When I read American Indian Stories I was somewhat unsure as to where in society Zitkala-Sa's place was. The fact that she did not go back to her mother implied that she didn't feel Indian, but she wasn't entirely 'civilized' either. She didn't seem to consider herself the same as whte people. Then I remembered something from an Anthropology class about liminality and rituals. In most rituals when an individual is transitioning from one state to another, there is this period of liminality in which they are isolated from society. An example is the wedding ceremony - the groom is not supposed to see the bride throughout most of the ceremony and so she has to wear a veil. So having that in mind and thinking about Zitkala-Sa, I felt like she was stuck in this liminal period - neither Indian, nor white. She could not be entirely accepted by either group; she was in the period of isloation associalted with transition. The only logical place for her to be was where other people going through the same transitions were - a school like the one she went to.
The next question that came to my mind then was if she could ever become part of one specific group. This brings me to a question I've been trying to find an answer to for quite a while - do we ever change our culture entirely? As someone who is also 'stuck' in liminality, I think that the answer is 'no'. I have been in the US for a few years now, but I don't identify myself as American. As much as I miss my country, when I go there I don't feel like I belong there either. As a matter of fact, from all of the people I know who came here from other countries (which is quite a lot of people) none considers herself/himself American. So what happens to people like us? We just increase in numbers. And as more and more people move, it becomes harder and harder to tell who is from where, and what culture is what.
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2 comments:
I hear you.
Seriously I thought I'd feel more at home here than in Korea, because back there people saw me as a US citizen who has read more English books than Korean and loves Pink Floyd more than Korean idol stars. In the extremely homogenized society, I was always a weirdo.
Once I came here I realized I had a gap of 16 yrs to be a Korean-American. But I also know that I feel uneasy around my compatriots who always move in large groups. I end up hanging out with a few Americans and a few Koreans, but never a member of a larger group.
Thank god I'm an independent girl.
You could also compare this sense of liminality to the transition from high school to Duke. While not as severe a culture shock as I could only imagine a trans-country change to be, transitioning into Duke is no easy task in itself. Duke, like any establishment, has its own mini-culture and can at times be more homogeneous than one would like. Most of our English class is freshman. Although you probably can't imagine it now, there will be a time when you go 'home' to the house you grew up in and don't feel at home; you will have transitioned your life to here. Duke will feel like home. It's a disconcerting feeling, and similar to that of Mary Jemison returning home, and how Rali and Wanda described transitioning over here to the states. Across time, cultures, countries, and even college campuses, the universal theme of liminality can readily be applied and understood.
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