Flip the Script
ADED 6590
Multicultural Issues in Education
November 30, 2014
According to Kottak and Kozaitis (2012), culture is “a way of life – traditions and customs – transmitted through learning, which play a vital role in molding beliefs and behavior of the people exposed to them” (p. 11). Through enculturation, children learn traditions by growing up in a society or nation; our culture is shaped as children and develops through adulthood. Kottak and Kozaitis go on to discuss that culture includes how we do things, how we make sense of the world, what is right or wrong and produces consistencies in behavior and thought among those who are a part of the culture. In the abstract, it should be easy to return to the culture you were raised in; return to your “roots”. However, upon my return to my hometown and the culture of my childhood, I have felt more out of place, and more of the “Other” than any other nation or culture in which I have lived. I have based this project on my return and re-culturalation into my hometown; from being the minority and to again, being the majority.
Background
For me, my enculturation as a child took place in rural, north central Pennsylvania; in a small town among the Appalachian Mountains in Tioga County. The given population of the Tioga County according to the 2010 United States Census Bureau was 41,981, making up less than 1% of Pennsylvania’s total population. According to the Census Bureau, the white alone population (not Hispanic, Latino or other) in 2013 is estimated to be at 97%. In the same aspect, nearly 75% of the population owns their own home, with the median income being $42,607. Approximately 15% of the population in Tioga County was also reported to be below the national poverty level (United States Census Bureau, 2014).
Most all people in Tioga County would classify their culture as “Middle Class American”. According to the United States Economics and Statistics Administration, part of the Department of Commerce (2010), “Middle class families are defined by their aspirations more than their income. We assume that middle class families aspire to home ownership, a car, college education for their children, health and retirement security and occasional family vacations” (p. 8).
My parents worked in privately owned, local business and had a small beef farm, which we raised for our own consumption. My first job was in the same factory that my parents worked in, my mother having worked there for over 30 years at that time, and my father working there for 15 years. Neither of my parents attended college, both grew up with roots firmly in Tioga County, with my family history in the area dating back to the early 1800’s. My graduating class was 54, which was the largest class to ever graduate from Cowanesque Valley High School. Everyone followed the same routine in my world, work and family, with the school and church being the center of community from sporting events to pancake dinners. The first day of hunting season was and still is a school holiday, but Martin Luther King, Jr. and other multicultural holidays are not. It is safe to state that certainly in the small community, many shared the same rural culture, with beliefs firmly planted in family, hard-work and religion.
Also according to the Department of Commerce Report (2010), “Middle class families are forward-looking, and they know that to achieve these goals, they must work hard, plan ahead and save for the future. Indeed, being middle class may be as much about setting goals and working to achieve them as it is about their attainment” (p. 10). My parents were strict in their belief that I would be the first in the family to graduate college. I chose Juniata College, just three hours from home, and drove home nearly every weekend. Juniata College is located in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, the second small, rural American town for me to experience the culture associated with college-life. My graduating class was nearly 300 at Juniata in 2001. The college is similar to Tioga County, with students coming from a white, middle class background. In 2014, Juniata College reported 81% of their students being white (not Hispanic, Latino or other), with 9% being International and less than 10% being domestic minority (Juniata College).
I am the stereotypical White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP); as were many of the families and friends with which I was surrounded both as a child and throughout college. My pattern, even when moving to North Carolina in 2001, was to stay in the same culture in which I was comfortable. As Kottak and Kozaitis (2012) state, “People associate their “I” and “me” with country of birth, formative enculturation and language – primordial ties to a particular place, at a particular time and with particular others” (p. 46). This is exactly what I did and continued to do for many years. I tried to avoid putting myself in the shoes of the “Other”. Even working as an expatriate for two years in Tampere, Finland, I was still in a culture where I was the majority and assimilation was easy for me. If I didn’t speak, I looked like everyone else and lived in the city for two-years going unnoticed as the “Other”. The friends that I developed and surrounded myself with were multi-cultural; they were from various nationalities, but were middle-class, early 20’s and working in a foreign country, but only in the sense we didn’t share the same national identity as the Finns. We looked like them, we shared their values and work ethic, but we did not speak the language. We developed fictive kin ties and a family of orientation.
In 2012 my husband, daughter and I moved to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia and I allowed myself to become the “Other”. I entered a culture that I researched and spent months focused on to prepare, but as John Durham Peters describes, I become bifocal, “both ‘near-sighted’ (seeing local events) and ‘far-sighted’ (seeing images from far away)” (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012, p. 13). I saw the images, read the testimonies, but was always influenced by the media and my own perception of the Middle East. I almost fully assimilated to the culture over the two years we lived in it. I adopted the patterns and norms of the host culture, from my dress and appearance to my mannerisms and even tone of voice; at the same time, I abandoned many of my own traditions and values, such as women as equals or a domestic-public dichotomy based on gender, or our own religious beliefs (my daughter is four and has not been baptized which is a value held by my family). Although to a point, it was forced assimilation due to laws in the country, much of it was of my own choice. I assimilated to a culture where I enjoyed being involved in domestic duties and not public; I was not expected to work for money or the betterment of the family, but more as a hobby or enjoyment; I began to feel comfortable in the dress, and even when exiting the country still wore long pants, sleeves and loose fitting clothing as opposed to knee length skirts or sleeveless shirts. I also began to see those around us in stratifications; for the first time, I experienced class consciousness. A concept that is very prominent in Saudi Arabia. The superordinate class was one that we, as American expatriates, were considered a part of. We had access to resources that other nationalities and expatriates did not such as, premier banking without waiting or lines for tellers, houseboys, gardeners and personal travel consultants. I was the minority, or the “Other” (with privilege) but I adapted and accepted the culture, while at the same time, for the first time, fully experienced a multi-cultural society, where I was immersed in a society with people who were also “Others”, but were ethnically diverse. I learned to be comfortable overseas and this became my “comfort zone”.
