I hadn't really had the discussion with either of my eighth classes before yesterday. It's a difficult topic to bring up without one of the students mentioning it and yesterday it happened. Zhenya asked what she should call negra in English, and a hundred (mostly) stupid suggestions popped up around the room. I quieted them all down, and started a list of bad things to call black people and things that are okay, explaining why each one was good or bad. When I got to African-American, one of the students suggested African-Bulgarian and the classroom erupted in laughter. Someone in the back of the room, in a kind way of explaining it all to me, I suppose, shouted something about the stupidity of the person suggesting such a thing--what with the complete lack of black people in Bulgaria. I don't think the girl who screeched that really took a second to wonder why such a fact was true.
I wrapped up that digression quickly, and pushed on to what I had been trying to get to. That despite the presence of "good" things to call them, black people, as well as whites, Turks, Bulgarians, and--as far as I know--the general population of the world, like to be called by their names rather than their physical and ethnic notation. If you know a guy named Ivan, who happens to be black, it's probably smart and kind to call and think of him as Ivan once you've met him. The class seemed to grudgingly accept this.
Plamen wondered what my heritage was. Was I an American-American? I took this as a good question and drew up on the board the German, Italian, and Swedish lines that make up my family tree.
"YOU AREN'T AMERICAN AT ALL!" Half the class shouted at once.
Somehow I hadn't expected that and could only turn around and ask "why not?"
One at a time, and raising hands for once that day, various kids in the class took it upon themselves to explain to me how I may be German, Italian, or Swedish, but I certainly wasn't American. Nationality it seems, needs a long history. Plamen and the other guys in the back asked me if my Italian ancestors were gangsters, or had come from Sicily.
I explained to them that I was born in America, my parents had been born in America, and their parents had been born in America. In the mind of just about any American, that makes me American. In fact, if you're born in a country and live your life there, that pretty much makes you a member of that country. And that's where I went wrong for about five minutes. I confused nationality and citizenship, something I've gathered Americans do a lot more than people of other cultures around the world.
That definition gap took me to the biggest mistake of the day. I told the class that John Atanasoff, Bulgarian hero and inventor of the computer, was American. He had been born in Hamilton, New York, I said, and had never lived in Bulgaria.
We may someday be able to go into this particular subject and talk about it, but the class saw it as the low blow it was, and a couple of the students became visibly angry at the thought. They told me that both of his parents were Bulgarian, and so he too, must have been Bulgarian. Besides, there are statues of him here. That's evidence enough. I dropped that bit of evidence and made a slightly smaller mistake, I pointed out Guler.
Guler is, beyond any doubt, the best English-speaker in eighth class. I could argue that she hasn't quite improved as much as I would have liked her to since the beginning of the year, but she knows her stuff really well. She's also one of the more popular students in class, a fan of Linkin Park, and Turkish.
I asked the class if Guler was Bulgarian. "No!! She's Turkish." Guler also agreed that she was Turkish. This brought up the inescapable Turkish yoke. 500 years. Lack of history. Jannisaries. The entire tragedy. At that moment, I felt like I had brought a lot of stuff on Guler, and I realized that it was my responsibility to get it off.
I stopped them and picked on German because he speaks English well and had been one of the first to remind me of how bad the Turks had once been. I asked him if Guler, or any other Turks he knew, had ever made any attempt to enslave him or anyone else he knew. No, they hadn't. I asked him if Guler had ever shown anything but patriotic zeal for the country of Bulgaria. No, she seemed set to help the country. Then why, I asked, did it matter if she was Turkish? She's incredibly intelligent, I said, she wants nothing more than to help Bulgarians, and maybe someday she'll even go to Turkey and help out there. Why can't she be a Bulgarian, if only a citizen?
There was no answer. Guler raised her hand and asked "Mr. Young?" I nodded to her, and she said "Thank you," blushing and smiling. I smiled, told her she was welcome, and tried for one last influential push before the bell.
I implored them to remember the past, but focus on the future. This is a country of grudges, and at some point the grudges have to stop and productivity has to begin. Of course, I said it in a simpler way, and was getting nods. They understood what I was getting at, anyway. And then the class ended, and everybody went back to talking and playing cards.
I answered a few questions at my desk, told the class goodbye, and left the room. Usually I try to do little bits of discussion on heavy issues here and there to keep the discussion reasonable. Taking a big bite left me tired, but I think we got some issues that needed to be aired out in the open. I'm glad it happened.
Posted by Rob at February 10, 2004 06:16 PMMost of the world have trouble seperating Nationality and ethnicity since the nation states of most of the world started out as ethnic unions. It'll be interesting to watch and see if Germans ever consider themselves Europeans first, Germans second.
Posted by: ruprecht at July 13, 2004 12:52 AMThat's funny, John. I somehow suspect your black American friend would be hard-pressed to find white Americans who would deny that she's American.
Posted by: lindenen at July 12, 2004 04:19 AMI think that I along with you might be an American-American. I probably have as much
European blood in my as you do but it's co-mingled with Cherokee.
We will pause for the required, NO you can't be
INDIAN you are WHITE, to which I will reply
with the words my Great-Aunt said to me when
I was a boy,
"Danny, you just LOOK white, NEVER forget you are really Cherokee!"
And for those who take the European concept of blood quata seriously might I point out that the Great Chief at the time of the Trail of Tears, John Ross, was by their reckoning 7/8s white?
One of the Great Chiefs is said to have had this outlook, "If his blood is totally pure but in his Heart he is not Cherokee, then he is not, if there is the slightest drop of blood in his Ancestory that is of the Tsa al gli (total of all real People) and in his Heart he IS Cherokee then He IS.
