“Living and Laughing by the Chopsticks-Fork Principle” Lecture · “Living and Laughing by the...
Transcript of “Living and Laughing by the Chopsticks-Fork Principle” Lecture · “Living and Laughing by the...
“Living and Laughing by the Chopsticks-Fork Principle”
Lecture
thetimeofherarrival,publicschoolswerenotofferingESL(EnglishSecondLanguage)classes,makingitachallengetolearnEnglish.BeanevenhadtorepeatkindergartensinceshecouldnotspeakawordofEnglish.Shewenttocollegeintheearly60swhereshemajoredinHistoryandGovernment.NotsoonafterBeanmetherhusbandwhowasshockedtofindoutthatshewasnotJapanese.Alittlebitlater,shestatesthateveryoneisatleastbi‐cultural,whetheritisbyrace,genderornationality.
OnMonday,January31,2011theEastAsiaInstituteandtheBicultural‐BilingualStudieswelcomedauthorCathyBaoBeanwhogavealectureentitled“LivingandLaughingbytheChopsticks‐ForkPrinciple”atUTSA.Morethan80peopleattendedthetalk.
Atthebeginningofthelecture,CathyBaoBeangavetheaudienceanabridgedhistoryofherculturaljourney.ShewasborninGuilin,Chinain1942andimmigratedtotheUnitedStatesin1946.At
“None of it has been painless, all of it has been fun, except the cooking.”
-Bao Bean
East Asia Institute, UTSA January 31, 2011
Authorof“TheChopsticks‐ForkPrinciple,AMemoirandManual”isadaughter,mother,wife,friend,sister,aerobicsinstructor,businessmanager,andboardmemberoftheClaremontGraduateUniversitySchooloftheArtsandHumanities,theNJCouncilfortheHumanitiesandSocietyforValuesinHigherEducation.
Cathy Bao Bean
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Forthesakeofthelecture,Beandividedtheworldintotwogroupsbasedonstereotypes.Shedidsobecauseeveryonelearnsbystereotypesfirst.ThetwogroupswereModern,whichrepresentstheUnitedStates,andTraditional,whichrepresentstheeasterncultures,specificallyChinainhercase.Eachgrouphascharacteristicsthatmakethemvastlydifferentfromoneanother.Theiruniqueattributesareasfollow:
IntheModerngroup,everyinstitutionmakesapyramid.Thisisrepresentedbyatrianglefilledwithdots.Thispyramidonlyallowsoneperson,being,ordeitytobeonthetopandeveryoneatthebottom.Everythinginthe
groupismeasuredinaquantitativeway.Afterall,upisthebestdirectiontogo.BaoBeanjokesbysaying,“youcangiveawayyourkids,andyoucandivorceyourparents,buttheonlyreasonyouhaverelationshipsisbecauseyouagreetothem.”Thisistakentomeanthateachpersonisindividualisticandtendstolookoutforonlyoneself,whichactuallyreflectsalotofpeopleinUnitedStates.Additionally,sincepeopletendtofocusmoreontheindividual,itispossibleforthatindividualtobethelastpersonintheworldtofindoutwhohe/shetrulyis.Thistypeofworldfavorsnaturevs.nurture,andeverythingistakenpersonally.
Inthishumorousandpoignantmemoir,theauthor,animmigrantfromChina,recountshowshefiguredouthowtobeherself,aswellasraiseasonwhoseartistfatherdidthingslikepaintthelawn.AsCathyBaoBeanattemptstosatisfydisparateculturalnorms,sheprovidesuswithauniquewindowintotheexperienceofabiculturalfamily.
TheChopsticks‐ForkPrinciple,AMemoirandManual
"No father - esp
ecially an imm
igrant from
China - says to his d
aughter,
"Please, marry an artist."
"Please, marry an artist."
- Bao Bean
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ATraditionalgroupontheotherhandisaworldwhereanindividualisatthecenter.Aweblikestructurerepresentsthis.Thisisaworldwhereeveryonemust
participate.Afterall,besidesthefamily,thepeoplewhohe/sheinteractswithprovidehis/heridentities,whichisactuallywhatbindspeopletogether.Sinceeveryonepracticallyprovidesone’sidentity,anindividualalwaysknowswhohe/sheisatalltimes.Unlikethemoderngroups,everythingis
“Freudnevermadeittotheeasterncountries.Thereisnopersonalpsychologyinthesecultures.”
–BaoBean
measuredbyqualitativeoverquantitative.Inthisworld,theglassthatisemptyisbetterthantheonethatisfilledbecauseitshowsthatapersonisopentoallthings.Thistypeofworldfavorsnurtureovernature,andnothingistakingpersonally.
Insteadofhavingonetrueself,Beanstatesthateveryonehasmanyselves.Shebroughtupananecdotethatprovidedaclearexampleofthisprinciple.ShetoldtheaudiencethatwhenhermotherwasinherChineserole,hermotherhatedBeansinceshedidnotfollowtheroleshewassupposedtodo.Although,whenhermotherwasinherAmericanrole,sherespectedherdaughterforgoinganddoingwhatshewantedtodo.Eventhoughpeoplemayhavemanyroles,theycannotbeallofthematthesametime.Instead,peoplecanbecomefastatswitchingbetweenthetwo.
Forthissheshowedtheaudienceapicturethatlookedlike
BaoBeanshowsacaptivatedaudienceherrepresentationofatraditionalgroup
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botharabbitandaduck.ThiswasreferredtoastheDuck‐RabbitMetaphor.Apersoncanseeaduck,andapersoncanseearabbit,butthehumanmindcannotseethetwoanimalsatthesametime.Themindcanhowever,quicklyswitchbetweenthetwoanimals.Thismetaphortiesinverywellwithwhatshewasexplainingabouttheroles.Themostimportantpartisforapersontobecomfortablenomatterwhatrolethatpersonmaychoose.
Beanconcludedthelecturetalkingaboutthefinedistinctivelineofdysfunctionalstereotypesvs.functionalgeneralization.Shesaidthebestwaytonavigatethelineistojustaskforhelp.Moderngroupshavealinerlineoflogic,asenseofindividualism,andadefineexpressionofpunctuality,whileTraditionalgroupsarealmosttheexactpolaropposite.
Amongthe80peopleinattendancewasUTSAPsychologyand
JapanesestudiesstudentThomasAlvarado.“Ithinkalectureonamattersuchasthisisimportantbecauseitallowsapersontogetperspectivefrombothsidesofthelookingglass,”saidAlvarado.“Beangavealotofinformationthatleadstoabetterunderstandingandadeeperappreciationaboutthevastdifferencesbetweenthetwocultures.AsapsychologystudentIwasecstatictofindouthowpersonalpsychologyalmostdidnotapplytoeasternsocieties.”
Duck-Rabbit Metaphor
AudiencelistentoBean’slecture
Co-sponsored by
The East Asia Institute UTSA Main Building 1.209
210.458.4943 http://www.utsa.edu/eai