By Claytonian
I hinted that I had a little more to say about this story, but here's a quick recap first: my friend of Taiwanese decent and I went to a soba shop to fill our bellies. At the restaurant, the people inside were shocked that my friend couldn't speak much Japanese compared to me. So shocked was one drunken old man that he shouted something like " how could you lose to the white guy with a face like that?!" This triggered an association, and I went on a bit of trip to my past, back to my days of teaching in junior highs.
One day I dusted off one of my favorite teaching activities to do with the kids. It's an activity where they travel around a map of a world, board game style. Wherever they land, they have to follow that country's "custom" (which is in scare quotes because it's just a silly order, like "jump three times," "wink at a cute girl" or the dreaded "go back to start"). I usually change one or two customs from game to game to keep it interesting.
One time, I changed one of the customs to "decide who in your group looks American." When I made this one, I must admit that I was only thinking of the humorous implications of the students comparing facial features. But as the game got underway, and I saw the kids comparing noses and hair color, I started to realize that I had maybe been away from America for too long, and had been sucked into the stereotypical image so often used around here, especially in the mass media. Heck, with blue eyes, blond hair, and a huge honker, I am the stereotypical image of an American. Then the true answer to the question hit me.
As I explained to the kids at the end of the class, they all had an American face. People of all ethnicities can potentially be American. But it doesn't end there; people with any type of background may immigrate to any country, even Japan, and even become full-fledged citizens. We tend to fall into a trap that citizenship and race are synonymous, but they are not. So what is a Japanese face? What's an American face? It's any face. It's a human face. If I ever get a chance to use my game in a class again, I think I'll keep the custom of finding an American face, so that I will have the chance to share my revelation again.
I hinted that I had a little more to say about this story, but here's a quick recap first: my friend of Taiwanese decent and I went to a soba shop to fill our bellies. At the restaurant, the people inside were shocked that my friend couldn't speak much Japanese compared to me. So shocked was one drunken old man that he shouted something like " how could you lose to the white guy with a face like that?!" This triggered an association, and I went on a bit of trip to my past, back to my days of teaching in junior highs.
One day I dusted off one of my favorite teaching activities to do with the kids. It's an activity where they travel around a map of a world, board game style. Wherever they land, they have to follow that country's "custom" (which is in scare quotes because it's just a silly order, like "jump three times," "wink at a cute girl" or the dreaded "go back to start"). I usually change one or two customs from game to game to keep it interesting.
One time, I changed one of the customs to "decide who in your group looks American." When I made this one, I must admit that I was only thinking of the humorous implications of the students comparing facial features. But as the game got underway, and I saw the kids comparing noses and hair color, I started to realize that I had maybe been away from America for too long, and had been sucked into the stereotypical image so often used around here, especially in the mass media. Heck, with blue eyes, blond hair, and a huge honker, I am the stereotypical image of an American. Then the true answer to the question hit me.
As I explained to the kids at the end of the class, they all had an American face. People of all ethnicities can potentially be American. But it doesn't end there; people with any type of background may immigrate to any country, even Japan, and even become full-fledged citizens. We tend to fall into a trap that citizenship and race are synonymous, but they are not. So what is a Japanese face? What's an American face? It's any face. It's a human face. If I ever get a chance to use my game in a class again, I think I'll keep the custom of finding an American face, so that I will have the chance to share my revelation again.
Post a comment