This does influence my outlook on immigrants.
If I think they do not have a right to be here, should I then partition my body based on blood quanta ratios and send the various parts back to the Nations of my Ancestors? ;-)
I think my foot might get to stay here!
Others smarter than me have mentioned that America is based on a set of ideas rather than a bloodline, which means Americans are American by idea not ethnicity. Maybe it's useful to frame it that way?
Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior
by Helmut Schoeck
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0865970645/qid=1077252784/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/002-8490298-0302463?v=glance&s=books
Insightful, thought-provoking, and eye-opening., September 4, 2002
Reviewer: Raymond R. Rubino (see more about me) from Amherst, Ohio United States
Envy is without a doubt the most corrosive of all human emotions, yet sociological, psychological, and anthropoligical study of its phenomenology is non-existent. How unfortunate!
Enter Helmut Schoek who traces the origins of envy through cultures, philosophy, psychology and politics. After reading this book you will be able to see how politicians appeal to this basest of human emotions to engender dissatisfaction and rage.
The phenomenology of envy needs to be studied in depth because of its pervasiveness in human nature, and societies worldwide. No people, government, religon or social group is immune from its poison.
Posted by: Jabba the Nutt at February 20, 2004 06:55 AM"if you're born in a country and live your life there, that pretty much makes you a member of that country"
I love your article, Rob. In fact, while I was telling someone else about it I started getting these strange looks from her. See, she's black, and doesn't much feel like she's been accepted as an American.
Posted by: John at February 19, 2004 08:49 PMGreat article. And Leo's comment is worth another whole series of posts. There is so much to this country; I've been here for over 2 years and I am certainly no expert.
I, too, however, see positive things happening here, albiet slowly. Americans are generally a more optimistic lot, I think. Perhaps there is something to that. You note the same, and I agree that the Bulgarians are generally more apt to note anything positive, or successful, as probably unfairly created. Not that they scream or rend their hair or anything; they just are more cynical.
Posted by: jkrank at February 17, 2004 02:59 PMI was worried about the country of grudges line, Leo. It was a bit too pat and general, I'm glad you helped me clarify it a little. I would never want to imply that there's no hope here, I'd leave if there were.
On the contrary, I see a lot of good stuff in these kids, day in and day out. I've also seen some motivation in the older generation, and it seems to be expanding in the kids. This is all good stuff.
But yur final point is what seems to loom over all of the hope. Every time the mention of success comes up, the kids seem to associate it with something illegal or out of the country. There's just too much corruption here to make regular success seem feasible.
I don't know what can be done about the institutional changes, but I can only hope that the EU, when Bulgaria joins, will clean things up rather than make things worse.
Posted by: Rob at February 14, 2004 08:59 PMNot sure whether I should do this... but I'll paste this paragraph from John Atanasoff's "To My Fatherland"... It has to do both with Bulgarians and... turks...
..."My father was born on January 6, 1876, at the time of the preparation of our people for an uprising against the Turks. Before the outbreak of the uprising, the Turkish governors forced the people of the village of Boyadjik (present Boyadjik, Yambol Region) to leave their houses and then they burnt them. As my grandfather ran with his son in his hands, followed by my grandmother, a group of Turkish soldiers shot him in the chest. The bullet, which killed him, left a scar on the forehead of my father for the rest of his life..."
Posted by: Leo at February 13, 2004 02:00 AMRob, love jour journal =] You're an incredible storyteller and I am always laughing when i read about those kids that are sooo familiar =]
An yes, you're right - "Nationality it seems, needs a long history"... at least we think so. There are Turks whose ancestors "came" to Bulgaria 600 years ago... but they are Turks. This doesn't mean anyone hates them because of the yoke... at least not today's Turk-Bulgarians =] they are some of the most hardworking people in this country, are good neighbours and some Bulgarians even feel guilty (though they couldn't possibly bear any responsibility) for the "pocess" that forcibly made the turkis population in Bulgaria to change their names when Bulgaria was still comunist (the brainf***d communists... waht do you expect)... so, no we do not hate them. This does not stop some of us (and the turks themselves) to hate the political party that represents them, but these are murky waters, i wouldn't want to dive into here...
about the nationality - we have 1300 yeras of "official" history, and this is not enough for historians =] They are searching beyond:
( example )
=]
"This is a country of grudges"... this is what our prime minister is trying to tell us with his notorios "we GOTTA look at the positive sides, let's not dwell on criticisms"... which means "leave me alone and let me do whatever i want"... but i do not really think bulgarians are guilty about the discouraging position they are in - they see that if they start their own business, it would be a disaster (because of the Mutri, the "guards", the crime that never seems to be punished, the grey economy that kills businesses that try to be fair through unfair competition...)
You come from a country where if you work more - you get more. If you are a smart entrepreneur, you have your chances. That is - your initiative and persistence are rewarded. This is NOT the situation presently here. People realize how little additional reward they get for huge additional efforts and risks, so they prefer it the mediocre way, and are therefore unappy... seems like a viscious circle and it probably seams that it is people's guilt. But it is not. The mothers and fathers of the children in yoour class see how things are, and their children comprehend this in some way though they are not really able to understand or explain many things... yet they reinforce your impression that "This is a country of grudges"...
Yes, there are lots of people that moan about nothing and do nothing to help themselves, but generally, the problem is not (or at least did not arise) within the "masses"...
The problems are institutional and legal... since if they did not exist, we would not be so behind after these 14 painful years... - my life between 9 and 23 years - as if i live in postwar Germany.