When I first came to Australia 20 years ago (and indeed, to some extent, this has never ceased) people began insinuating that I thought I was “special” in some way. Of course, not having been brought up in a competitive individualist culture, nor indeed in one where one maintained any “specialness” as in the sense of a new soap powder being considered “revolutionary”, I had no idea what they meant.
It took me about ten years to realise that they thought I thought I was special because I came from a society that had been partly racially segregated until three years before my family migrated to Australia. It was presumed that I had a self-conscious notion about my individual superiority — hence the continuous jibes.
In reality, such were the cultural and historical differences between me and my Australian counterparts, that I couldn’t even attach a particular meaning to “special”. The best I could do was with “special” was that you experienced it when you were allowed to have some Coke or potato chips on the weekend. Or, you felt vaguely “special” when you had your birthday. My culture was heavily ascetic and rigorously stoical most of the time -- and also not particularly individualistic, but rather tribal.
So, the concept of individual specialness that I’ve always been accused of having has nonetheless generally eluded me.
Even today, I can’t quite relate to an extremely individualistic culture that upholds that competition and standing out from others ought to be one's absolute priority (not that these things are bad, but to make them the essence of your identity is very bad indeed). That’s why I’ve chosen not to go into Western academia, but to teach Asian students instead. I’m much more comfortable, for instance, with Japanese culture and expectations, which do not take me by surprise, as compared to Western culture (which never ceases to).
STAY SANE AND SAVAGE Gender activism, intellectual shamanism
It took me about ten years to realise that they thought I thought I was special because I came from a society that had been partly racially segregated until three years before my family migrated to Australia. It was presumed that I had a self-conscious notion about my individual superiority — hence the continuous jibes.
In reality, such were the cultural and historical differences between me and my Australian counterparts, that I couldn’t even attach a particular meaning to “special”. The best I could do was with “special” was that you experienced it when you were allowed to have some Coke or potato chips on the weekend. Or, you felt vaguely “special” when you had your birthday. My culture was heavily ascetic and rigorously stoical most of the time -- and also not particularly individualistic, but rather tribal.
So, the concept of individual specialness that I’ve always been accused of having has nonetheless generally eluded me.
Even today, I can’t quite relate to an extremely individualistic culture that upholds that competition and standing out from others ought to be one's absolute priority (not that these things are bad, but to make them the essence of your identity is very bad indeed). That’s why I’ve chosen not to go into Western academia, but to teach Asian students instead. I’m much more comfortable, for instance, with Japanese culture and expectations, which do not take me by surprise, as compared to Western culture (which never ceases to).
STAY SANE AND SAVAGE Gender activism, intellectual shamanism
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