What does "experience a new culture" mean? I used to hear the phrase a lot, especially in college. "I love to experience new cultures!"
I understand the concept, in fact I feel likewise. But I have never said it like that, it sounds stupid. Culture is not something you experience. Culture is the opposite of an ephemeral experience that provides insight immediately upon contact. Culture is immense, you can't take a picture of it or write an essay about it.
Culture is toil and devotion spread over untold generations, you can't just experience the depth of a culture. Culture requires more than experiential knowledge. To "experience" a culture is to be a bystander, to accept superficiality instead of context, to reduce to a semblance.
I have been engaging in the African American experience for about ten years (hmm... count back to the first time I read Native Son and started listening to Hip Hop…), but I would never say that I have "experienced" that culture. I revere black culture, I admire, respect and dance to it, but I am loath to describe our interaction as an "experience." Experience is the word you use if you are out of breath or confused.
"It was quite an experience."
Nonetheless, I fully support learning about cultures different from your own. I also encourage trying new things- things that are trying/difficult or things that are new because you have not done them before. You don't have to go far to do new things, which is a blessing and can be a curse. Some things are rewarding even if they seem dangerous or illegal or strange.
But how can you experience a culture? I don't think you can. How can you start? Learning a language, indubitably. That is the primary barrier between you and the other. Even if you speak the same language as the other, learning to communicate does not necessarily mean learning another language.
People of different race or different sexuality in my country don't operate on the same plane. It's incumbent upon both parties to learn, but more so on the dominant group. Majorities don't ask for understanding, they only ask for uniformity. Different people say "fuck that," as they rightly should.
People who are different exist in a different realm. They ask for understanding and usually don't get it. Learning the how and why of another's existence is a wonderful process and it's never as hard as it seems. The right frame of mind helps because communication involves a great many non-verbal, para-linguistic, non-uttered gesticulations- not just vocabulary.
Language is not communication and communication is not just speaking. Exaggeration and 5 words of a foreign language can go a long way, no doubt. I have always known this, my family hosted exchange students from around the world since I was very young. There are English language learners who are not timid and know five words who engage more than ESOL who know dozens of words but feel inhibited. It's about effort and confidence, not knowledge.
I'm learning the idea of language-learning more everyday as a speaker and teacher.
This is partly what brought my desire to know the world into being. I also never conceived of being as one. Tossed salad, not melting pot. We're in this together and all of our experiences contribute to the shared dominion of experience.
So, new cultures, without experiencing them in full- how can you meet them? Tasting the food, of course. Seeing the sights, no doubt. Listening to the music. Yes, but these are interactions that you can't really take part in as an outsider because you were never meant to. You can only taste without knowing the backstory. In fact, your observance as outsider is required for the whole notion of culture to function. Us needs them.
The backstory is always as delicious as the upfront display. But there is seldom equality in cultural displays and cross-cultural events. You can't meet if you're being colonized, and this has been the history of much of cultural contact. There is more to a culture than an explorer or an enterprising voyager can contain.
Ultimately, I hope people are willing to acknowledge and place themselves in a position to redress the dark history of cultural domination, which as been Eurocentric and colonial to date. Say something new or thoughtful or just take pictures and leave. There are already stacks upon stacks of white men's journeys into the unknown (unknown- here meaning a place or space with deep, rich, misunderstood traditions and history that said account will only further obfuscate).
I had a frank discussion with a close friend about being abroad and the Orientalist gaze. I think the discourse amounted to the fact that I can't escape the Orientalist vision- everything here in Korea is new and different and weird, but as I have said since I started this blog, I want to emphasize the sameness and counteract the hundreds of years of racist "look how weird they are" writing. I can't do this all here, but I think that's all the more reason to try and document my attempt in any case.
If you're still reading, I thank you. If you're wondering what I am referring to when I discuss this topic, read some travel blogs or visit vice.com. This site is the epicenter of pseudo-journalistic exploitation- "look at these strange brown people doing gross weird things" So, I keep on.
To my fellow Americans, don't despair in thinking your culture has been lost. Cultures have been universally corporatized and commodified, but the nucleus remains. Do whatever it takes to reconnect with your people, the results will be unfolding joy.
