During one of our class discussions in GRS, we talked about the various cultural contexts and ideas. To start, I remember Roxana explaining how she came to Canada and how she had limited financial support initially. Looking at how for she has come from that time is truly admirable. On the other hand, it also reminds me of many others who want to chase the, “American dream.” Those often in less economically developed regions see North America or Europe from the lenses of commercial movies or music, often only considering one side of the storyline. Rarely do people see both the good and bad aspects, blinded by the golden dream where it is believed everyone lives a perfectly affluent life, without any forms of corruption in the government and no people suffering or living without basic needs. I find it so difficult and heartbreaking when people are set on the belief because often times, people leave their family and home to be in a harsher environment where they feel in order to belong, they must rid themselves of their own culture. The fact that globalization has increased rapidly over the past few years does not help the issue.
At the same time, I realize that this is not always the case. Both my parents came to Canada from a country far away, China and Poland, yet managed to settle in Canada happily and are living relatively well currently. Throughout the process of settling in Canada however, they have never forgotten about their roots or where they came from. Both often still carry out many of the same traditions they held at home which I find to be a huge blessing. I think that everyone should remember where they have come from and where their family are from; it is an important piece that shapes who you are. It is also important to consider a dynamic interaction with one’s past; not simply just remembering, but acting in response to it. There is so much traditional, cultural and rural knowledge that many of us often overlook and once generations pass, it may be too late to recover them. Addressing these issues is something I hope to be able to work on in my future career. I myself am still learning about my own family history and I hope no one ever loses that passion.
Great thoughts Helen, I also found Roxana’s story remarkable, especially her comments on buying a small TV and VCR so she could watch movies. However I believe this issue of misinformation about the American or Canadian reality is actually something that could be solved, or at least mitigated by globalization. As more people move to North America, globalization will make it easier for them to communicate their reality back to potentially emigrants in their home country. Furthermore, with the help of some NGO’s, globalization will reduce the costs of informing potentially emigrants of the reality before anyone leaves.
I think better information networks, communities, and migration resources is one of the huge areas of improvement globalization will benefit, because while there are many things globalization moves, the truth will eventually be one of them. It could be someone’s job to help ensure that it’s the reality that gets heard by people, not the american dream.
I think it will be interesting to see how people’s relations with ancestry change with the development of both genetic testing and genealogical records.
I’ve wanted to do an ancestry test for a while (23andme). Using genetic markers, they can tell you what general regions your ancestors came from (European, Sub-Saharan African, East Asian, etc – even European Jewish ancestry!). Parts of my ancestry have become obscured because of lost information over time and it would be cool to see what’s actually there. I’m not sure to what extent this would impact identity. Afrikaners in South Africa are proud of their Dutch heritage, and there was a bit of a stir when it turned out that many actually had up to 7% black African ancestry. On the other hand, people with very mixed backgrounds might not care much. I think that seeing what your actual ancestral history is probably contributes far more to your identity. That’s what makes project like the genealogical records the Mormons collect so cool.
Regarding the American dream, the current generation has a much more negative outlook on the future, at least economically and politically. Maybe the fact that media is becoming decentralized and accessible will change how migrants from other countries view the US. Think about how dystopian movies became more common in the 80’s and 90’s and are still more common today than utopian ones (Hunger Games, Elysium, etc).