Insider / Outsider
Feb. 17th, 2013 11:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterI got into a conversation with a friend yesterday about what it's like to be surrounded by people who are physically and culturally different. It began when she told me an anecdote about faculty here discussing what would make people who are ethnic minorities want to come to a university like this one, which is one of the more homogeneously white places I've ever been. For a while, for instance, there was one "token black person" student. She, herself, is a minority, not by virtue of ethnicity but by virtue of religious/non-religious belief: she, too, is an atheist living in the Bible Belt. Her argument for why one might want to come to a place like this? Well, "To stick it to 'em!", to put it as she did.
From there, we fell into some conversation about what it's like to be an outsider. She noted that she's felt like an outsider across multiple places where she's lived previously, due to religious beliefs and personal habits (cloth napkins and reuseable silverware in a sea of disposables), but she also thinks the outsider feeling has made her a much happier world traveler. If one is not so strongly tied to a particular place and community, there isn't as much to miss, really.
An important element of being brave about outsider status is that, if someone like my friend S or myself is unwilling to step into a culturally different place and live according to different standards, how will people from that culture ever gain any perspective that life could be lived differently? I was struck by the same thought this morning, while reading an article about Afghanistan that talked about how it's pretty much impossible for American soldiers to engage with Afghans if they are present on 6-month rotations; that's just not enough time to develop a meaningful rapport with communities there, where ties with friends and family are a critical component of life. It was similar when I started tutoring native American students at ASU; before I could help anybody with academics, they first had to be convinced that I was going to be around for a while and get to know them individually.
Being an outsider is hard, though, especially when coping with the element of social isolation. Inasmuch as I know it's important for me to maintain courage and a strong sense of self while living in a place like this, I have to balance that against a sense that it's more difficult for me to thrive in environments like this one, where I lack shared history and groups of friends. How does one balance out this need to thrive against a desire to have a strong, positive, meaningful impact on others?
And on that note, it's time to go check on some croissant dough.
From there, we fell into some conversation about what it's like to be an outsider. She noted that she's felt like an outsider across multiple places where she's lived previously, due to religious beliefs and personal habits (cloth napkins and reuseable silverware in a sea of disposables), but she also thinks the outsider feeling has made her a much happier world traveler. If one is not so strongly tied to a particular place and community, there isn't as much to miss, really.
An important element of being brave about outsider status is that, if someone like my friend S or myself is unwilling to step into a culturally different place and live according to different standards, how will people from that culture ever gain any perspective that life could be lived differently? I was struck by the same thought this morning, while reading an article about Afghanistan that talked about how it's pretty much impossible for American soldiers to engage with Afghans if they are present on 6-month rotations; that's just not enough time to develop a meaningful rapport with communities there, where ties with friends and family are a critical component of life. It was similar when I started tutoring native American students at ASU; before I could help anybody with academics, they first had to be convinced that I was going to be around for a while and get to know them individually.
Being an outsider is hard, though, especially when coping with the element of social isolation. Inasmuch as I know it's important for me to maintain courage and a strong sense of self while living in a place like this, I have to balance that against a sense that it's more difficult for me to thrive in environments like this one, where I lack shared history and groups of friends. How does one balance out this need to thrive against a desire to have a strong, positive, meaningful impact on others?
And on that note, it's time to go check on some croissant dough.
