Ethnocentrism

In my CIEE seminar the other week we talked about intensity factors. Basically these are stress factors experienced when you are in a culture or situation that isn’t normal. I was thinking about these risk factors for an assignment and I came across ethnocentrism. This can either mean that you are so used to something at home that new ideas and cultures are very stressful, or that the culture that you are in is not accepting of your particular culture and thus there are intensity factors associated with that as well. The following is my reflection about my experiences with ethnocentrism while in Africa.

I have never considered myself an “American” because in today’s day and age, claiming patriotism to America is like committing social suicide. It inherently means that somehow if you are an American you also agree with everything that the government has done within the last 8 years. However, like most Americans, I am trying to forget policies and happenings on a national stage starting a long while back. However, coming to Africa has changed my mind about patriotism and America as a whole.

I have had many encounters recently with South Africans in the Microbiology Computer Lab. This space is really a hang out space because the internet is sporadic and half the computers don’t work. Regardless, people who are Microbiology majors tend to hang out in this area. I use it as a place to eavesdrop and get some homework done while I am at school. Needless to say, the more I have been there, the more that people have noticed that I am new and the fact that I haven’t gone away yet. I return everyday at the same time, and even appear in some of their classes. Thus, this has led some people to approach me and have conversations. One such fellow is Yoonus. He is an interesting fellow. He is smart but opinionated. Anyways, he tries to orient me to Africa sometimes when weird things happen and gives me a lot of the gossip on teachers and policies within UCT. Though, the other day, somehow we got on the conversation of 911 conspiracies. I actually found myself defending the American government and our intelligence agencies. Somehow, he thought that we were so corrupt in our government that he thought that the government was at least partially to blame for 911. This is not something that I personally believe and that is fine. But what I found interesting was that I was actually defending the namesake of my own country to other people.

Yoonus isn’t the only one who bad mouths western culture. It seems that it is engrained in the heads of people due to colonialism that they can’t be western and that all western ideas are inherently bad for Africans. I understand the basis for this sentiment because Africa has been “helped” by westerners for a really long time. It is time for Africa to make themselves anew and into their own identity. It is good for Africans to make their own identity separate from western identities, however, in order to create their own identity people are completely discounting others. It is not to say that all western ideas are bad, but it is to say that at least some of them are good in my opinion. People don’t seem to recognize those here. Thus, comes the idea of American nationalism. I feel the need to show people that America isn’t all bad. The media portrays some of the bad ideas but most of the people are good people just like anywhere. It is an uphill battle and unfortunately, even international students here are not the best examples of good Americans so my struggle continues.