CULTURAL VERTIGO

Just finished reading the debut novel of Korean American author ,Y. Euny Hong. It had me in stitches…as they say. I highly recommend it...a cautionary tale...especially to recent University graduates.

Then I ran across the German translation.   As you can see, there is a dramatic difference in the cover interpretation of the story.

I have become convinced, over the years, that foreigners have a keener understanding of the cultural nuances of societies than we Americans have ofourselves.

German edition

Which brings to mind a quote from one of my favorite American actresses,Sesame Street's Miss Piggy...

On Chinese food and Chopsticks:

"You do not sew with a fork, and I see no reason why you should eat with knitting needles."

~Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life (1981),

ALL UP IN MY KOOL AID AND DON'T EVEN KNOW THE FLAVA'

Recently, a person wrote me asking how I handled racism in the South of France.  This person claimed they had lived here and found the people extremely racist to the point of driving him out of the country.  The writer claimed that they were East Asian and Caucasian. 

When I asked him to describe  his experiences, I never heard from him again.

He ran away.  Puff!

Numerous persons of color…all kinds of colors, let me tell you… have asked me about French racism assuming that I would be qualified to discuss racism in France simply because I’m Black.  

I am an American.

 I consider myself an expert on racism in America as an eighth generation (on my Mom’s side, even more on my Dad’s), Scots, Irish, Seminole, African decent American citizen, but am not arrogant enough to believe I am able to discuss something that exists in France between it’s Caucasian citizens and its immigrants from the former colonies….somebody’s former colonies, anyway.

Whatever racism which exists in France I’m sure is being worked out among its citizens as it was in America over a 500 year period of racial terrorism inflicted on a small racially mixed minority group called Nig___rs, Negros…uh, Colored people…um Afro…um Blacks Ummmm……

Anyway, the Black people of America who were imported in chains to build the very infrastructure of a new Western, Eurocentric society had to find a way with very little help from the outside world to assert its humanity in their own country.  No one ever threatened American with divestiture, for example, due to its human rights violations of the Negroes of the US. 

We had to do the work all by ourselves.

Racism in America, is violent, institutional, simultaneously blatant and subtle and is incredibly, incredibly Butch!  You know?

"Those who kill their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them, and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their legitimate rights as free men—how can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom?"”

                                                                  ~Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Why ask me about French people?  Ask the colored French people about French people.

Perhaps there is certain air of nobility which surrounds people who have risen above oppressive regimes the way Black Americans have, which might elicit envy among others, who have no idea of who you are except for Will Smith movies, Mike Tyson, Martin Luther King speeches and Jazz music.  As a result they try to *“bite offa yo’ history” with a “high five.”

*BITING:

(Definition: Copying in a plagiaristic context, though mainly just unoffical fad-related things; such as made-up words, clothing styles, types of music, etc.

ie: "Dude, those kids are totally biting on my style!"

                                                                      ~The Urban Dictionary)

What bothers me in France is far more complex than the so-called racial issues.

My problem is, why do the people in the North of France look at those of us who choose to live in the South of France, as right wing country bumpkin imitations of residents of the 16^th arrondissement in Paris? 

Answer that one, instead of trying to “steal my kool aid”.

Get it?


another viewpoint: http://deloryswelchtyson.blogspot.fr/2010/07/racism-in-france-is-it-racism-or.html

I LIED!

I promised levity (see last post).  Can't do it yet.  I just can't "shake" that "shock art" cake Happening in Sweden!

Swedish Artist Kakode Linde

Sometimes the public can become so bogged down with concepts of racism that it can miss the entire point in creating controversy.

There is an old proverb that goes: When the axe came into the Forest, the trees said "The handle is one of us"

My question is: What would the public response have been if the cake was cut, more appropriately, by an African woman as opposed to the Swedish female participant in the event?

 Swedish Minister of Culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, cutting "the Clitoerectomy Cake"

I ask you, as a former art gallery owner and artist, myself ...what on earth does African Female genital mulitation have to do with Scandinavia?

Have a great day!

MORE DESPRESSING SH_T TO SHARE WITH YOU!

This time courtesy of the Swedes...

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/clitoridectomy-cake

This leaves me speechless to say the least.

I promise some levity on the next post!

Advice For Expats Everywhere.....

Uncle Remus and Friends (goole images)

"Boy,


what ever you is and where ever you is,


don’t be what you ain’t,


because when you is what you ain’t,


you isn’t."

 ~Uncle Remus

...and I’m sure you all know who I’m referring to!

http://thenovelladyfingers.wordpress.com

http://gingersnapsanovel.wordpress.com/

The Fresh Prince, Sammi and Election 2012!

We tend to rent or buy our French movies because we find it rather penible to sit through a French movie in the theater.  When one considers the various regional accents, dialects and all, I usually use the hearing impaired mode as well, to help me along.

Sometimes a French movie plot line vaguely echoes a popular American movie or television series.  When this happens, it is an absolute guarantee that I will see the movie.  I am never disappointed by the fact that there is always a wildly divergent approach to what on initial impact would seem a similar issue.  One such movie is Agathe Clery, which most Americans could assume is a take on American filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles' Watermelon Man. 

Another example of this Gallic wink towards American issues is the film I saw recently, Neuilly Sa Mère.


