Culture Shock

            This week as we continued to follow the documentary film  the Lost Boys  where we saw the boys go through culture shock.  Culture shock is when someone enters into a different culture and they have to deal with the trauma of everything being different from what they had grown up with and learned. A great example of this was when Santino complained about time being money in America. In Sudan there was no such thing because time didn’t really matter in the first place and they were never lonely because they always had someone close by to speak to or visit; in America we’re  always busy and concerned with ourselves that no we don’t have much time to make friends and visit.

            Similarly, in Doing Fieldwork Among the Yanomamo Napoleon Chagnon experiences culture shock repeatedly throughout his stay. For instance, the villagers always wanted him to eat with them and share his food, but he constantly sought privacy. The culture of the Indians was to share food but Chagnon is used to not having the obligation of sharing with others at meal time. Both scenarios are related to ethnocentrism, because the Lost Boys as well as Chagnon were judging othe cultures in comparison to their own. We learned that culture is the basis of our reality, and if that reality is shaken like in the case of the Lost Bpys or Chagnon, it can be extremely difficult emotionally. We can see this as Chagnon, Peter, and Santino frequently mention their loneliness. I have been through cultural shock to a certain extent. Although I ethnically consider myself Nigerian, I have been raised in America. As a freshman my family took a three week vacation in Nigeria. While we were in Nigeria, there was virtually no garbage system and I had to get used to throwing the garbage out into the back yard. It was really hard for me to do at first because as a student here in America I had learned quite a bit about the negative effects of pollution. However, in Nigeria they have little to no care for how much pollution happens. In fact, nobody understood my refusal at first. I would have to explain myself, but in the end I had no choice but to throw it out in the yard like everyone else.

We also mentioned how foreign exchange students may experience culture shock. I found this image interesting in that it showed what may go on in the mind of a foreign exchange student while they’re here as well as when they return home.