american culture from an outsiders perspective american culture from an outsiders perspective

- Ingerlise Kristensen, 68, retired bank employee, Copenhagen, Denmark, "America is food fast food and (Coca) Cola. It has hired big-name stars, including Soledad OBrien and Ali Velshi, from American networks. Your email address will not be published. Included 600 grams of cheese. - Summer Abu Ltaif, outside the American University of Beirut, "I think that they are formed by an ideology. Fenrir89, I get made fun of all the time in Russia for having an attachment to my college. Yes, we Americans admittedly like to go big or go homeand when foreigners come to visit, this is a concept that they quickly notice. In a moments answer, a culture is revealed anew. Foreign tourists might be surprised to find out just how many other destinations in the U.S. have restaurants that are open around the clock. Don't get me wrong, dental hygiene is important, but not everyone needs a perfect Hollywood smile. Works Cited. The general consensus is that Americans are very optimistic dreamers and have been; that we believe that anything is possible with hard work and perseverance. Here are 33 "normal" customs and habits in the U.S. that weird out the rest of the world. Many Western media companies have seized upon this reality to create sites devoted to the domestic consumption of their foreign reporting including The New York Timess India Ink blog, to cite an example. I think sometimes we take our freedom and our way of life for granted, not realizing how great it really is. Grab a blanket and a glass of hot chocolate, and do these five warm indoor activities for those rainy winter days. My American studies courses here have given me the opportunity to observe America from an outsider's perspective and really get an understanding of what Europeans actually think of us. Why have an 8-ounce steak when you can have a 20-ounce one? Ethnocentric people compare their culture to others on such elements as religion, behavior, language, customs, and norms. To simplify matters, let's assign letters (yup, engineer at work). And it's a country with quite advanced technology industries. To examine these facts other cultures are taken into consideration to accurately without prejudices towards African Americans. Romances and horrors are great genres to cozy up to in the dark. To me a pumpkin spice coffee is so strange!-- TallGrass2, dressing up young girls in short skirts and getting them to dance around and cheer on young men strikes me as odd preparetodobattle, I work at a summer camp and there is nothing funnier than watching the international counselors be totally weirded out by the flag ceremony we have every morning/evening (5-7 camper colorguard raises flag, salutes, 60-90 people recite pledge and girl scout promise in unison, we turn on our heels and file out silently in the morning, in the evening we fold the flag, sing taps, turn on our heels and file out silently to dinner) izzielosthermind, Eating/drinking coffee as you go, to me the best part of eating is sitting down, talking, and relaxing tallgrass2, I know this does not apply to everyone but your attachment to your college/university AFTER you have left. In America, on the other hand, taking time off is often treated like a sin. When Al Jazeera becomes a major U.S. cable channel, as it plans, some Americans are likely to click past it, recalling the alleged anti-American tone by the pan-Arab network during the Iraq war a decade ago, CNN wrote in a not atypical comment. Nor am I saying that we dont have an intricately rich history that has shaped us to what we are today. They are taken to a store where, when presented with a slip of paper, can be exchanged for currency. This I do not know. The process often began between four and seven years old. Cultural Perspective on African American Culture Angela Khristin Brown E-mail: brownlas6@aol.com Received: 05-09- 2013 Accepted: 09-10-2013 Published: 31-10-2013 . For example, 84% of those ages 18 to 29 in Taiwan hold this view . The fellow in line asked me in a very American accent, 'Y'all can't get what in the States?' When first reading this analysis, it is not easy to recognize that Miner is talking about American's culture. To begin, Ill stick with the positives. But its one thing for big media companies from the prosperous West to make these domestic inroads overseas, and another thing for a network based in Qatar to reverse the flow and give Americans their version of the foreign gaze. - Knut Braaten, 43, handyman, Oslo, Norway, "When I was driving to North Carolina I stopped at McDonald's. If you want a second soda in a place like Paris, for example, be prepared to dole out some extra cash. And he said, 'Oh Canada! In most other countries, when you buy a drink, that prince is for a single cupful of your beverage of choice. There is some discussion of dolphin infant mortality, but not so much about the issue in America even though it ranks close to the bottom among the advanced economies. By adding some whipped cream and a cinnamon stick, a regular cup of warm