Years ago there was a popular television series, called Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  Actor,Will Smith, starred as a teenager growing up in the "hood" of Philadelphia.  After a scary gang rumble, his mother sends him off to live with his aunt and uncle who live in the wealthy town of Bel Air in California.

In Neuilly Sa Mère, adorable young actor, Samy Saghir, stars in this hilarious film about the pretentions and dysfunctions of the bourgeoisie...or the upper classes...I still have trouble with the distinctions, here in this Socialist country.  After all, I'm from a Capitalist one, where the classes, these days are ironically rather...flou...in comparison.

Fourteen-year-old Sami, lives with his father and mother in a housing project in a working class and immigrant neighborhood in Chalon-sur-Saône in the Burgundy region of France.  Unlike the American Fresh Prince, whose old neighborhood is ruled by gang violence, through Sammi's eyes, his "hood" is a vertitable multi-cultural and ethnic paradise...Kumbaya and such... you see.

His father drops dead of a heart attack as a result of over-identifying with and over-reacting to a Soccer game.  His mother is forced to take a job on a boat, so she sends Sammi to her sister and husband who live in the affluent Paris suburb of  Neuilly.

Hence the title.

Oh, by the way, Sami and his family are Beur...North African Moslims.

I'm not quite clear whether both Sammi's aunt and uncle are both Beur or in an intercultural/ racial marriage. Perhaps I missed it in my translation, since it is obvious that his aunt is North African, but his uncle, you see, is a Pork distributor.

The most amusing aspect of this tale, when I compare it to The Fresh Prince, is that while Will Smith's character arrogantly flaunts his ghetto savvy and lords over the naive, marerialistic and self-centered members of his extended family, Sammi encounters bullys and thugs of proportions previously unimaginable in the exclusive enclave of some of France's future leaders.  His young cousin,Charles, with whom he must share a bedroom, is Right Wing, has political ambions and aspires to become President of the Republic.

Get it?

If you should choose to accept the challenge of watching French political satire, I'm sure you'll agree that the political references in this story are not exactly all that nuanced.  Even an Anglophone foreigner like myself would get the joke...I mean...message.

It'll make you look up the backgrounds of our 2012  Presidential candidates, which is never...ever a bad idea.

This is why I  read "Dreams From My Father" before I decided to cast my vote for President Obama.


No surprises.  No regrets. 

POACHING FOR EUROS: Part 1

First, I would like to emphasize that this Post is targeted specifically to American women in France, and those looking to live in France…actually to American woman everywhere.

Not long ago, I was having lunch with some American women who happened to be married to or living with French men. They were exploring the reasons for the difficulties in developing friendships with French women.

Reasons explored ranged from “they tend to make their friends in elementary school» or “they are so busy with their raising their families and cooking gourmet meals for their men, or “they are not as liberated as American women…they close their eyes to their men’s affairs” to “I am so intimidated by those stylish French women and their chic, black ensembles.”

It made me reflect on the numerous books on the allure of French women published by Anglophones.

After indulging in a conversation and theories that went nowhere, we changed the subject, finished lunch after which I returned home to the comfy familiarity of my American husband.

Later that day, I looked up books on Amazon.fr to see whether French women extolled the feistiness, progressive and liberated openness… or anything else positive at all…about the American woman.

I found nothing!

Nothing titled, “Unlock Your Inner American Woman”, “Those Lucky American Chicks Who Mostly Sleep Alone,” or even “The American Amazons of the Women’s Liberation Movement: What On Earth Is Their Secret?”.

Again...absolutely nothing.

(Perhaps some of you out there might be able to name a few for me). It simply appeared to me that here was no reciprocal interest between French and American women, regarding anything! Not even PMS.

Over the years I’ve met French women who expressed in subtle and diplomatic ways a curiosity of what the attraction American women had for their lifestyles…French cuisine and politesse, notwithstanding… and their men, in particular. It seemed to them that we, American women, had access to more wealth, comforts and gorgeous men of such diversity that it was globally enviable. Or so they said.

I kid you not!

It’s no wonder that thousands upon thousands of French women every year clandestinely flock to Greenwich (Village), San Francisco and Disney World in search of the American Woman’s secret allure and wonderful quality of life!

But then…I digress…

Although, I can personally understand the unpredictable power of love and the unpredictability of where one might unearth a lover or mate in this big wide world, I can also understand the ominous consequences of choosing a life partner from a tribe whose women are an unknown entity to a newcomer.

When a woman enters a foreign culture she instantly acquires the status of the women of that culture. Remember that.

On impact, I might look like a poacher, myself. However, my girly- girl posse, prior to marriage and for most of my life, actually, consisted of primarily members of the tribe among whom I eventually found my mate. It was inevitable that I would end up marrying one of the members of their family. I had been acculturated by the population of that particular tribe already and was quite familiar with the nuances of the male-female relationships within that tribe.

My advice to my American sisters: Do some serious research. Put romantic notions on the back burner...especially after your sweet sixteenth birthday. Read up on American foreign relations… think twice before poaching. It could prove hazardous to one's emotional, financial, social and spiritual well being.

Of course, that is unless one is a War or Mail Order Bride. Then that’s a whole ‘nother story…n’est-ce-pas?