Being the "Other"
For this portfolio assignment, I went to the BYU Southern Student Association Opening Social. I wasn't sure how much it qualified as 'other', but reading the flyer I had to google what 'Cornhole' was, so I thought it would work. I lived in Florida for a year while my dad was deployed, but according to multiple people at the social, southern Florida doesn't actually count as the South. Since only students from the South were invited to the event and I didn't want to stick out too much (because I completely forgot to as well), I didn't get any pictures but one I sent to a friend from Louisiana:
I did, however, make a list of cultural artifacts:
- Cornhole (This turned out to be a game where you throw bean bags into holes carved out of a wooden target board
- Jesus (By which I mean, just his name carved into a wooden centerpiece, or somewhat randomly scrawled across a person phone case or notebook. One kid mentioned having prayer before football games in his Louisiana school.)
- Sperrys (The guy who started the club got up to give a speech and introduced his 'ambassadors', mentioning that the way he found most of them was identifying outside indicators of their culture. He hunted down the kid who became the ambassador or South Carolina after seeing him in Brigham Square wearing Sperrys)
- Plaid (Just, a LOT of plaid.)
Observation: Loudly defending/bragging about your state. At one point, the ambassador of Texas made a joke about Georgia, and this was taken in good spirits by everyone.
Interpretation: State pride, pride in your origins in general (otherwise I feel like this event wouldn't exist) is a generally accepted and encouraged thing. Declaring your state is best, or the only truly southern state, is only to be expected.
Feeling: This feeds a lot into American culture in general, though not to the same degree. Being stubbornly loyal to a brand, a food, an animal, and hyperbolically emphasizing its importance in your life is something we do a lot. But maybe it's a mistake to say hyperbolically; I'm assuming that these people here aren't really as excited about their states as they're expressing. If they're serious, I guess I don't understand how much a place could matter to identity.
Observation: Clothes are a big deal; lots of cowboy hats, state flag shirts, sperrys and embroidered initials
Interpretation: Since I feel like I don't see this nearly as much just in my daily stroll around campus, I wonder if people dressed up specifically for this event.
Feelings: I wonder how much of cultural identity is just in how we choose to present ourselves.
Observation: During a game of Southern catchphrase, I was able to beat a lot of the actual southerners!
Interpretation: A lot of the words seemed more stereotypical southern than the actual experiences of the kids growing up. A lot of 'grits' and 'biscuits n' gravy', not a lot of 'coming to terms with confederate heritage'. I wonder how much a get together like this is an attempt to preserve a culture that's being diluted by cosmopolitan tendencies.
Feelings: What are parts of my culture that I can't bear losing relevancy? To what extent can we assume other from our culture share our experiences?
Observation: Football, football. Main motivation of group leaders were to 'recreate the southern college experience' which, I was told by the Tennessee kid sitting next to me, meant tailgate parties
Interpretation: Football is extremely popular/relevant in the south
Feelings: It'd be so easy to say the priorities of southern culture are out of whack, or that southern culture can't create academically competitive people, but they're all here at BYU, so....
Observation: Shouting during presentation, interrupting thoughts to respond vocally to what's being said
Interpretation: I immediately thought of the archetypical southern church where a preachers up front and a women in the congregation starts shouting "PRAISE THE LORD!" I wonder if the interrupting came from there; I wonder if I'm reading too far into this.
Feelings: It was startling at first, but became a familiar, familial thing the more I got used to it
I feel like BYUSSA wasn't so far from my own culture that I felt super uncomfortable in the area, but I definitely felt like an outsider. Although I understood the stereotypes (which honestly, seem rooted in some kind of truth, or maybe, are being recreated on purpose), I'd never taken part in the shared experience of the people there. I could pass as being one of them fairly easily just by pretending I was completely familiar with what was going on, but there were some phrases and words I had to look up later. They're looking for ambassadors from Louisiana and Florida, but I knew that didn't mean me. I knew they were looking for a certain kind of person from Florida. If a student experiences school as a foreign place, I imagine their chances of pursuing leadership positions would dip drastically. Making any kind of splash at all feels(felt) like an intrusion.
- Cornhole (This turned out to be a game where you throw bean bags into holes carved out of a wooden target board
- Jesus (By which I mean, just his name carved into a wooden centerpiece, or somewhat randomly scrawled across a person phone case or notebook. One kid mentioned having prayer before football games in his Louisiana school.)
- Sperrys (The guy who started the club got up to give a speech and introduced his 'ambassadors', mentioning that the way he found most of them was identifying outside indicators of their culture. He hunted down the kid who became the ambassador or South Carolina after seeing him in Brigham Square wearing Sperrys)
- Plaid (Just, a LOT of plaid.)
Observation: Loudly defending/bragging about your state. At one point, the ambassador of Texas made a joke about Georgia, and this was taken in good spirits by everyone.
Interpretation: State pride, pride in your origins in general (otherwise I feel like this event wouldn't exist) is a generally accepted and encouraged thing. Declaring your state is best, or the only truly southern state, is only to be expected.
Feeling: This feeds a lot into American culture in general, though not to the same degree. Being stubbornly loyal to a brand, a food, an animal, and hyperbolically emphasizing its importance in your life is something we do a lot. But maybe it's a mistake to say hyperbolically; I'm assuming that these people here aren't really as excited about their states as they're expressing. If they're serious, I guess I don't understand how much a place could matter to identity.
Observation: Clothes are a big deal; lots of cowboy hats, state flag shirts, sperrys and embroidered initials
Interpretation: Since I feel like I don't see this nearly as much just in my daily stroll around campus, I wonder if people dressed up specifically for this event.
Feelings: I wonder how much of cultural identity is just in how we choose to present ourselves.
Observation: During a game of Southern catchphrase, I was able to beat a lot of the actual southerners!
Interpretation: A lot of the words seemed more stereotypical southern than the actual experiences of the kids growing up. A lot of 'grits' and 'biscuits n' gravy', not a lot of 'coming to terms with confederate heritage'. I wonder how much a get together like this is an attempt to preserve a culture that's being diluted by cosmopolitan tendencies.
Feelings: What are parts of my culture that I can't bear losing relevancy? To what extent can we assume other from our culture share our experiences?
Observation: Football, football. Main motivation of group leaders were to 'recreate the southern college experience' which, I was told by the Tennessee kid sitting next to me, meant tailgate parties
Interpretation: Football is extremely popular/relevant in the south
Feelings: It'd be so easy to say the priorities of southern culture are out of whack, or that southern culture can't create academically competitive people, but they're all here at BYU, so....
Observation: Shouting during presentation, interrupting thoughts to respond vocally to what's being said
Interpretation: I immediately thought of the archetypical southern church where a preachers up front and a women in the congregation starts shouting "PRAISE THE LORD!" I wonder if the interrupting came from there; I wonder if I'm reading too far into this.
Feelings: It was startling at first, but became a familiar, familial thing the more I got used to it
I feel like BYUSSA wasn't so far from my own culture that I felt super uncomfortable in the area, but I definitely felt like an outsider. Although I understood the stereotypes (which honestly, seem rooted in some kind of truth, or maybe, are being recreated on purpose), I'd never taken part in the shared experience of the people there. I could pass as being one of them fairly easily just by pretending I was completely familiar with what was going on, but there were some phrases and words I had to look up later. They're looking for ambassadors from Louisiana and Florida, but I knew that didn't mean me. I knew they were looking for a certain kind of person from Florida. If a student experiences school as a foreign place, I imagine their chances of pursuing leadership positions would dip drastically. Making any kind of splash at all feels(felt) like an intrusion.
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