chocolate powder in milk becomes more like a dessert. Though the conditions of pre-Columbian America and 15th-century Iberia are beyond the scope of Latin American history proper, they must be given consideration in that connection. All the pomp and circumstance surrounding prom, I have cousins who live in the US and just hearing about the number of hoops they had to jump through to ask someone to a dance is hilarious. Lastly, the best part is the toppings. The beliefs, customs, art, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time. Al Jazeera America has brought this approach to Chicagos violence, actually arranging a sit-down interview with working gang leaders, openly discussing their drugs, guns and ways. Curious about which things are considered freaky by foreigners' standards? Still, and after more than a decade following the publication by Headland, Pike and Harris (1990), discussions about insider versus outsider status of the researcher remain alive and relevant. The etic perspective is data gathering by outsiders that yield questions posed by outsiders. I found the people very hospitable, nice and very cordial." I also like a challenge. In this book, American culture refers to pattern and behavior of the mainstream. But if you were to use this pronunciation in conversation with an English speaker from another country, they'd probably give you a puzzled look. See the appropriate sections in the textbook, based on your chosen topic from Week Three, for information on how to approach your paper from an anthropological perspective. You have your hot chocolate made, playlist downloaded, movie set and books chosen. Americans go nuts with air conditioning, cranking it up on hot days to the point that you might actually need a sweater. And after 9/11, the world grieved with America. Tipping. They look super fake. Uber-Friendliness. These Americans, thus, are all quite concerned with the overall presentation of their houses: they make sure other people see and admire them. } else { But one thing for sure, they cannot make beer." In every public surveyed - including the U.S. - people ages 18 to 29 are more likely than those ages 65 and older to rate U.S. entertainment as above average or the best. The photo below shows different tools for cleaning ones teeth yes, even the sticks. when we mean "hello", Carding people who are obviously not under 21, Shopping at pharmacies that are mini shopping malls, And prescription drug makers that advertise, Pronouncing the last letter of the alphabet as "zee". These kind greetings can catch foreigners by surprise, and usually it takes a few "hellos" before they trust that it's not some kind of scam. Americans are nothing if not by the book about the little things, so most foreigners quickly learn that it's wise to keep some form of ID on them at all times if they plan on having a drink. The drum is . He also emptied my friend's fridge, saying he's used to eating and drinking whenever he feels hungry or thirsty. cultural frames of reference" and "learn to step outside of their own thinking in order to examine it and also to acknowledge others' thinking" (pp. Most European travelers expect to place their order and then be done interacting with their server for the remainder of their meal. Given that the school-age Asian American population doubled in the . The foreign gaze makes Al Jazeera America treat nothing as obvious. cota main grandstand; chocolate pudding with 2 percent milk Remembering that practices are driven by the culture someone is situated in, including our very own practices, is key to avoiding ethnocentrism the mistaken belief that your culture is the standard by which others should be compared. Holidays are integral parts of different cultures and by looking at them through the eyes of an outsider, we can see how culture influences perspective. The Americans are more of a tipper, good tippers. First off, there are a variety of flavors, from White Chocolate, Pumpkin Spice, Mint, Caramel and the list goes on. The first is that, for the longest time, reporters from foreign news organizations sent reports back to the countries that dispatched them, and those reports were seldom seen locally. This story deals with issues that are very close to the hearts of teens, whether in the 1960s when this book was written or today. Instead, their purple Skittles taste like blackcurrantand while this fruity flavor used to be popular in America, legislators banned the fruit itself in the 20th century because it served as a vehicle for a wood-destroying disease known as white pine blister rust. I encourage others to take a step outside, in any situation, to see the broader view of things because what you find may surprise you. America permeated their lives - through comics and Coke, through Hollywood and Neil Armstrong, and via the internet, iPhone and Facebook. Suppose we have two cultures in presence. Reducto_Absurdum, Americans are obsessed with straight, white teeth. if( 'moc.enilnoefiltseb' !