I leave you with an ancient culture I plan to discuss more later, the Indigenous people of Mexico. It is the Spring Solstice in the East, March 21st. At Chichen Itza the monument vibrates with a snake-like light and shimmers with ancient wisdom like this:
Hereis
I understand the concept, in fact I feel likewise. But I have never said it like that, it sounds stupid. Culture is not something you experience. Culture is the opposite of an ephemeral experience that provides insight immediately upon contact. Culture is immense, you can't take a picture of it or write an essay about it.
Culture is toil and devotion spread over untold generations, you can't just experience the depth of a culture. Culture requires more than experiential knowledge. To "experience" a culture is to be a bystander, to accept superficiality instead of context, to reduce to a semblance.
I have been engaging in the African American experience for about ten years (hmm... count back to the first time I read Native Son and started listening to Hip Hop…), but I would never say that I have "experienced" that culture. I revere black culture, I admire, respect and dance to it, but I am loath to describe our interaction as an "experience." Experience is the word you use if you are out of breath or confused.
"It was quite an experience."
Nonetheless, I fully support learning about cultures different from your own. I also encourage trying new things- things that are trying/difficult or things that are new because you have not done them before. You don't have to go far to do new things, which is a blessing and can be a curse. Some things are rewarding even if they seem dangerous or illegal or strange.
But how can you experience a culture? I don't think you can. How can you start? Learning a language, indubitably. That is the primary barrier between you and the other. Even if you speak the same language as the other, learning to communicate does not necessarily mean learning another language.
People of different race or different sexuality in my country don't operate on the same plane. It's incumbent upon both parties to learn, but more so on the dominant group. Majorities don't ask for understanding, they only ask for uniformity. Different people say "fuck that," as they rightly should.
People who are different exist in a different realm. They ask for understanding and usually don't get it. Learning the how and why of another's existence is a wonderful process and it's never as hard as it seems. The right frame of mind helps because communication involves a great many non-verbal, para-linguistic, non-uttered gesticulations- not just vocabulary.
Language is not communication and communication is not just speaking. Exaggeration and 5 words of a foreign language can go a long way, no doubt. I have always known this, my family hosted exchange students from around the world since I was very young. There are English language learners who are not timid and know five words who engage more than ESOL who know dozens of words but feel inhibited. It's about effort and confidence, not knowledge.
I'm learning the idea of language-learning more everyday as a speaker and teacher.
This is partly what brought my desire to know the world into being. I also never conceived of being as one. Tossed salad, not melting pot. We're in this together and all of our experiences contribute to the shared dominion of experience.
So, new cultures, without experiencing them in full- how can you meet them? Tasting the food, of course. Seeing the sights, no doubt. Listening to the music. Yes, but these are interactions that you can't really take part in as an outsider because you were never meant to. You can only taste without knowing the backstory. In fact, your observance as outsider is required for the whole notion of culture to function. Us needs them.
The backstory is always as delicious as the upfront display. But there is seldom equality in cultural displays and cross-cultural events. You can't meet if you're being colonized, and this has been the history of much of cultural contact. There is more to a culture than an explorer or an enterprising voyager can contain.
Ultimately, I hope people are willing to acknowledge and place themselves in a position to redress the dark history of cultural domination, which as been Eurocentric and colonial to date. Say something new or thoughtful or just take pictures and leave. There are already stacks upon stacks of white men's journeys into the unknown (unknown- here meaning a place or space with deep, rich, misunderstood traditions and history that said account will only further obfuscate).
I had a frank discussion with a close friend about being abroad and the Orientalist gaze. I think the discourse amounted to the fact that I can't escape the Orientalist vision- everything here in Korea is new and different and weird, but as I have said since I started this blog, I want to emphasize the sameness and counteract the hundreds of years of racist "look how weird they are" writing. I can't do this all here, but I think that's all the more reason to try and document my attempt in any case.
If you're still reading, I thank you. If you're wondering what I am referring to when I discuss this topic, read some travel blogs or visit vice.com. This site is the epicenter of pseudo-journalistic exploitation- "look at these strange brown people doing gross weird things" So, I keep on.
To my fellow Americans, don't despair in thinking your culture has been lost. Cultures have been universally corporatized and commodified, but the nucleus remains. Do whatever it takes to reconnect with your people, the results will be unfolding joy.
I leave you with an ancient culture I plan to discuss more later, the Indigenous people of Mexico. It is the Spring Solstice in the East, March 21st. At Chichen Itza the monument vibrates with a snake-like light and shimmers with ancient wisdom like this:
Hereis
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