Just had to say...

So, this was a very interesting project and now I can't stop thinking about the questions I'm asked on a daily basis and also the questions I ask.

But I also think that I need to note that this is Alysa's final project as an undergrad! Congrats!

Don't you remember?

Although we haven't specifically addressed it yet, it's important to note that our methods involved utilizing the imperfect human memory—no one recorded all the questions they were asked each day. There were certainly some questions that people simply forgot they were asked, and some that people assumed they were asked. If we were to make this into a more formal method and to write a proper ethnography, we would have to focus it in one culture or society and record the questions we were asked each day. In this more formalized manner, we would be able to create a fuller picture of the way in which people construct identities for themselves and for strangers in their lands. However, as a small project, we can still see that the questions people ask and even the way these questions are answered are a valuable part of the identity-forming process.

"Are your eyes real?"

Laraine sent me what I thought were the greatest set of questions of all due to their uniqueness. She has been abroad twice, first to Sweden while she was in high school, and then to Senegal last year. Here are the questions she sent me:

• Are your eyes real? (Senegal only - This is my favorite.)
• Where are you from?
• How long have you been here?
• How do you like [Sweden/Senegal]?
• What are you doing here?
• Is your family here?
• How long have you been studying [Swedish/French/Wolof] ?
• Are you going home for Christmas? (Sweden only - they found it hard to believe that I wasn't)
• Do you have a husband? (Senegal only)
• Is he here/Senegalese? (In response to my affirmation that I did, indeed have a husband)

It's worth noting here that while Laraine does have very neat eyes, she's not actually married. So why did she respond that she was? It may have been a case like Gina's (see Allison's post, "Another Thought") where by responding in the affirmative it would stop people from inquiring further. But like with Cate (in my post, "'Cigar? You Want?'"), they just asked if her significant other was there and implying that the union wasn't all that important anyway.

It is also interesting to note that Laraine was asked about her family, and if they were there with her. No one else seems to have been asked that, and I myself don't recall having anyone ask about my family either. This question could have been the result of the way people had perceived Laraine or the way the particular culture values the family; I think the latter is particularly true of Sweden because, as she notes, they were surprised Laraine was not going to be returning home to her family for the Christmas holiday.

English

So this is a bit of a twist, but a few of my informants cited that English itself might be a reason in itself for a question, which Borneman also notes. Mike in Belgium wrote,

"im just guessing they were curious about other cultures, particularly about americans. while most people don't like our government, they do like americans, and were usually excited just to chat. maybe they wanted to practice their english as well."

Stefania in Italy adds a final twist by noting that English is a Lingua Franca and thus one of the most common questions she was asked was "Parla italiano, o englese?" While this is a more basic question she writes that it is not uncommon to see toursits from places like China speaking to Italians, both in English.

Personal Spin

I thought it was interesting that many of Alysa's informants/friends got similar questions as mine, and yet they offer different explanations. For example, my friend Stefania who is studying in Italy also often got the question "Hillary or Obama?", but she offers this as the explanation:

"The first question, because we need to get the fuck out of this war and everyone knows it, and much of what happens will probably be determined by whoever the next president is... and also because it is high time the US had either a black or female president. Basta"

Similarily, Kathy who was in Egypt was also often asked "Do you have a boyfriend? Do you want an Egyptian one too?" but she chalked it up to harmless teasing of American/Western women. Maybe there is less of a culture of 'western' girlfriends in Egypt or maybe some of the men are more serious than Kathy thought - most likely a combination of both.

"Where are you from?"

I'm just going to take a short detour from the standard post to recount a conversation Allison and I had the other day. We were talking about our own study abroad experiences, trying to recount some of the questions we ourselves had been asked by the citizens of our respective host countries, but we didn't get very far past "Where are you from?" We didn't get very far because we started considering the various ways we answered this question. For Allison and I, the context in which the conversation occurred largely determined how we actually answered the question. Allison recalled that when she first got to Scotland, she had an explanation as to how she went to school in DC but was actually raised in the midwest; but she later abandoned this explanation and simply told people she was from DC. (The exception being when she was on the continent where she told people she was from Edinburgh because EU students could get discounts at a lot of places.) I did a similar thing as Allison, where I started with a long explanation about where I was from, but eventually telling most people that I was from "near Boston", figuring some people in New Zealand had at least heard of Boston. Occasionally, when we were travelling about the country, I would also tell people I was from the town where my university was located (although I suspect my accent contradicted that statement a little bit).

I found it most interesting that while I said I was from the place where I had grown up, Allison chose to tell people she was from the place where she went to school. Part of this had to do with the fact that most people in Scotland did not seem to be familiar with much of U.S. geography beyond the coasts, so it was difficult for her to explain exactly where her home was. Both of us, however, were prone to altering exactly where "we were from" when the situation called for it.

While people may ask questions to learn about and understand the person they are questioning, the way in which we choose to answer those questions allows us to construct our own identities. Thus our identity may change ever so slightly in the eyes of others in the ways we answer such seemingly basic questions as "Where are you from?"

"What do you want to drink?"

I mentioned in my last post that Cate was offered cigars while in Cuba. Katie studied in Italy, and she was offered drinks (presumably wine, as it is Italy). It seems that they are being enticed with the national commodities!