Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Stereotypes the world over

“All Muslims are terrorists and all Protestants are copiers”-An Ethiopian man sharing his view with me while in a car.

While doing an intercultural adventure, it is important to find people with strong opinions and who are willing to share. Perhaps it is because I am from Minnesota, where people are less obvious about their views. I believe that behind every opinionated person with strong and perhaps negative views, there are a dozen silent people with similar views. I find exploring the negative options of others especially illuminating. Let’s take the “All Muslims are terrorists” line for example. From this quote I can understand a few things about the gentleman. Considering there is a 32% population of Muslims and a dearth of Muslim terrorist attacks in Ethiopia, I can deduce that the man has formed his opinion based on media or gossip.

What I found the more interesting portion of this comment is the assertion that all Protestants are copycats. This indicates a few things. First, I could deduce, he is proud of his Ethiopian Christian Orthodox tradition and recognizes the value of its time tested traditions. Second, he places value on the age of the religion. Christian Orthodoxy traces its origins to the beginning of the faith, consequently one could understand how the Protestant tradition could be seen as a copy of an older tradition.

I find stereotypical views like these so insightful, for the sheer reason that they are not often expressed. How many other Orthodox Ethiopians, I wonder, view Muslims as terrorists and Protestants as copiers? Can I use this insight to covertly shape a more tolerant message with others I meet along the way? With this knowledge I feel more compelled to share my positive experiences with Muslims with others I meet in my Ethiopian journey.

Eventually I felt obligated to share my experience. "I have Muslim friends who are not terrorists." I felt it best to stick with my direct experience, rather than something more abstract, such as "Powerful groups will often terrorize others in order to obtain control." Or something more pointed, such as "I know plenty of Muslim Oromo people in Minneapolis who say they were terrorized by Orthodox people." People are more receptive to new ideas, when they don't feel like they have to justify their ideas. Really, what is the guy going to say, "No you don't have friends that are Muslims." That would just be ridiculous. He did not say this however. He changed the subject to how he would like to see Yani live in concert.

Intercultural Tip: The best argument seldom influences. Often, your personal experience will introduce enough doubt into a rigid world view to slowly influence.

Ethiopia Archives: Mass of Humanity

Not only was there technological differences to live in Ethiopia, but there were also cultural similarities. Jessi was telling a story of how there was a mass of humanity in Ethiopia. This “mass of humanity” is how I describe the experience where we were always shaking hands, bumping shoulders, squeezed into spaces with others and holding other peoples’ babies in Ethiopia. The “mass of humanity” is the one over arching experience that I had while in Africa both when I went to West Africa in 2007 and most recently that I enjoyed. With it you get this sense that you are a part of a massive, shared human experience. Although it could be considered gross, crowded or stressful, there is something about hearing adults laughing, while a baby cries, while smelling everyone’s’ sweat while squeezed into a mini bus that seats 9 actually seating about 14. Although not something one would traditionally be described as pleasant, it gives you a sense of this raw human experience that we are all sharing together. Everybody eats, sweats, cries, laughs and dies no matter what language is spoken or technology is possessed. And although one can understand this concept intellectually or can rehearse the previous sentence and repeat it. It is the experience of being on a crowded bus that one can really feel it.

I was surprised to hear of my Dad remember when he moved from his small town that he shared with his 13 other immediate siblings, that he missed this as well. He remembers being in Minneapolis while working at a big accounting firm and missing the constant noise, physical attention and constant humanity that was his life in the small town.

Although the “mass of humanity” is an experience I was able to put words to due to my experience in Africa, it is an understanding that belongs not to a single continent, but to a way of life that is more rural. In one way I felt that this experience that I had while in Africa brought me closer to my parents. It was almost as if I had to all the way to Africa to understand the living situations my parents grew up in while in their own rural “village.”

Mass of humanity near and far

While discussing the village life Jessi and I experienced while in Ethiopia, stories started pouring forth from my parents. I learned for the first time that my extended family didn’t have a running water toilet in their house until the 1980s. I also learned that my mom went to a one room K-8 school where all students would use a single outhouse for a toilet. Before eating lunch each student in this k-8 school would reuse water from a single basin to wash their hands. The last student to wash her hands got the dirtiest water. It was funny how Jessi and I thought we were having this real village life experience with limited electricity and running water. To our parents, this was nothing new. I am a little disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to bring these stories about my parent's history to people we met outside the main city in Ethiopia. It would have been nice to share with them because it would illustrate how America is not this shining metropolis on the hill where every family and household had running water and electricity since its invention. Perhaps it would have given the people we spoke with the confidence to see how technological development is a developmental process.

Intercultural Tip: Technology can either widen or shorten cultural divides.