Post #4

            The reading from Holliday is about how people can be misled by their own preconceptions and how that can lead to Othering, which is when a group of people is perceived as being different. The book talks about how it is important that we understand people before we communicate with them. The story about John and his Amish neighbors is an example of the use of a stereotype. John assumed that since the Smith family is Amish and that they don’t own a TV that they wouldn’t ever want to watch TV. He was surprised when the entire family agreed to come over and watch the news that night. The textbook says that it is natural to form stereotypes because it helps us to understand different cultures. I, along with most other people, was always taught in school about how it isn’t a good thing to form stereotypes because they’re usually not true. The text then goes on to say how forming stereotypes can sometimes be a bad thing since they can turn into prejudice and then eventually turn into Othering.  In the following section is the example of Agnes who is on a tour in North Africa with other Europeans. This story is an example to show how when people from different cultures meet, something called a “middle culture of dealing” is put into place when people from the different cultures interact with one another. It’s almost as if a new culture is created when the people communicate since both cultures are blended and there are compromises being made. When I studied in Spain, my roommates and I traveled to Italy for a week and stayed in a hostel. While staying at the hostel, we met many new people from several different countries. In a way, the interactions that we had with the people we met were set in a “middle culture of dealing.” We met a girl from Brazil who spoke Portuguese as a first language but we communicated with her in Spanish, her second language and ours as well, since none of us spoke Italian even though we were in Italy. Our “middle culture of dealing,” or our compromise we used in order to communicate, was speaking in Spanish with one another even though that was neither of our first languages.

            Chapter five by Kumaravadiveluk is about cultural assimilation. The author describes the Unite States as “a nation of immigrants.” Over the years, the culture, politics, and economy of our country has been changed and expanded due to the many waves of immigrants. Kuma describes the four separate waves of immigration and the idea of America being seen as a “melting pot.” This analogy reflects the concern of being able to find a common identity with so many different people coming from different backgrounds. The author discusses how the ideal of the melting pot is different from the reality of what it actually was. The process of creating a “melting pot” required the immigrants to assimilate to the beliefs, practices, and values of the mainstream community. As we discussed on the first day of class, some people say that the US is now seen more as a “mixed salad” instead of a melting pot. I have to agree with this idea since there are so many small communities of other cultures all over the US, for example, Chinatown and Little Village in Chicago. There are so many people living in the US that have different cultures that haven’t exactly assimilated to life in America, but just created their own community within the country.

            The other article by Kumaravadiveluk talks about cultural stereotypes that are associated with students from Asia. One of the stereotypes that the author discusses is the idea that Asian students don’t take part in classroom discussions because of their culture. Kuma says that this is not true and that the real reason is because they have a lack of confidence in speaking English and they have a fear of making mistakes. This reminded me of the story about Zhang, the Chinese student, who said the reason he didn’t participate was because of Confucianism.