Most Ethiopians I’ve encountered are very
proud of their culture, so they’re often curious about my own culture. They ask
seemingly simple questions, such as what my cultural foods and cultural
clothing are, for which I just don’t have simple answers. As an American I’ve
grown up learning about how America is the great melting pot of all cultures, and
that’s especially true when it comes to food in America, where it’s normal and
even valued to frequently eat foods that come from cultures across the globe. Clothing
is different, but still results in a lack of cultural clothing. Americans wear
“Western” clothing, a style that’s much the same as European clothing and that’s
slowly permeating the whole world’s fashion, including Ethiopian day-to-day
wear.
Because of this emphasis in America on
mixing and matching elements of many countries’ food, music, and clothing, it
makes answering well-meaning Ethiopians quite difficult. Explaining that we don’t
have cultural foods or cultural dress, or even a single genre of American music
can leave the Ethiopian enquirer with the impression that America doesn’t have
culture. But after participating in an
activity a couple months ago at my in-service training, I’ve re-discovered that
there really is such a thing as American culture, and it goes a heck of a lot
deeper than those easily seen and easily shared aspects.
The activity was an exercise called “Rude
or Not Rude,” in which we would go stand under either a “Rude” sign or a “Not
Rude” sign after an action that’s common in Ethiopian culture was read out.
Some of the things that were read were:
- Playing your TV or music at high volumes so everyone in the vicinity can hear it
- Shoving your way onto the bus or up to the counter
- Using the command form: “get in, sit, come on.”
- Urging your guest to “play,” when she’s gone quiet
- Urging your guest, “eat!” at frequent intervals, including when she’s chewing and has the next bite in her hand
- Picking your nose in public
These rules
about proper behavior are uncompromising, and give individuals a straight and
narrow path to help navigate social interactions. It’s only when you travel to
a nation with a very different (and in many ways opposite) culture that it
becomes a problem, because you can bet that the door swings both ways , such
that while I find some Ethiopian ways of interacting rude, they also find some
of my actions rude.
For instance, frequently
dropping in on your neighbors is a big part of Ethiopian culture, but try as I
might, I still haven’t managed to overcome my cultural training and drop in
unannounced on my neighbors. And the sad thing is that I come across as rude by
not going! I seem weirdly reserved and send the message that I’ve forgotten
about them. In addition to not being able to drop in on my neighbors, I’ve also
found it hard (read: impossible, at least so far) to stop valuing alone time, independence,
privacy, and work.
The vast
difference in what I value creates a distance between me and the Ethiopians I
live among, and it makes me wonder: In what ways can I meaningfully
share American culture? How much will I adjust to
Ethiopian cultural values and practices in the next 18 ½ months, such as letting
go of my need for alone time and embracing interdependence, shoving my own way
onto the bus, or no longer being upset by blaring speakers? If I never drastically
adjust my values, does that diminish the value of my service or mean that I’ve
failed in some way?
These questions
are what occupy much of my thinking time, and what constitute, to me, the meat
of my service. Cultural exchange, as it turns out, is a lot more complicated
than celebrating each other’s holidays and eating each other’s food, and when
negotiated successfully, is at the very heart of achieving international and
intercultural peace. Thus, since I’m in the Peace Corps, I feel justified in
allowing cultural exchange to occupy the forefront of my thought!
 |
| Me and my fellow PCVs, wearing traditional Ethiopian clothing that had been given to us by our host families, taken in August just before swearing in. |
