lethality of stereotypes
We hear the common wisdom to not judge a book by its cover, which can be further translated to cultural stereotypes. However, it must be recognized that stereotypes are inherent in every culture. In the United States, the nation in which my stereotypical knowledge is based in, we are raised with the presumption that Germans are harsh due to their language, the French are weak-willed, Russians are frightening, etc. Though these sound slightly trivial, they have a significant effect on our world view and the perspectives that we take as a people on current events, judgements whilst travelling, and when meeting foreigners within our own nation. There are severe implications of stereotypes, many of which I have either discovered through my own incorrect perceptions of others as well as incorrect and often hurtful presumptions from others concerning myself, as an American.
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In regard to the effect of stereotypes sustained by me, I have faced deep conviction concerning my premature verdict on individuals as a result of my conventionalized view of their peoples. Firstly, when entering university knowing that I would be living in an international dorm, I hoped for a roommate from Europe. Ashamed as I am, my internal expectations leading me to this desire was that those from other parts of the world would not be as fun, study too much, frighten me, or be odd. Additionally, I did not see myself getting along well with a German student due to the American stereotype of their harshness as a people. Life has a sense of humor, showing itself through my receiving a roommate from Taiwan and my best friends being either from other parts of Asia or Germany. I allowed common negative stereotypes to set roots deeply inside of my mind at a young age, which may have remained until now if they were not proven wrong right before my eyes. As I mention during my Key Insight 2, Asian and Middle Eastern students have a particularly difficult time making American friends, which I suspect has a strong correlation to our conventionally negative view of these areas of the world. After all, the majority of the small amount of international news, given its American bias, that we receive references these nations as ridden with war and brutality or fraud and forced intelligence and success.
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During my time as a host of the radio show-turned-podcast, my fellow host and I interviewed many international faculty members and students at the University of South Carolina. One of the guests most influential on my personal perspective was Chris Reid, the head of the International Student Services on campus, who lived in Tanzania for several years and spoke about the significance of his time there. As many Americans, I have a critical lack of knowledge of nearly all African countries, their respective cultures, and their influence in the world’s political, economic, and social systems. Despite the massively incorrect and far too common perspective of Africa as a homogeneous population, cohesive culture, and overcome with poverty, Reid provided valuable insight into the reality of modern Africa. Contradictory to America’s view of the continent, each nation has its own distinct culture, language, economy, and wealth. Africa struggles with poverty more than many parts of the world but thrives in other ways, including a recently prosperous innovation sector. For my out of the classroom artifact, I have attached the podcast link, where you can access our conversation with Chris Reid and others who were guests.
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Over my travels, I have also been the subject of many criticisms and assumptions as a result of stereotypes of the United States: overweight, stupid, not knowledgeable about the world, unkind Trump supporters, and so on. The most difficult thing that I have faced about being an American in the globalized world that we live in today is that most everyone knows general information about the US, mainly through media such as films, music, and social media. Additionally, the US is a major power in the world regarding politics, economics, and warfare, making foreigners particularly interested in America’s moves on the world stage due to their large effect on so many other nations. All of these factors equate to internationals having a very definitive preconceived notion and opinion about the United States concerning our elections, social system, humanitarian intervention, etc. The difficulty that arises from this is that, contrary to most other nations that one does not learn much about in school or have large prevalence in international affairs such as Argentina for instance, foreigners have a much easier time assuming about and stereotyping Americans due to the wealth of knowledge that they gain throughout their lives about the United States. The stereotypes given to Americans are typically a generalization about our country of 300 million people based on the radical actions or stances of a small section of the population, which of course enters international media far more often than the majority of Americans with respectable and moderate ideas and actions. Throughout my travels and interactions with internationals, I have had many instances of attempting to prove myself to go against the “grain” of what the world thinks the United States stands for, which can be greatly difficult due to strong opinions by internationals on US current events and their thinking that they know all that there is to know about the United States and its people.
