As a young person in my 20’s on returning home to Australia from travels overseas in the ’80s, I was always fascinated by my experiences of cultural ambiguity in social situations of meeting new people. Living and working overseas on an internal level, had immeasurable transformational changes but I don’t think it affected my overall physical cultural appearance!
I had to question this as every trip I have come back from I go through this conversational routine with people. I had some humorous conversations with people in response to questions of people asking me: ‘Where are you really from? Or my statement of ‘Well I’m Australian but `I’ve just come back from Bangladesh’ or ‘I’ve just come back from Peru’ or China or wherever country it is and they would immediately respond with excitement and fascination, “Oh, you must be Bangladeshi” or ‘Oh, you must be Peruvian’.
I disappoint them by saying -“No, I’m not. I’m Australian’. The conversation somehow then falls flat. Then they often relay to me how lucky I am to have a culture. This revealed a lot to me about their notion of cultural identity and a sense of people not believing they have a culture that they clearly identify with. People told me I was lucky because ‘I had a culture’. This for me was a sad moment of that feeling that you only ‘had a culture’ if you looked like me!
Was I not the ‘cultural fascination ‘ they thought I was going to be? What does this reveal about the way the human brain works when it comes to cultural perceptions and assumptions and the way that people try to connect and relate to people based on physical appearances. Is it that we are going into unknown territory? Well, in fact, I personally think it is true that the way we base our responses to people relies a lot on our experiences, memory, and knowledge of what we know.
From a theoretical definition of ‘cultural ambiguity, it refers to the influence of different cultures, a user is culturally ambiguous if he/she/they have been influenced by different cultural groups or carries a cultural identity that cannot be clearly assigned to a certain territory.’ Well in this case I would definitely attribute this meaning to my experiences.
Sometimes in my case, it was easier to say what I was not rather than who I was. As a second-generation, Australian-born Chinese (ABC) you already go through several layers of soul searching and cultural identity crisis trying to find your place in the world with school, family, and friends and with social and cultural expectations. I was relieved in 1988 when Australia’s Bicentennial celebration happened that people of Anglo-Saxon backgrounds felt they ‘had culture’ and reclaimed it.
I use this personal experience as a small example of how I started to understand the bigger world and how I navigated my way through these complex issues which constantly hampered me in my thoughts and shifted my internal dialogue and view of the world.
As a fan of Woody Allen’s earlier films I remember rushing to see his classic film, Zelig made in 1983 when it first came out in the cinema. Whilst the film works on many different levels of social, cultural, and political references and meaning it resonated with me on a personal level.
The movie is where Allen plays Leonard Zelig, a 1920s man with a special ability; namely, the power to physically transform himself into any type of person, regardless of shape, size, or nationality. A nondescript enigma, who, apparently out of his desire to fit in and be liked, unwittingly takes on the characteristics of strong personalities around him.
The film was photographed and narrated in the style of 1920s black-and-white newsreels, which are interwoven with archival footage from the era and re-enactments of real historical events. Using clever cinematographic techniques colour segments from the historic to the present day include interviews of real and fictional personages, including my art heroine, cultural commentator, and photographer, Susan Sontag.
Leonard becomes the `Zelig Phenomenon ‘ and through the use of hypnotism, Dr. Eudora Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow), psychiatrist discovers Zelig yearns for approval so strongly that he physically changes to fit in with those around him.
He becomes a novelty in society with a `unique medical condition’ as a human chameleon. This is an interesting metaphor for the shifting between different realities. This was something that I related to and made me have an inner smile-highly amused by the absurdity of thinking that you can blend in by taking on certain physical characteristics in a certain environment or social grouping and raising questions of social and cultural conformity and individualism. The example of Zelig’s ability to morph into a Chinese person in Chinatown or any social and cultural environment and take on the physical attributes of being Asian when he is surrounded by other Chinese is quite humorous.
As anyone from any country expands their personal, social, and travel experiences and increases their cultural awareness on global issues and as years progress I like to think we as a community has developed a more sophisticated understanding of the complexity of cultural identity. This does not evolve unless people’s investigation of their own self-identity, social, cultural values, and attitudes are understood. In addition, to examining their relationship with their own culture and other people from cultures different from their own and the way they relate.
The shaping of cultural identity is always evolving and shifting for the individual depending on the context, migration pattern, cultural generational differences, cultural expectations, and experiences. It should be not understated how the factors of family, social dynamics, and environment impact on shaping someone’s social and cultural identity.
Another amusing example that challenged the whole notion of cultural ambiguity is when I used to protest for Tibet’s independence and human rights outside the Chinese Embassy in my Tibetan hat! This is definitely un-Chinese!
On a more serious level, meeting people from different cultures without falling into inappropriate language, cultural misperceptions, and assumptions of social stereotypes at school, in social settings, and in the workplace can sometimes still be problematic.
Whilst working in the arts for many decades and in the multicultural space of cultural representation and promoting cultural diversity there are still points of contention that have resurfaced and hopefully only in isolated cases and contexts but demonstrates that cultural advocacy and systemic change need to be ongoing.
My knowledge of recent examples in education training institutes are still professionally challenging for actors that have physical characteristics that don’t culturally fit the dominant profile. It is disappointing to directly hear and see from students and professionals in the media and on stage that we still have a way to go in fully embracing ‘blind colour casting’ -casting actors in characters and roles regardless of their ethnicity.
Recent experiences have been reported by television actors who revealed inappropriate language and behaviour, racist remarks, and negative attitudes in the workplace towards actors of different cultural backgrounds especially of Aboriginal or Asian background in workplaces in the television industry. This is alarming in the 21st century.
It is of critical importance to understand the impact and the important role of the media not only in the daily news but in the narratives that are told, the language that is used, and descriptors of cultural profiling. A diverse society and its cultural representation are essential in shaping cultural perceptions, connections, and relationships and in nurturing people to develop a more positive and sophisticated understanding of the complexities of cultural identity. We need to look at how that plays out in the wider society and how this manifests on an emotional level for the individual that is reflected and represented in the psyche of a national identity or identities for current and future generations.
The arts in society play a key role in creating, shaping, and telling those stories in various art forms from creators from different social and cultural perspectives and experiences. It is a collective responsibility and learning of the whole community and society and not only the role of the creators and various cultural industries and their advocacy role.
Until we take on the daily mindset and attitude of being aware of our own cultural biases in the way we connect and relate to people, the impact throughout the whole community at both the individual and collective level will deepen as a result. We realise that as people we have the power to make the change and shift systemic attitudes.
Comments