My “New” Space
In June 2014, my husband and I decided that due to the conflict in the area, my daughter and I would not return to Saudi Arabia. I was then faced with the decision of staying in Tioga County, Pennsylvania or returning to our home of eight years in Clayton, North Carolina. Due to family being in the area, I chose to stay in Pennsylvania. I made this decision because I believed the transition would be easier within my own family; as Kottak and Kozaitis (2012) state, “Part of your identity reflects the kind of home you grew up in and your family of orientation (p. 282).” I believed that it would be easy to assimilate to the family and community culture again. However, my family of procreation along with the family of affiliation I had developed abroad had developed a new personal culture, and one that I failed to realize or recognize at the time.
I did nothing to prepare for this new space. I simply assumed the transition would be simple since I had lived in the culture for 18 years. I soon learned that assumption again was something not to take lightly.
My comfort level was low in both the home and the community. Like me, previous to traveling, the media portrayal and bi-focal view of the Middle East in the community is commonly perceived as backward and dangerous. I did not feel comfortable in my own home with my parents as my decisions for my family of procreation were questioned, while my beliefs and culture were also dissected. I was the “Other” more so than I had been before. My family of orientation did not respect my decision to move overseas, but comments such as, “It’s good you have your daughter back ‘where she belongs’”; “Your daughter needs to be with ‘people like her’”; and “You need to leave ‘that life’ in the past and teach her to be ‘American’” were common. I was truly the “Other” and felt as though I was also the subordinate class.
I had never seen the prejudice that existed within my hometown culture; I had overlooked it in an act of hegemony. I was blind to the attitudinal discrimination that existed in the culture, I began to see that the culture my family of procreation had developed was overshadowing my family of orientation’s culture, and the culture that I had originally learned as a child. I felt that they were prejudice against me for my new beliefs, different from their own.
This prejudice has extended to the community as well. At my daughter’s school functions, many are curious and ask questions of my experiences, but the same comments are made regarding “being American”. My daughter has not been invited to any birthday parties or play dates. She is the “Other” as well, speaking Arabic in class and asking questions that relate to Islam in order to compare the Christian religion that she is now immersed in. It was also brought up that some parents were concerned about the school being a “target” as we had previously been in the Middle East and maintain relationships with family of affiliation in the area.
Kottak and Kozaitis (2012) note that “Education is a dominant force in our multicultural society. Children are taught to recognize customs, places, and cultural markers of all kinds of people in the world” (p. 300), however, in talking with a fourth grade teacher at my daughter’s school, she didn’t know where Saudi Arabia was on a map. Her understanding was the all cultures in the Middle East are one; she was unable to recognize the differences in the countries and people. which I have to admit was my perception before moving there as well.
Being the “Other” is lonely and difficult. Subjectively, we are part of the culture, objectively, we are not.
The Future
In the future, I will continue to study multiculturalism. This class and the readings have helped me to evaluate and critically reflect on the two cultures in which I live; with my husband still being overseas and my daughter and I being in America. The class has allowed me to put a name to my experiences and better understand the challenges I have faced in returning to my “roots”. I have been able to identify with many of the readings and fully understand the concept of multiculturalism in America.
As Kottak and Kozaitis (2012) state in the conclusion of their text, “Politeness is a way of acting what we deem necessary and desirable…Most of us maintain, to varying degrees, courtesy, tact and civility in public” (p. 296). People are civil, they are courteous, but their prejudice is still present. The laissaz-faire culturalism that I have constructed is not recognized in the current culture in which I live.
I am better able to see that “Americans have varied backgrounds. Individual qualities; talents and specialties divide us. However, we make our living and survive as member of cohesive, efficient groups” (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012, p. 5). I understand that there is no clear definition of “American” as interpreted by some I have encountered.
“The truth hurts, sometimes. More often, it liberates. In either case it has consequences” (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012, p. 297). This class, and my experience as the “Other” in the culture in which I grew up, one that I identified with and felt part of for many years, have empowered me to become a better adult educator in ESOL, as I identify more with the students and recognize how culture plays a role in the classroom, along with lives in general; how being the minority, subordinate or the “Other” affects one as a student and a person.
Works Cited
Juniata College. (n.d.). About our students. Retrieved November 28, 2014, from Juniata College: http://www.juniata.edu/justthefacts/students.html
Kottak, C. P., & Kozaitis, K. A. (2012). On being different: Diversity & multiculrualism in North American mainstream. New York: McGraw-Hill.
U. S. Department Of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration. (2010). Middle Class in America. Washington: Office of the Vice President of the United States Middle Class Task Force.
United States Census Bureau. (2014, July 8). Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Retrieved November 28, 2014, from State and County Quick Facts: : http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/42117.html