Preconceptions about ‘gringos’

I left my preconceptions about 'gringos' at my door in Bolivia. There, many people say: "Gringos? Oh yes, they are fat and always busy, rushing around and buying things all the time..." Familiar to you?

Having lived in the US for over five years now, I may now safely dismantle that stereotype—or at least recognize that stereotypes about a culture never really define the whole. ‘Wholes’ resist definition. What can you say about life as a whole, or Americans as a whole, or whatever, as a whole?

I like what Whitman says in “To a Historian”:

“You who celebrate bygones,

Who have explored the outward, the surfaces of the races, the life

that has exhibited itself,

Who have treated of man as the creature of politics, aggregates,

rulers and priests,

I, habitan of the Alleghanies, treating of him as he is in himself

in his own rights,

Pressing the pulse of the life that has seldom exhibited itself,

(the great pride of man in himself,)

Chanter of Personality, outlining what is yet to be,

I project the history of the future.”

Democracy seems to thrive on this fancy of Whitman’s. In a democracy, the people are supposed to be able to decide what the future has in store. We democrats are supposed to be able to decide what the good is, rather than simply obeying and defending traditional values. We democrats are supposed to be able to mold our own futures—and not only our own, but the future of our children. But to what extent do we draw from things past in order to find out how to create the future? We might be born blank slates, but very quickly, we begin to learn—about history. About where our mothers and fathers have been, so that we may decide where to go from there.

Some of the folks we interview respond to our questions by defending traditions—“What does it mean to be an American?” we ask, and they say, “It means having pride in your country, respecting your president no matter what…”

Then we get the creative responses—take Ashley the Bourbon Street Queen: “I am an American because I am who I want to be.” S/he is transgender, transsexual, and gay. S/he has decided to create for herself an identity of her own making. Being an American, for her, is not about respecting your country’s ideals (whatever they may be), but about creating a personality for herself that is uniquely her own.

So what can one say about a collective American identity? Can one say anything at all? Are we going to take these interviews and claim “Americans are like this… or this…" based on the sample of the population we chance to encounter? Are we finding connections between these people—these citizens, these members of a country? Or are we simply getting to know a bit about distinct personalities? About people in themselves in their own rights?

(Alex)