Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I hope you are having a lovely week!
Last week, my classmates of ASTU made blog posts on things we discussed in class. Through my findings I realized that three main focused themes on the blog posts explained Shahzad’s essay on The Role of Interpretive Communities in Remembering and Learning, citation, and their personal opinion of what a Global Citizen is. From my perspective, I found it very fascinating through the perspectives of the other bloggers.

Ever since we were asked to post 50 words on what we think a Global Citizen is, I have been constantly asking myself: “What is a Global Citizen?” After reading everyone’s posts, I noticed that there were many similarities but there were differences as well. As pointed out by Professor Luger in our joint lecture, some similar ideas of what a Global Citizen is an individual who appreciates and seeks diversity of voices and experiences that narratives make accessible as well as one who connects issues of social justice, sustainability, and human rights to cultural practices.

Reading the posts also helped opened up my mind. I have been adding to and changing my original “definition” of a Global Citizen. Thinking about what a Global Citizen is, also made me wonder about my identity. As I am mixed race, I find that I can particularly relate to Ken, Kihan and in some way with Raphael as well.

Like Kihan and Raphael, I am not exactly sure what ethnicity I should say I am. I am half Japanese and my other half is a little complicated. I would normally say that my other half is a mix of British, Irish, Dutch, and Scottish but then people would ask if I can speak Dutch or if I have family in Europe. In reality, my ancestors on my dad’s side have been living in Canada for a few generations, but their roots consist of British, Irish, Dutch and Scottish. This makes me wonder if I should just say that I am half Japanese and half Canadian.

Being mixed race can often be seen as “cool” but it comes with some struggles like: Where do I belong?

Even if I am half Japanese, I feel like I’m a little out of place (especially appearance wise) when I am in Japan but I feel some level of comfort as I often visited and stayed there for long periods of time during my childhood. Parts of me feel like I do belong there (growing up with a Japanese mom, going to Japanese school, being surrounded by many Japanese people, and enjoying the culture) but other parts of me feels awkward as I did not grow up there so I don’t know all the social norms and I also feel out of place due to my height, being 6’ (although I like to say 5’11”) unlike most Japanese, in cities such as Fukuoka, where there aren’t many other races than Japanese.

Ever since I was little, I try to embrace my Japanese side a bit more; similarly to Ken, except he tried to embrace his American side more. Growing up, my mom spoke to me in Japanese most of the time. And my dad, well he could only speak English at the time but once I started speaking more Japanese, he went for beginner Japanese lessons, as he often couldn’t understand what I said. I went to Japanese school along side “normal” public school all the way from preschool until grade 6. Most of the people here in Canada, didn’t see my Japanese side. I still often get comments or questions such as “you look Russian” or “are you German?” People tend to see me as European, and I am part European but part of me was upset that not many people seemed to notice my Japanese side. On the other hand, when I am in Japan, they almost immediately noticed that I was half Japanese. Maybe this is because we tend to be able to identity those of the same ethnicity. For example, those who are Japanese usually can tell who is Japanese and who is not; just like those who are British usually can tell who is British and who is not.

I think we are very fortunate to be surrounded by many different cultures here at UBC, with the numerous amounts of international students and how Vancouver in general is very multi-cultural. I find that it is lovely how we are able to get a sense of different cultures here in Vancouver, without having to travel but as Ken mentioned, these may be biased.

After being said this, I now think that there isn’t a true definition of a Global Citizen. I think a “Global Citizen” is different to every person. I feel that we can guess and suggest what we think a global citizen is or what we think a global citizen does but we cannot truly pin point exactly what a Global Citizen is or what it means to be a Global Citizen. We all have our own definition of a Global Citizen that we are trying to work towards which I think is wonderful!

I am still struggling with my identity and I am still unsure what exactly a Global Citizen is but from what I think it is, I would like for it to be a part of my identity. Personally, I still believe that a Global Citizen is one who is open-minded, respectful and appreciative of the diversity brought by different cultures. It is an individual who is aware of their surroundings on a local scale as well as a global scale and has concern of the social, political and environmental aspects. It is one who seeks to bring people together and make changes for the better.

As I am exposed to many more different ideas, I believe that my thought of what a Global Citizen is or what a Global Citizen does may change. I am open to others thoughts and ideas. The definition of a Global Citizen is definitely up to one’s interpretation.

 

Thank you for reading!

-Ina Ishibashi de Weerdt