So I do have to apologize for my delayed postings. I have to say, this class is truly exercise for your brain. The last two weeks, I've left the class mind boggled but yet learned a lot about myself and others.
"Third World"
This term stuck out to me during the last lecture on re(presentation) because first of all I didn't know that the term came from the Cold War Era (most newly independent countries didn't want to associate themselves with neither capitalism nor socialism rather non-aligned with neither--therefore were called the Third World countries; it just happened to be that these developing countries were poor).
So as I was listening about when we re(present) something we take out or leave out something about what we are presenting. So I tried to think about how I present myself and my culture to others. I am Rwandese by blood, although I claim Kenya and the United States. You see, I was born in Rwanda, moved to Kenya after a year, lived in Kenya for about ten years and now I live in the United States...you can see how my eager yearn for cultural understanding comes into play.
People would automatically say I am Rwandese because I was born there, although I do not know anything about Rwanda other than the knowledge my parents have passed on to me or what I have read or seen. Others would say I am Kenyan since I was raised there and know the language but it is hard to consider myself as Kenyan since I am not a native to the country. Then others would say I'm American or rather "americanized" because of perhaps my presentation and having lived here for most of my adult life but I know that even being influenced by the American culture, I am not American.
Recently I've come into understanding the wholistic approach to what exactly I am and what about my culture will I pass on? This can be a scary thought considering that even the culture my parents passed down to us was lost because of their (re) introducing it to us. So I have to embrace this new culture that has been made for me....I am in a sense a third culture kid; I neither belong to this group nor that one. In a sense, I have the best of Three worlds.
About Me
- CuriousJane
- Let see sum up myself in 1200 characters(I don't think I'm that complicated); I would like to say I am a pretty laid back person, appreciate simplicity and can be a bit reserved Although I can be quite loud and obnoxious some of the times depending on who I am around. A senior at UNT, hoping to graduate in December of 2008. Will be leaving UNT with an International Relations diploma not knowing where to get my feet wet into. I was born in Rwanda and raised in Kenya, moved to The States with my family of 5 about 10 years ago.
1 comment:
This is part of an article I wrote (2005) about the second WW and the "Third" World.
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After WW II war, most countries that had colonies elsewhere came to a bitter realization that they could not eternally oppress other countries.
It is not surprising that fierce peasant uprisings in countries such as Algeria and Kenya led to independence in most countries. In fact, in 1960, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan referred to what was happening in Africa as a new "wind of change." And it was more than just a passing wind. For just one year after Macmillan's Cape Town pronouncement, 17 African states had wrestled power from the colonialists.
These young states, confronted by monstrous challenges, were unswerving in internal nation building and at the same time liberating other countries sweltering under colonial powers.
Globally, we had anti-war campaigns being launched and civil rights movements were hitting the streets. Student rebellion and nationalist movements were making an impact that could not be ignored. Popular culture was emerging and universities, initially considered ivory towers and bastion of objective inquiry, became venues of socio-cultural and political strategies.
Emerging nations, both in Africa and Asia, had a grotesque hurdle placed on their way to development by their former masters, and the cold war was sizzling. Having freed themselves from the European capitalists, these young Afro-Asian countries radically resisted the temptation of joining the communist European hegemony. This led to a "third force" in global socio-cultural politics. French demographer Alfred Sauvy, who first used the term "third world" in an article in the newspaper L'Observateur in 1952, must have correctly read the signs of time.
wachanga
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