Intro: These are answers to an anthropology final from '99. The questions are semi-self explanatory from the questions, but if anyone cares to look deeper into the articles these questions are based on, the book is called "Distant Mirrors: America as a Foreign Culture" edited by Philip R. Devita and James D. Armstrong, 2nd ed.

It is an incredible book and I recommend it to everyone. It contains people from all over the world writing their experiences and analysis of American culture.

Question 1

Chapter Six

  In this chapter, the author discusses the excessive display of patriotism in America.  He points out that in Poland, the right to display a national symbol was monopolized and it was odd to see the American flag displayed in so many everyday situations.  This country is made up of many different groups of people with different beliefs and perspectives on the flag.  Some say it stands for ideal freedom and some say it stands for those who died for our freedom.  Freedom is a highly interpretable word and it isn’t possible for everyone to see the flag in the same manner.  This everyday display of a national symbol takes on whatever personal beliefs one attaches to it.  By changing the meaning to fit ones set of beliefs, the flag is devalued.  Would a dollar have any value if no one could agree on what it was worth? 

                It is obvious to me how intolerant of others people are within this country and I wouldn’t expect them to have a better understanding of people outside.  People think that displaying a symbol makes them patriotic, as if they need the symbol to achieve their status.  They aren’t taught enough about outside issues and cultures in school to understand all the flaws in their own system.  People like to wear a patriotic mask by institutionalizing the flag salute and the national anthem, but it doesn’t mean they care about real issues or want to fix the problems that do exist.  It goes along with all the other superficial masks people wear to just get where they need to go in life.  When someone goes to college because it symbolizes eventual wealth and status and not because they want to learn something, the point is proven further.  It is a reoccurring theme in a lot of the normal parts of American life.  As long as you look patriotic, you’re left alone.  Everyone wants the trophy, but no one cares what it’s for.

Chapter Seven

                The biggest difference between American and Filipino culture mentioned by the author is the emphasis on independence or dependence of children on their family.  I had realized that American family members are much more independent than in other cultures.  Dr. Wills told a story once of an African friend who couldn’t understand why people would live alone by choice in this country.  He commented on how much personal space everyone felt entitled to within a house as well.  I see that in all families here, except the very poor or large ones.  It seems to me that this expectation of personal space is an extension of the mentality brought by the early European immigrants.  America was the land of opportunity with no end to its richness in site so people came and for the first time in human memory, they weren’t restricted by a lack of space.  Like in Europe, where everything was pretty much developed, more people just meant less individual space.  Personal space, which leaves room for privacy, also needs a certain amount of independence. 

                One thing about American parents that I see constantly is hypocritical behavior.  The “do as I say but not as I do” routine.  I wonder if this is an American problem or not.  I view it as a problem, but then again, maybe it is functional somehow that I can’t understand.  Teaching kids to be independent is good because they seem to be more in control of their lives than past generations, creating an illusion of freedom.  But dissolving the dependence on family doesn’t create autonomy; it simply makes a person dependent on some other source like the government or religion. 

Chapter Ten

                The common question of “How are you?” is one thing that boggles my mind, even as an American.  I get that isolated feeling, as if the person didn’t really care about how I’m doing and therefore shouldn’t have asked, all the time.  I know that most people say it because it is like an extension of saying hi.  People don’t intend to be misleading or superficial.  Somewhere deep down they probably do want to know how the person is doing, but they just don’t have time to stop and chat because of the pressures of modern life.  I can’t stand this but I realize it is a result of a much larger system of thought.  People just think in terms of schedules and what they need to get where they want to go.  The one that I don’t understand is when someone says, “How are you?” and keeps walking without waiting for any response from the person they addressed.  It makes the phrase meaningless and one has to ask a different question for real information.  But, you learn to pick up on when a person means it or not.  Asking how someone is doing is considered a polite thing to do, but there doesn’t have to be substance to it.  I agree that it resembles fast food (of little nutritional value) packaged up fancy and delivered with a smile to make you feel good. 

                Also asking a generalized standard question leaves a good amount of choice to the respondent about what they wish to disclose to the asker.  This lack of personal depth in conversation reflects the importance of privacy and shows how internalized the belief in independence is.  People don’t always feel it is their right to know how another person is doing because a person should be capable of taking care of himself.

Chapter Fifteen

                I never realized how hard this situation was for teachers, only for students.  I agree that the reward for a good grade far outweighs the need for real learning and thinking in this country.  I don’t like to be so negative towards America, but I think a lot of the cultural norms and values in this country stink.  The value of a letter grade is higher than that of knowledge, which is reflected in every aspect of this culture.  It is more important to have a fancy car than to be a good driver.  It is more important to look like you have a perfect life, than to just be.  It is more important to make money off of easy victims with animal cruelty or human sweatshop labor than it is to save lives and environments.  The things we value are backwards and the sad thing is I’m not sure if it is uniquely American.

