So a part of being in the Peace Corps is sharing American (U.S.) culture with people from your host country. Some people take this idea and do fun events with it - diversity fairs and American-style celebrations of holidays and things. From what I understand those things are usually pretty fun and well received, and I have tried (and failed) to host one of those types of events, but I like to think that I do the majority of my culture sharing through conversation and showing what I am like. This becomes easier and easier the more time I spend here, because I speak the language better and know more people.
Lately, though, I've started to wonder if I do accurately represent the culture of the U.S. I mean I am obviously American, and I share viewpoints with some people back there, but at the same time, I am often considered quite different from others back there too. For the most basic example, I have spent quite a lot of time explaining to people that no, the average U.S. male is not 2 meters tall. I also have conversations about how I think women should be treated, respecting homosexuality, and a few other topics about which I feel like I have different views than many people in the U.S. I walk around humming non-stop, and find myself sometimes singing out-loud when I'm not paying attention. I'm not obese (I keep getting these crazy news stories about U.S. obesity, it's kind of getting out of control, huh?) and my voice is way lower than most people's, and I am a bleeding-heart liberal (at least I think I am, I could be wrong about what that entails these days).
Now obviously no one person can be a good representative of the entire U.S. population because we are so crazy-diverse (meaning diverse in our levels of crazy as well as very diverse). Bearing that in mind I guess I shouldn't have any concerns about my misrepresenting the average American (especially because I've been trying to throw in disclaimers as often as I can these days that say that I am not a normal American). I think one of the things we can't account for is that the typical Peace Corps volunteer is not an accurate sampling of the typical American citizen (at least not in my experience). Does the average American choose to leave their family and friends for two years to go live in a poor country doing whatever job the government assigns them? No. So then it's not my fault that I'm weird and supposed to represent the U.S., it's just part of being a Peace Corps Volunteer. Still, though, I'll continue with my disclaimers to people I get to know letting them know that if they ever get the chance to go the U.S. (hopefully legally) they will probably find a good number of people who are nothing like me there. That's good, though, I wouldn't want to freak them out with a country of skinny blonde giants.
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You know, I totally understand what you're getting at here. And no, you might not represent the majority of the United States' population, but like you said... There is no one who really represents the majority of our population. We are a country of diverse people, in every way from appearance to world view.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I do not necessarily think that is a bad thing. I would hold that you represent some of the better traits that many people from the United States display. I may be biased, but I think that your world view and how you go about making decisions is not only educated, but also good. And good in the sense that you believe people are inherently good. So arguably, you personally show other people of the world a good side of the United States and our population.
I think that the preconceptions that foreigners have the United States are usually accurate of the worst of us, and it's nice to be able to show people that we are so much more than that. The same goes for so many other cultures as well, we only see those that choose to travel and generally travelers are more open, nicer, and younger than the general public (and therefore usually more liberal) than their counterparts who stay home.
Um Abraço a todos da Guatemala!!!
ReplyDelete(Sou do Brasil)