== location.hostname.split('').reverse().join('') ) { 1) Outside Marketing Firms Bring Fresh Thinking. So when it is too cold for an ice cream party, you can have a hot chocolate party instead! Covering the United States this way means, for starters, reporting on subjects like infant mortality. Instead, it's meant as a simple greeting, similar to "Hi there!" I hate to put even more pressure on . 5. One child was given a circle with a hole in it, which was in a rectangular case, and he put this circle into a box and proceeded to stare at the screen and hold a device attached to the box by a wire. But, I digress. NACIREMA: UPDATING A CLASSIC TO SEE YOUR OWN CULTURE AS AN OUTSIDER. They cannot generate these results, because they are based on, and restricted by, the ethnocentric perspective. The Associated Press sent reporters across the world to ask ordinary people about their views of America. - Marren Cahilig, 21, bartender, Manila, Philippines, "Many things their arrogant ideology of a powerful country and above all they have a language that is practically universal and almost everyone depends on that language. [] https://thesocietypages.org/toolbox/nacirema/ (Links to an external site.) When described the way the Miner does, it sounds strange and maybe even a bit gross. But elsewhere, there's no reason why eggs can't sit out on a shelf or counter. These are the kind of zoomed-out, big-picture stories that result from asking the most basic questions and that in other newsrooms might be killed because they are too obvious, or have been done 1,000 times, or dont have a new angle. They are the kind of stories that result from sending reporters out to ask the biggest unresolved questions about their own society from making them think, in short, like a foreign correspondent freshly returned to a now-unfamiliar home. In other parts of the world, however, ice isn't something you'll see nearly as frequently. If even we Americans don't get it, we can't expect anyone else to either. Oh, and side note, the customer service in America is seen as amazing. in /nfs/c05/h04/mnt/113983/domains/toragrafix.com/html/wp-content . In some of my classes, as part of a paper exploring the concepts and influenceof culture, I ask students to explore a ritual within their own culture but from an outsiders view as if they were witnessing the practice for the first time and trying to understand it. Saysthingsfromabush, In Scotland our equivalents are ceilidhs and in school you just go and f***ing dance. I can imagine that persons evaluation would be something like the following: During this holiday called Christmas, families take great care to ensure that they decorate their houses and various shrubs with wires. In addition, for some reason, the tree must be a rather large tree with lots of foliage. All of the Trump stuff in the U.S. has been depressing you would like to think people are smarter than that but definitely surprising and depressing to see how much support he has and how much support his ideas have." Interpersonal relations among Americans are much more practical, in contrast to the complicated way that we Chinese people treat each other." We love having lots of options in America, but sometimes for an outsider, ordering food can feel like a multiple-choice quiz. In Japan, open-mouthed, teeth-exposed laughter is thought to "sound like horses," and is considered impolite, and in particular, unladylike, in the same manner Americans consider coughing . - Karin Cohen, 25, bookshop worker, Jerusalem, "The first thing I think when I hear United States is a world power." But when Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based television empire that has long broadcast to . Now, I am sure this doesnt just extend to us Americans, but I thought about how each country has their own beautifully unique world of its own. Not in America it isn't! It's not that we're lazy, per se; it's just that we like to be comfyand despite the weird looks we get from European tourists, being cozy simply trumps looking put together sometimes. It's the many electronics we have the bridge in San Francisco." BANGKOK -- The rest of the world may think Americans eat a lot of burgers, have huge shopping malls and are ruled by an arrogant government.And yet the "Ugly American," it would seem, isn't all . While I thought this over, I also began to think of why people, myself especially, are so enthralled with other countries. Guide to US and American culture, society, language, etiquette, customs, manners and protocol. You might have been counting down the days until spring, but make the most of these chilly and cloudy days. If you have Netflix or Hulu, the possibilities of movies are endless. In continuation with time, the culture of the native people developed. navigator.sendBeacon('https://www.google-analytics.com/collect', payload); Adam Schubak Partnerships Editor Adam is a writer based out of New . - Antara Rao, 18, student, New Delhi, "I have traveled all over the United States in Greyhound buses as a tourist. Mix it up using almond or coconut milk. Sure, fried chicken is hardly a foreign conceptbut try explaining chicken-fried steak or deep-fried Oreos to a non-American.