Painting a Nation: The world we want vs. The world that is

3/25/2016

Painting a Nation: The world we want vs. The world that is

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The sun rising over 26 square miles of temples and pagodas in Bagan, Myanmar.

Representing An Entire Nation

"How do they celebrate Christmas in America?" "What's the weather like in America?" "What do you do for fun in America?" "How does this compare to what you see in America?"

These are a few examples of the questions an ETA can expect to be asked on a daily basis. It isn't easy to explain how many different 'Americas' there really are. My roommate is an ETA from Los Angeles, and if we are ever together when we get one of these questions, we're always shocked to learn how different our idea is of what defines the United States. But geographical divides are generally easily explained. The hard-hitting questions come when the answer differs based on things like gender, sexuality, class, race, or religion.

Let me explain:
An example of this is the unfortunate and deep-rooted stigma among general Malaysian society concerning Jews and Judaism. There are many speculations as to why this exists, but the general conclusion among unbiased parties is that an Islam dominated government and media combined with little to no interaction with actual jews has caused biased portrayals of history and conflict, particularly Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to trickle into daily lives. (Sounds a lot like what a Christian-American media has done to Islam, but that's a discussion for another day).

Here's how this effects me:
So there I was, working with a Form 6 (pre-university) class and discussing the diversity of America and how it relates to world events and historical immigration patterns. One of my students caught the word "Chanukah" on my handout, and promptly asked "Mister, but what is Chah-NOO-kuh?" Which I actually know an ignorantly small amount about, so I did my best to explain the representation of the menorah and the course of the long celebration. (Apologies to my Jewish friends. I owe you a little studying time.)

My students all accepted this as a wonderful celebration, and were interested to learn more!
The teacher, however, was not as open to the idea. The following scenario represents the drastic generational divide in Malaysia, and especially this region of Borneo.

Immediately, I became overwhelmed with questions like "Yes, but can you identify a jew?" "Do they look different?" "How do you know if someone is Jewish? Or do they just look white?" "Like, you can tell if someone is white, latino, asian, or black, right? What about jews?"

And then I lied.
I tried to explain that it's impossible to identify someone's religion by merely looking at them (So far, pretty true) and for that matter, accurately guessing someone's race/ethnicity is EXTREMELY difficult... so we just..you know.. don't. (let the lying begin). I explained that there are so many cultures that mix with each other so frequently, that to be concerned with things like race, religion, or other identifiers of people other than yourself, just simply doesn't occur. The unfortunate reality of America is that people rudely ask "What race are you?!" ALL. THE. TIME. But it's an issue we strive everyday to work towards eliminating. To live in a world of equality where race, ethnicity, and religion, is not at the forefront of everyone's minds in their daily workings is the uphill battle America has been fighting for years.
But here I am. In a nation where race and ethnic identity is printed next to your name on your Identification Card, painting the United States of America has a nation where nobody asks about it because it's wouldn't change our opinion of anyone anyway. "We try to understand your personality, heart, and character first. Whatever race or religion you happen to be is just fine by us!" I said confidently. Of course, I wasn't going to sit there and pretend like the USA is some utopian society where we drink rainbows and bathe in flowers. "Obviously, not everyone feels this way. Many people still categorize based on these factors, but it's something we view as wrong and our goal is to have equality. Americans are fighting for equality everyday. It's not a perfect world and discrimination certainly exists, but we're trying. At least, these are my views about it all." (PRO-TIP: That's the important part of representing literally millions of people; 'These are my thoughts, but maybe not everyone's')

One student spoke up: "That's great. But aren't the black people being shot by white police officers all the time for doing nothing wrong?"

This was me:

I don't own a paintbrush big enough to paint a pretty picture of America after this question.
"Yes. Police brutality is a hot-button issue right now back in the United States. There are a lot of people with many different opinions on the problem and how it should be fixed. But that's a problem too big for the amount of time left in class today. Let's talk more about that after class!" and then I shamefully moved on to other parts of the lesson, passing this opportunity to have fruitful discussion about race relations.
The student did ask more about it after class though. We spoke about it more later. Even though I knew I'd be doing quite a bit of 'American Diplomacy" during my time with Fulbright, these were conversations I wasn't prepared for, but am glad are happening.

From Classroom to Hotel Room:
Painting for Tourists

March Break! One week off from school to do as I pleased. Myself and 3 other ETAs took the time to spend 7 days in Myanmar (Burma), and boy was it a wonderful experience.

A small rundown of our trip went something like:
2 days in Bagan - 26 square miles of Beautiful temples and pagodas with jaw-dropping views.
2 day in Kalaw - a beautiful, cool mountain town with lots of trekking and outdoor adventures
2 days in Inle Lake - a large lake surrounded by a variety of villages known for fishing, 'long-necked ladies', blacksmiths, and the one legged boat rowers!
1 day in Yangon - a large city rich in history and culture

Never before have I taken a vacation to a new country with limited time to visit, and we had a heck of a time! The country hasn't been open for tourism for more than 4 or 5 years, so the authenticity of the culture remains very true.

Kuching is Sarawak's capital, about 30minutes from my town. People can all view the same place very differently!

However, I couldn't help but feel a small amount of traveller's guilt. Somewhere hidden deep within the social constructs of a society lies a line where tourism transforms into cultural leeching.
The highlight of our trip to Myanmar, for me, was being in Bagan. Bagan is an amazing place, rich with spirituality and culture. But two instances really weighed heavily on my heart:

At an eatery nearby a popular temple, we were having lunch, when a tourist couple enters. After asking the local workers to pose for his pictures, giving commands like "you crouch behind her" "Aren't you happy? Smile!" and physically moving and placing the child, who clearly didn't understand English, as though he were a clay doll meant to be molded for this photo, one of them asks "Don't you speak English?" and after a reluctant "no" they replied with, "Oh. Study more." This was capped off by the couple then paying the child a small amount of money to fan them with a large leaf while they ate lunch.
As my fellow Fulbright ETAs and I relax, watching the sunset over the red and orange dusty soils of Myanmar, I noticed a group of tourists with expensive cameras, quite literally chasing a farmer and his oxen across a field as they looked for a place green enough to graze.

My friends and I were confused and outraged by some of these behaviors. But perhaps the most I've ever learned about being a foreigner, particularly a foreigner who is fits the categorization of the global power majority, was when my friend looks at me and says, "I was thinking, what separates us from them?"

Here we are. Americans. Lucky enough to have been born in a country with strong currency and to have been afforded the opportunity to see the world. We are in the community people who are working their tails off to paint their country in a way that's appealing to us, the tourists.

Now by no means do I intend to criminalize tourism, tourists, travel, or perpetuate ideas of majority-guilt. But it's important to be culturally sensitive while a guest on other people's lands. Travel is good. Tourism boosts economies. Hospitality is the core of many cultures. And there is no education like that of simply meeting new people. But when does cultural experiences and cultural sharing cross into a sort of cultural voyeurism?

People love to paint images of their country for others to come and see. But like most amazing paintings; Just look and enjoy! Don't alter, destroy or attempt to duplicate without permission.

And with that, here's some of the murals in Myanmar I was able to (try to) capture:
(heads up - there's a real lack of the most beautiful moments from the trip because either my phone was dead, or it was too amazing to take my eyes off of for long enough to look at through a phone. So much beauty!)