Mild Crankiness Sets In
The heat has broken, which is nice, but now it’s a gray day, and we’re in a gray mood. David says he’s finding the routine tiresome; I find it increasingly difficult to give Otis back to the nurses at the end of our “two hours.”
Thanks to Ellen and David for nice notes, which we posted. The spirit of Ellen’s note feels particularly appropriate: the nationality thing is getting me down. I’m not sure how much we Americans have to teach the rest of the world anymore. Certainly, our teaching methodologies could use some work. But on this issue, we seem to have done better than anywhere else that I can think of.... not that we’ve got our race issues solved, but certainly we agree on the capacity to become an American….
On the BBC News station, there is a running debate about whether the fact that the bombers were born in Britain indicates that multi-culturalism has gone too far and/or whether English society should be working harder at inculcating a sense of “Englishness” in immigrants. This seems to rather miss the point – both generally and specifically. The young man about whom we seem to know the most had parents who clearly wanted to be English – they ran a fish and chips shop, they called the police when their son was missing, they lived in a mixed neighborhood….. Seems more like their emotionally vulnerable son fell prey to an evil cult than it does a failure of diversity.
Yesterday in the portion of the Museum that deals with the various nationalities living in Kazakhstan, we paused at the Jewish exhibit. Zoya informed me that a Turkish scientist has found evidence that Islam is older than Judaism. (BTW, yes, this means that Jews are a nationality.) After first ascertaining that we were not having a language problem or discussing the relative arrival times in KZ of Jews and Muslims, I started to explain why this was impossible, given only the text of the Quran. To which I got, “You know everything.” OK, now I’m a know-it-all in KZ, too, but, I mean, really!
And the Russians as colonial oppressors (who continue to condescend to the Kazakhs), now transformed into a discriminated against minority, dynamic is weird, too. We went to what is supposed to be the best Russian restaurant in the city last night - and therefore one of the best restaurants in the city, period. It was excellent, and a welcome change from the meat-all-the-time diet of Kazakhs and Uzbeks. There was not a single Kazakh in the restaurant. (Although Russians go to Kazakh restaurants all the time.) Sagat and Galina refuse to go this place: they make up excuses when we ask. (“It’s too expensive.” “You won’t be able to communicate – no one speaks English.” Etc. BTW, neither of these is true.) We know from many conversations that Sagat is – an old-fashioned term – a race man, and there is certainly lots of history to explain why……
But this is the most cosmopolitan city in a country that’s been racially and ethnically diverse for centuries, and it’s all so tiresome…… maybe especially as we start being a bi-racial (but very, very multi-"national") family.
David says it is worth noting that we are at the halfway point of this adventure.
Thanks to Ellen and David for nice notes, which we posted. The spirit of Ellen’s note feels particularly appropriate: the nationality thing is getting me down. I’m not sure how much we Americans have to teach the rest of the world anymore. Certainly, our teaching methodologies could use some work. But on this issue, we seem to have done better than anywhere else that I can think of.... not that we’ve got our race issues solved, but certainly we agree on the capacity to become an American….
On the BBC News station, there is a running debate about whether the fact that the bombers were born in Britain indicates that multi-culturalism has gone too far and/or whether English society should be working harder at inculcating a sense of “Englishness” in immigrants. This seems to rather miss the point – both generally and specifically. The young man about whom we seem to know the most had parents who clearly wanted to be English – they ran a fish and chips shop, they called the police when their son was missing, they lived in a mixed neighborhood….. Seems more like their emotionally vulnerable son fell prey to an evil cult than it does a failure of diversity.
Yesterday in the portion of the Museum that deals with the various nationalities living in Kazakhstan, we paused at the Jewish exhibit. Zoya informed me that a Turkish scientist has found evidence that Islam is older than Judaism. (BTW, yes, this means that Jews are a nationality.) After first ascertaining that we were not having a language problem or discussing the relative arrival times in KZ of Jews and Muslims, I started to explain why this was impossible, given only the text of the Quran. To which I got, “You know everything.” OK, now I’m a know-it-all in KZ, too, but, I mean, really!
And the Russians as colonial oppressors (who continue to condescend to the Kazakhs), now transformed into a discriminated against minority, dynamic is weird, too. We went to what is supposed to be the best Russian restaurant in the city last night - and therefore one of the best restaurants in the city, period. It was excellent, and a welcome change from the meat-all-the-time diet of Kazakhs and Uzbeks. There was not a single Kazakh in the restaurant. (Although Russians go to Kazakh restaurants all the time.) Sagat and Galina refuse to go this place: they make up excuses when we ask. (“It’s too expensive.” “You won’t be able to communicate – no one speaks English.” Etc. BTW, neither of these is true.) We know from many conversations that Sagat is – an old-fashioned term – a race man, and there is certainly lots of history to explain why……
But this is the most cosmopolitan city in a country that’s been racially and ethnically diverse for centuries, and it’s all so tiresome…… maybe especially as we start being a bi-racial (but very, very multi-"national") family.
David says it is worth noting that we are at the halfway point of this adventure.
posted by Candace and David at 7/14/2005 05:11:00 AM
3 Comments:
I imagine it must get frustrating and yet ineteresting to experience, at least a little (and as briefly as possible), the ex-pat thing. I suppose that whole "nationalism" thing is natural enough. The problem with it, however, is the endemic "superiority complex" that goes along with it. I have always felt that it is easy to tell the differences among peoples, far more challenging and interesting to find the similarities. Judging by your writing I think you agree, but it is a point I think most often lost.
Neil:
As a good Unitarian (by upbringing, anyway), I can't and won't quarrel with the notion of universality of man. What I guess I've been struggling with, however, is what it means to be a "nation." (Which, as I'm sure you know, is a concept many Unitarians find problematic to begin with.) But if you gotta have nations and national identity, an identity of values strikes me as a much more sensible underpinning than one of (dubious) genetic similarity. Trying to maintain a nation as a political construct in a place where people's primary allegiance is to their supposed genetic/tribal background strikes me as verging on the impossible over the long term. We'll see (well, Otis will) how these folks come out on that question over the next 50 years.... as the Caspian oil field is developed and current events resolve themselves. Love you, miss you. C
I listen to the BBC a fair amount on WNYC and heard the same discussions about the failure of multiculturalism. I had the same reaction you did too. Made me think of Columbine. Radical islam appears to have been the cause these disaffected kids chose to tie their angst to...doesn't mean multi-culturalism has failed. It means that these days disaffected people choose harsher ways to express themselves than scribbling on the bathroom wall, culture gives them lots of role models for more aggressive acts, and we make it pretty easy for them to arm themselves.
My younger brother Julio, adopted from Guatemala when I was a senior in highschool, has struggled at times with cultural identity (struggles compounded by his max height of 4'10'' and his multiple handicaps). He came here at age 5 or 6, so he had a bit more of his home country in his head than Otis will remember. But he is probably as thoroughly Americanized at this point as Otis will shortly be. Nevertheless the identity issues I think have contributed to some tough times for him and for my parents that all of the love and attention in the world probably couldn't have prevented -- stuff a bit beyond the typical teenager angst. Julio's just reaching the other side of that phase. The reconciliation is a great thing to see. I think adolescence is a bit harder for kids like him in lots of ways. But I never doubt for the faintest moment that both he and my family are far better off for him being here with us.
I think all the time, though, about the shame that's increasingly accruing to American "values" and national identity under the current regime -- being American sure is a mixed blessing. I often envy folks like Otis who were born someplace else.
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