Is there an "American culture"?

Hello everybody,

This morning, my Holocaust & Genocide professor raised some questions that prompted me to really look at the United States' place -- and, by extension, my place -- in the world:

Students, do you recognize that, when you are living in a foreign country, you will be seen by many of its people as a representative of your home country? What does it mean to you to be in a position you didn't necessarily ask for -- the position of "representing" the United States, in this case? And is there such thing as an "American culture" to represent in the first place?

Those are some loaded questions there, Dr. Jørgensen.

Well, the first one is easy enough to answer: yes; I do sometimes feel as if I am acting as a representative of the United States of America. I also recognize that, whether or not I feel this way in any given situation, I will still likely be perceived and treated by my non-American counterparts as a spokesperson for or manifestation of my home country. That's not always a bad thing. I try to engage in respectful cultural dialogue, and if I don't know the answer to something or don't subscribe to a certain aspect of "American culture" (whatever that may be), I am not hesitant to say so. In that realm, things have been going well so far :)

The second and third questions are much harder to answer...

What does it mean to be in the position of "representing" the United States?

I think that depends greatly upon personal experience.

Some students in my class said that they had been shushed by Danes on public transportation for talking too loudly with their friends, or had been told that a lot of Europeans don't like Americans because our government has committed war crimes. They worried that they would be perceived as "obnoxious American college students" and that, on an international/intercultural stage, the American government's political maneuvers could not be separated from individual American citizens themselves.

I haven't personally had any such interactions during my time in Denmark. The students who described these ordeals made a point of telling the professor such negative encounters were few and far between -- but they did occur, and I think they're important to unpack:

American college students can be loud. Danish teenagers pre-gaming on the Øresundtåg (a type of train) can also be loud*. Conclusion: people in general are capable of being annoying and disruptive in public places, and they're not all American. I think everyone knows that. But it would still be really awkward to be called out by a bus driver or fellow passenger; I know that if I had been in that situation, I'd have the same exact worries my classmates mentioned! *[Note: the drinking age is different in Denmark, and so are open container laws. As far as I know, the kids on the Øresundtåg weren't breaking any laws; they were just being obnoxious].

As for people abroad who disagree with American foreign policy -- so do a lot of Americans. Lots of the DIS students are politically left of center, so I think it was jarring to my classmates to hear that they were part of "the problem" (whatever that may be). Trust me, most of us would probably rant with you about the US's brutality during the Vietnam War... just, please remember that none of us were alive then, and that we don't have a direct line of communication that allows us to voice our grievances to the President! :(

Anyway, in my direct experience, I don't feel as if I've been put on the spot as "The American." I think this can be explained from a few different angles:

I am very clearly of white European descent, and even though I have dark hair, I have been mistaken for a Dane numerous times (i.e., being asked for directions, being spoken to and answering in Danish during brief interactions at the supermarket, etc). I don't visually stand out as "foreign." In contrast, many of my classmates of color are quickly and easily identified as "foreigners", if not Americans.

I rarely travel with other people -- and when I do (of course, aside from when my family visited), I'm with Isabel. So I almost never have a reason to speak during my commute to/from class. I just kind of blend in.

I'm pretty critical of my country -- not out of disdain, but out of a drive to demand better. I don't shy away from tough conversations unless I have little/no knowledge of the topic. So if somebody asks what I think about [insert controversial issue-related-to-the-United-States XYZ], I'm probably going to be pretty blunt in my response.

So I'm pretty convinced that my complexion, mannerisms/introvertedness, and (constant? lol) criticism of my own country have shielded me from some of the things other students have reported experiencing. In many contexts, I have the luxury of not "representing" anything as controversial and consequential as the United States of America -- at least, not in any way that is distressing to me.

I think the only thing I have found myself regularly worrying about is my lack of Danish language skills. Most Danes (and many Europeans in general) are at least bilingual -- and even though I speak Spanish, that's not really going to get me anywhere in Denmark :) So sometimes I worry that I come off as an American that expects everyone else to know English, but who doesn't challenge herself to learn other languages. To combat that perception, I've been making an effort to learn some everyday words and phrases in Danish.

Is there such thing as an "American culture" to represent in the first place?

I don't know...

This question is difficult to answer for a number of reasons. First of all, our country is enormous. Culture is often influenced by physical region, and even when we divide the land area up into smaller bits, individual states have their own unique cleavages. Pair that with a patchwork of social and economic demographics, and defining any overarching "American" cultural theme becomes nearly impossible!

I must also acknowledge that I am a pretty cynical person, and that may be why I personally have so much trouble answering this question. Whatever American culture is, it is unquestionably built upon a foundation of colonialism, slavery, and capitalism. We live in a dysfunctional zero-sum environment that has effectively been marketed to us as fair and just. We are an incredibly wealthy nation with some of the worst structural poverty and inequality in the "developed" world. I've come to the conclusion that we are a society and a culture of paradoxes; that's the closest I, as an individual, can presently get to any sort of concrete answer.

But it might also be hard to pinpoint because the environment into which we are born like the air we breathe -- it is invisible to us. It feels natural and normal until somebody from "outside" brings it to our attention... So, speaking of someone from the "outside", here are some of Dr. Jørgensen's impressions of American culture, formulated when he was teaching at Grinnell College in Iowa:

- "You Americans worry so much. Everything is so competitive, and it makes me sad how much it stresses you young people out" (TRUER WORDS HAVE NEVER BEEN UTTERED)

- Apparently, we use "skirting language"; we have a lot of euphemisms for bodily functions and unsavory or controversial topics that would be discussed more openly in other cultures.

- "You seem to choose your culture" (as opposed to culture being assigned at birth and operating as fate. I'm not really sure what he means by this; I'll have to think on it a bit more...)

- "Americans have this immense generosity and immense politeness" (haha, sounds like the Midwest; I've definitely heard this stereotype/impression before).

- "You have a strange sort of individualism that could almost be taken for egoism at times" (I've definitely heard this about Americans before).

- "People actually talk to each other in your country" (apparently, Danes don't talk to each other very much? Hm.... I guess small talk is much less of a thing in Denmark; as an introvert, I'm kind of okay with that, though)

So there's that. Lots to think about. I guess my main takeaway is that what exactly constitutes "American culture" is highly contested, as well as dependent upon one's previous life experiences.

And that's what I've got for this week! Last week, I tried to post pictures, but not all of them would upload. I'll try again tonight and let you all know if/when the upload process works!

Thanks for reading! Hej hej!