replicate and mimic the demeanor and appearances of other cultures. He almost saw it as a form of reverence, if not respect, towards said cultures, and did not understand how one could take such actions as being insulting in nature. To this, I explained to him how it may be considered offensive, playing off of stereotypes and arguably degrading the culture of whomever one is dressing as. He responded by saying he could simply retaliate by doing the same thing.
I feel as though this is one of the greater challenges that international students face here: determining the extent to which one should be politically correct, if at all. That is not to say that international students are disrespectful of other people and their respective cultures. Rather, it means that they are unsure as to how others will perceive their actions, even if they believe that such acts are harmless in nature. They seem to not take great offense towards others making ethnic and racial claims about their own culture, something that is strikingly different in this country. After all, there is no direct physical harm being done. If they are offended, then they feel like they can simply return the favor by performing the same action: an eye for an eye, so to speak.
In turn, it has been difficult for me to try and provide an explanation that is fair to both sides of the argument. On one hand, I could most certainly stress the importance of being politically correct in the United States, about how it would greatly offend others if one attempts to mimic their culture. However, this could be seen as being contradicted by television programs like South Park and Family Guy that regularly display somewhat offensive material. In addition, this is not necessarily representative of the country as a whole: there are many individuals who do not adopt the politically correct culture, and actively opposing it. Yet, I do not want to propagate the notion that this is deemed as acceptable within the United States. There are equally as many people who would respond negatively to acts of cultural imitation, and could lead to severe consequences. The best I could do was explain how others could react to such actions, and how it could subsequently impact them down the road. However, I feel like my solution is not necessarily the best one, and that Sweetland and/or the University as a whole could offer a method to explain this phenomenon to international students in a far more nuanced and pronounced manner.
Robert,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really fascinating post that I feel touches on some of the challenges we've faced as Chat Cafe facilitators. Although we haven't talked about political correctness itself, my group has also discussed issues of politics, race, and gender in our discussions, and it has been difficult for me to determine what role I should play in these conversations. On the one hand, I feel it would be wrong for me to impose my own beliefs and values on our conversations, both because they are not necessarily representative of American ideals in general (and I think, for better or for worse, group members often look to us as ambassadors of the US--at least that's been my experience) and because I don't want to come across as discounting their views and contributions. On the other hand, though, when I don't say anything, it seems like my group can sense that I'm holding back, and I don't want them to feel isolated or offended by that either. I often end up getting caught somewhere in the middle, contributing to discussions when prompted by a group member but then qualifying my comments as not necessarily being what all Americans think. But then, at the same time, I kind of feel guilty for doing that, because there are certain things that I think I should say--like, for example, that the bigoted rhetoric coming from Donald Trump is something that absolutely should not be imitated in our group (not that anyone has done so, thank God). Two sessions ago, our group had a discussion about the election, and I was forthcoming about whom I voted for and my feelings following the result. The only two members of my group who came to that session did not share my view. We ended up having a really great discussion that I think was worthwhile for both them and me, but it was extremely difficult to determine how to talk about such a contentious, raw topic.
Anyhow, this was a bit of a rambling comment, but thank you for starting a conversation about something I'm sure many of us have struggled with over the semester.
Hey Rob,
ReplyDeleteI feel that there are many similarities between your group and mine. Reading through your post I couldn't help but notice the similarities. I agree with you that my group isn't frustrated just confused. A lot of my group members were also very curious about political correctness. I can sympathize with you trying to play the role of a liaison between different cultural correctness. One thing I noticed with my group was at the beginning there were all very weary of saying something that might offend me. For example, I once asked my group if they think Americans are fake nice and not a single person replied. however, as the sessions developed my members felt comfortable displaying their viewpoints. One of my members was asking why everyone hated trump, she thought he was a truthfully person and reminded her of leadership in China. This surprised me because I thought that international students would abhor trump because of his xenophobic rhetoric.
I enjoyed reading your post. I think its interesting that we have noticed the same type of behavior. I wonder if your participant asking about Halloween costumes is from the same part of the world as the member who liked trump in my group. Do you think there is a cultural difference in sensitivity around the world?