Going Native
I've been reading some blogs by Americans teaching English all over Indonesia. The ups and downs. The weird part for me was I learned about Indonesian cultures in other islands that I've never been to by reading their experiences.
However, there were moments when I thought, were they really talking about Indonesia? Because it was also foreign to my experience. Like the one about funeral clothes in Gorontalo, they are apparently white and blue. All my life, I was taught to wear something dark, preferably black. The story about moslems are not supposed to use contraception before having any kids, is also new to me. What strike me most is the number for their students or friends that wear jilbab. Even in my stint in Lampung I didnt see that many women with jilbab. The fact that some of them lives in a small town plays role in experiencing different kind of Indonesia.
Reading about these people, reminds me of my own (culture shock) experiences both abroad and when I got back. It also made me wonder if my view of Dutch is also very fragmented, after all unless you hang out with different circles of people, you practically only catch a glimpse of a certain group.
5 comments:
Fascinating observation.
I guess societies - especially as huge as the Indonesian one, but relatively small ones like The Netherlands also- are way to complicated and diverse to be fully understood. Scrutinizing them, one will continually be amazed and surprised. I guess even being born and bred in a country doesn't provide you with anything but a "fragmented view" at best. The image always will be incomplete.
By the way: I have to admit foreign authors/correspondents - and especially 'marginal men' like Ian Buruma, Schrama or Kennedy who are halfway Dutch- often were real eye-openers to me.
you meant James kennedy of UvA?
never heard of schrama:(
@ triesti: Ja, inderdaad James. En Simon Schrama schreef bijvoorbeeld "Overvloed en Onbehagen" over (de impact van) de Gouden Eeuw ( de zeventiende).
that's what i loved so much about teaching english in germany - i met such a wide range of people that I wouldn't have met at uni!
@John yupe, I think I mingled with a wider range of people back in NL than typical Indonesians.
@Colson, do you know about sid-nl.org ? Each month they have this interesting lecture at VU. This month's is next Monday by Robert Falkner of LSE on International Relations
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