Week 1 - Two Culture's

    The two readings, "Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution" and "Third Culture: Being in Between," reminds me of a culture problem I face. When people ask me where I am from, I have trouble answering because I don't believe I fall in any certain category. And I dislike being categorized because that implies I can only really and authentically be one thing. And when people categorize me, I feel misunderstood and that they don't truly understand who I am. Like what Professor Vesna said in lecture video part 2, stereotyping occurs subconsciously and it usually has a negative connotation.

The City of Shanghai

Emerald: The Community I lived in

    Although I am a Canadian Citizen, I am ethnically Chinese was born and raised in Shanghai, China. However, living in Shanghai, I was raised in a European community and attended private American schools until I started college at UCLA. The fact that I grew up overseas but speak English perfectly and seamlessly transitioned to college in America is a baffling concept for most people unaware of my situation. But for me, it seems all too normal because I've spent my whole life with people from all over the world that are in the same situation as me. 

School Trip Photo

   My friends consisted mostly of people who have moved from America to China because their parents' work took them overseas. So for me, it was like living in America minus a few minor details. It is like if you were to physically move a little bit of America and put it in Shanghai. So when people ask me where I am from and I were to say China, people get the wrong impression. When people ask me where I am from and I say Canada, people get the wrong impression as well because I've never lived there.

   I do in fact embrace who I am and where I am from; but to answer the question "where are you from" with merely one word, well that is a little hard to do.

Works Cited:

Bayoumi, Moustafa. "'Where Are You From?' Is Not the Right Question." CNN. Cable News Network, 05 Apr. 2010. Web. 06 Apr. 2015.

Shanghai: 1990 vs. 2010. N.d. Business Insider. By Joe Weisenthal. Web. 06 Apr. 2015.

"Shanghai Emerald - Introduction." Shanghai Emerald - Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015.

Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-25. Web.