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My most memorable circumstances of facing harsh and negative stereotypes of the United States and the South particularly have in part defined how I view my life, recognizing that I am viewed in the lens of who people think Americans are, and how I wish to prove many of these assumptions wrong. One of the more notable circumstances was during my first time traveling outside of the United States without my parents. I had formed a tight relationship with a French university student when I was in high school who invited me and a friend of mine to come to France with her to experience French culture while staying with her family.. At our first destination of Paris, my American friend and I were shouted at many times about Trump from strangers after hearing our American accent I presume. I was shocked firstly at their knowledge of American affairs as well as their brashness in directing their opinion at us in such an unkind manner. Additionally, during my time in Denmark, I was told far more pleasantly by my flat mates about their initial worries on how to be friendly towards me if I were a strong supporter of Donald Trump. In one of the readings from my International Business 433 course “Economic Globalization: Leadership and the Transnational Mindset”, the author discussed the significance of Donald Trump’s presidency on the trust that foreign nations have in the United States. The result of this study was that Trump decreased the world’s trust and confidence in the United States notably, which my professor stated is an important reality to be conscious of when doing international business. The world’s perception of the United States is largely reliant on the news that they receive through media and reports, and this news is sadly substantially negative, which has greatly validated the already negative internationally held perspective of the Untied States. I have attached the article that includes the study mentioned above if you have an interest in reading it.
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Unfortunately, there is an overwhelmingly negative view of the United States from the large part of the world. I have discovered that the stereotypes of Americans will not fade any time soon and therefore must be communicated in order to be dismissed. Many of the friends that I made in Copenhagen, Denmark during my exchange semester openly expressed their distaste for a great deal of the policies that we have in the United States as well as political leaders, religious affiliations, and people. Rather than allowing these to affect my desire to befriend the students who expressed these negative opinions, I started conversations with them on what they know about the United States, why they have the opinions that they hold, and why some of these opinions may be misunderstood. Additionally, I gained a great deal of understanding on the view of the Untied States that different parts of the world hold, certain characteristics about the US that I did not know existed and some of which I came to further recognize my own opinions on.
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The majority of these conversations were enacted by my 12 Danish flat mates, who helped me process my opinions on important matters that concern both myself and others. The dorm in which I lived during my time in Copenhagen is named Tietgen Kollegiet, where I shared a kitchen with Danish students, each of whom had different areas of study and differing outlooks on life. My time at Tietgen Kollegiet formed many of my own opinions due to the nature of open thought and conversation that was created among my flat mates to discuss politics, social welfare, economics, health, the environment, and so forth. My flat mates were open to hearing my experiences from the states, many contrary and some the same as what they had heard from media and taught in school. I had the opportunity to fix a homemade Southern meal for all of my flat mates, very contrary to the hilarious but common belief around the world that Americans only eat fast food. There were few Americans in Copenhagen, which allowed me to provide the Danish people that I met with my experience of the Untied States, both the good and the bad, to potentially re-form their opinion on such a large and diverse country. I have attached several photos of myself with my Danish flat mates as my out of the classroom artifact. One explanation that I can develop for why Danish students can be characterized as open-minded is their education. During my study abroad in Copenhagen, I took a course called "Intercultural Communication and Management". The university in which I studied was strictly a business school, Copenhagen Business School, however, all of the classes had an empathetic and human aspect to them, reflecting and, in my opinion, shaping Danish society. For my within the classroom artifact, I have attached a practice assignment written by my group in the Intercultural Communications course. Both the questions asked such as, "What cognitive differences potentially exist between Westerners and East Asians", and the way that the students answered them, are far more abstract and human that concrete and analytical, like many of the courses here in the US. There are advantages and disadvantages of both and I do not claim to say that the Danish system is overall better or without its limitations but I do think that it provides an basis for Danish students to empathize with other cultures and people groups due to its empathetic approach. From this, I reckon that Danish students do not hold and assume from stereotypes as often as other cultures may. I think that having courses where we were made aware of different cultures and their effects on how we communicate is essential to understanding and correcting our assumptions about one another.
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Stereotypes are lethal and must be dealt with in conversation, experiences, and attempts at understanding and maintaining our best attempts at an open mind. People all over the world are far too similar to make judgements and assumptions based on one another's nationality. After all, we all are on the giving and receiving end of stereotypes and neither side is without its problems.