                I was speaking with a communications professor here at school today about this article.  He went to school in India, so I was lucky enough to get a third view on this issue.  He said that in India, they have very little public resources and the courses were not structured.  Courses wouldn’t have a syllabus.  Students weren’t hand fed the information to then be tested solely on that specific information in order to pass.  It seems obvious to me that there is something wrong with the system I’m going through, even though I have access to so much more than these students from other countries.  I started out just trying to learn here at college, but I can pinpoint when I stopped being a good student in high school.  It was when my teachers allowed me to turn in papers late without penalty.  I don’t want to blame the teachers because I know they have their own education battles to fight.  Somewhere before high school I learned that school was so easy I didn’t need to work hard at it.  When high school became challenging, I wasn’t able to meet the challenges, and my teachers let me slip through the system.  After entering college this turned into a terrible habit and a cause for much depression.  I totally see a correlation between the education system and the market economy system where the objective is to buy cheap and sell dear.  The question now is how does a person go back and unlearn bad learning habits?

Chapter 19

                I hadn’t realized how strange American culture must be to outsiders.  We really do have much in common with a circus like the appeal to youth and the emphasis on fantasy and fun.  Amusement parks are a huge industry here and it’s apparent how popular the ideas of fantasy worlds are becoming to the world because of our influence.  I’m opposed to the amount of power Disneyland has, but it really stands out as a U.S. symbol of achievement.  The fact that the U.S. isolates itself allows for a completely unique culture to emerge.  I also found it interesting that the mainstream values that are openly promoted like hard work and professional life are not what sell places like Disneyland or Magic Mountain.  They make money off of people’s need to get out of the American reality. 

                We have no age-old history to guide our culture, but we do have an obsession for new things.  It’s like we really can have anything we want and sometimes the level of excess we take or the amount of pains people will go through to get something must seem outrages to people in other countries.  What I find strange is my own desire to learn about European things more than any other culture instead of appreciating my own.  I found that in England, I felt very at ease with the surroundings.  I didn’t feel rushed along or as worried about having problems as I would here at home.  I often tell people how wonderful my trip there was and they are envious of me.  I’ve noticed a feeling among Americans, especially with punks, that we aren’t as historically noteworthy as Europeans, and we try to emulate them.  But, I think its not that we want to be them just that we want to have a definite culture to claim.  Most white Americans claim they have no “culture” as if culture is completely ethnic or racially based.

Question 2

                In my ethnography [the subculture of backyard punk gigs], I noticed that many of the typical behaviors and beliefs among the subculture were reflections of a larger mainstream culture.  Such as male dominance or as I sometimes think of it “the male default”.  This is what happens when someone talks about a person, or members of a band in the case of my ethnography, and it is assumed that they are male.  It is even worse in the mainstream because it is not just a male default but a straight white male.  Our gender socialization is a product of our culture.  The concept of independence is an important cultural value and many immigrant people assimilate by letting their children have more independence than normal compared to their original culture.  The idea of independence from authority is one key element, which led to backyard parties happening.  At the same time people are being independent from one thing, they are actually still being dependent on something else.  It seems as if we expect life in general to change for the better, even though our actions make it harder to advance our place in society.

Question 3

            I agree to some extent with Shweder’s view that fundamental changes in American laws should be changed, if necessary, “to accommodate almost any practice accepted as valid in a radically different society if it can be demonstrated to have some social or cultural good”. Americans are so unwilling to accept differences in culture because we are taught from a young age that we are the only cultural group that is “right”.  We aren’t familiarized with non-American information so when groups immigrate their practices are automatically viewed suspiciously.  There has to be a balance between immigrant cultural preservation and abiding by American norms and laws.  American culture is so varied itself that no majority of people follows the same path.  I found it interesting that piercing was on the list of activities at risk of being dubbed un-American.  American culture may not value piercing but I don’t know anyone who thinks people with piercings are less American because of having them.  Our culture evolves over time and it’s more the way we think than how we go about practicing those ideas.  I think that cultural practices, which perpetuate anti-human rights ideology among its people, should not be allowed in this country.  Female genital mutilation is not the same as male circumcision, it is equivalent to male castration and is a device used to control women and their sexuality.  This deeper notion of women having rights should be universal in order to be true at all.  A man kissing his son’s penis as a sign of fatherly love does not seem to perpetuate any systematic hate or control over the child.  And unless there is reasonable evidence that harm would come to the child, why should it be subject to our laws, which are intended to protect the innocent?

            It is hard to say who has a right to decide what happens to these people and their children.  On one hand, any immigrant has to adapt to certain cultural norms.  If I moved to another country, I wouldn’t expect to be able to live life the same way that I do here.  I would expect to assimilate somewhat but keep whatever part of my first culture I could.  It seems as if Immigrants who come here don’t want to change at all, and that is what Americans dislike.  The fact that someone from outside doesn’t think the American way is best goes against everything we are taught.  I try not to think in those terms about America though and try to understand other cultural practices for what they mean to that culture and not my own.  In this way too, it would not make sense to accept practices like genital mutilation in this country because it perpetuates something negative within the culture it came from.