Anthropology Times

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

It’s been a while since the post on soda drinking. I feel a bit removed from that discussion at the moment, but I will say a few things. The white people in group one could only socialize with black people who agreed that white culture defined normal or certainly that white norms superseded nonwhite norms. It appears that in California, propaganda surrounding immigration issues strongly encourages this view.

It’s unlikely that I will take classes over the summer, so I hope to interview people about their cross-cultural experiences here in California. I will be thinking about my minimum goals on that front (Conduct X number of interviews over the summer — that sort of thing). I’ll talk some more about my experiences in Mississippi, too.

This past week I’ve been lost in thought about my most recent semester of study and planning my summer math and chemistry review and kick start for the next semester.  I should have more to say on this topic soon, too!

Yours ever,
S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

The lack of sleep over the past week seems to be crashing in on me all at once so just a few quick thoughts… I’ve enjoyed the work of this semester and the people/personalities I’ve encountered seem more familiar to me. I like the math/physical sciences culture.

So, postponing the conversation from the previous week once more….

S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

I will have to postpone the continuation of the conversation from last week. Finals are upon me and I need every minute of time. I do believe that it was a bit ambitious to both skip intro to chemistry and opt for the honors option as well. Still, it wasn’t necessarily the wrong decision since I appear to prefer being over-challenged to being under-challenged. And I believe the extra challenge resulted in a bigger improvement in my study skills.

Back to the books and notes,

S.

Letters to My Tutor…

My dearest Simone,

When I was a teenager in the Mississippi Delta it was common for white teenagers to share soda from a single can with their friends, passing the can back and forth between them. Among black people in the area this was taboo behavior. Black siblings would not share a can of soda in this manner let alone just friends. This was a commonly known difference. For groups of friends that included white and black teenagers, the soda sharing situation most often worked itself out in one of two ways:

1. The white friend offered the soda can to a black friend with the expectation that the black friend would feel flattered and included as well as an expectation of receiving credit for not being racist. Refusal of the soda was taken to be a hostile and unfriendly gesture on the part of the black friend. (Group 1)
2. The white friend recognized that the black friend was uncomfortable with soda sharing but made efforts to communicate an openness to sharing soda with a black friend, perhaps by placing the soda can where it was easily accessible to the black friend. If the black friend did not drink from the soda can, the white friend tried not to take it personally. If the black friend did drink from the soda can, the white friend showed recognition and gratitude that the black friend crossed a cultural barrier and understood that some level of reciprocation might be expected. (Group 2)

I will give analysis of this next week. In pondering what has made certain cross-cultural experiences in California more comfortable or less comfortable, I’ve been put in mind of what types of considerations accounted for that difference when growing up in Mississippi.

So, until next time…

S.