Immigration immunity: is tolerance a two-way street?

15 comments

in community,culture,history,home,identity,multicultural,origin,society,taboo

The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown

By FIGEN ÇAKIR

Immigration has become top of the agenda for many nations. In news from the UK I sense growing indignation, issues and arguments. Initially, I’m sad the face of Britain is changing. Then suddenly it hits me. What am I, then?

Does my excuse of “love-destiny-job-retirement” make me more worthy of taking up space elsewhere than desperate people seeking refuge and a future?

The deeper I dig the more I realize few can actually insist they’re not immigrants.  Who really comes from a static line of ancestry? Who hasn’t a family legend about discovery, journey, persecution or war?

Colonization has managed to uproot or wipe out people who would still be living right where they originated had they been left alone. Now we have tribal wonders to gaze at like in a zoo.

So if we embark on global citizenship or retire to warm tax-free climes why get so righteous about immigration at home? Are we simply intimidated by the numbers?

Once we become expats do we earn a badge of tolerance toward other cultures — all of a sudden?

Clearly not. Some expats carry their own culture on their backs, throwing it down where they stop and getting indignant with ‘the locals’ when they don’t absorb it. Some refuse to speak the local lingo.

Why are expats living for decades in a completely different culture while still retaining their racial and cultural disdain? Isn’t the world supposed to thrive and be more beautiful in it’s diversity than in it’s uniformity?

Can we accept each geography for what it gives us, rather than what we bring to it?

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British-born interior designer Figen Çakır has her own design label, where for the last four years she has been combining Turkish raw fibers and ancient arts with innovative ideas to create functional products for fiber artists.
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Tagged as: ancestry, Britain, colonization, emigrant, emigration, Figen Çakır, global citizen, immigrant, immigration, native, nativist, persecution, privilege, refuge, refugee, tolerance, tribal, tribe, United Kingdom, United States, war

  • http://www.expatharem.com/identity-messages/ Anastasia

    Figen, you're right about the immigration history most of us share. In fact, I think of my expatriatism as making me a fourth generation immigrant in my family since my parents and their parents and their parents before them all left their homelands or cities in search of better opportunities. They went west. Coming from the left edge of America to the far right edge of Europe, I've completed that loop (or what we know of it).

    And talking about completing a loop, when I’m slathering local olive oil on wild arugula I know I'm enjoying something a distant ancestor must have. Yet my own relatives didn't — serving Spam in Chicago and tofu taco salad in California.

  • http://expatriatelife.wordpress.com/ Judy

    In terms of “intimidation by the numbers” the United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, et al) is an interesting case study. There you have a country with a very small indigenous population which is now predominantly inhabited by expats – 80% or more. The locals, understandably, are feeling a bit “under seige” and concerned about protecting their cultural heritage. The expats, on the other hand, find it increasingly hard to get to know the locals (there just aren't enough of them) which only widens the cultural divide. I'm not sure what the solution is, or even if there is a solution, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

  • http://www.expatharem.com/identity-messages/ Anastasia

    …and the ability to handle differences goes back to Rose's question “How does location change your worldview?” Could be fodder for complaint and opportunity to express submerged dissatisfaction, or find a new way of being.

  • http://www.expatharem.com/identity-messages/ Anastasia

    “Who wouldn't cry, in Ankara?” The first time I went to Ankara I was on a book tour and having a great time, except for all the diplomats telling me how bad it was (not because of anything that happened while I was there, but simply because I was coming from Istanbul which they saw as far better).

  • http://www.google.com/profiles/knitbox Figen

    Good point, Elmira. I'm afraid I'm at an age where I've seen enough to be quite cynical about expecting governments, especially the 'big' ones, to be role models for tolerance and freedom. Rather than let us all be who we are where we are, happily hybrid and colourful, we are all force-fed a black & white world of uniformity.

  • Catherine Bayar

    Well said, Elmira – tolerance and empathy are two qualities sorely lacking in that dialogue. The divide just seems to grow wider, when the US could be showing the world what freedom – religious and otherwise – can be.

  • Elmira

    Thanks for this Figen. Especially for posing the question about those who throw down their identities and expect the rest of the world to follow along. They're missing something huge, not to mention what they're doing to spoil it for the rest of us. Tolerance, I have been finding over the past couple of days as I watch the controversy around the “ground zero mosque” isn't singular or personal – it is communal and active. Your post drives home that point.

  • Catherine Bayar

    Believe me Figen, I've done my share of complaining. But those naysayers gave me a great lesson – be happy where you are, or go elsewhere.

    And I forgot – part of California once belonged to Russia as well. No wonder it's such a fragmented place.

  • http://www.google.com/profiles/knitbox Figen

    You always have so much food for thought to give us, Catherine! I did wince a little, though, as your comment struck a note – I used to moan a lot at one point, too. Now, acceptance is great and relaxing and it's a relief to have the best of both worlds.

  • http://www.google.com/profiles/knitbox Figen

    Oh God, I think we've all come across those superior beings who believe they're bringing so much to the 'lucky' natives. To be honest, deep down we all think some things are done better at home from time to time, and perhaps even share these thoughts with our fellow global citizens. But it downright embarrasses me when I hear local people being told straight out how people behave or how things are done 'back home'. I bet they're just too polite to say that yes, they do know how people behave back there – it's always in the news!

  • http://www.google.com/profiles/knitbox Figen

    I love that definition you made; that some people can't handle differences full stop. It made me think, this whole issue could easily apply to someone who simply moves to a new neighbourhood a few streets down. Thank you for your comment, Rose.

  • http://www.bazaarbayar.blogspot.com Catherine Bayar

    Thanks for this post, Figen. Aldous Huxley once wrote “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” Imagine what he would have said about some expats I've known, who have lived in Turkey for decades, speak two words of Turkish grudgingly, and longingly speak about 'how they do things at home'. These naysayers did such a number on my head in my early years in Turkey, I finally spoke up to say “then why on earth are you here?” knowing it was for cheap real estate and sunny weather. I refuse to associate with such people anymore – they'd never be satisfied, even if they finally did go 'home'. Too bad they don't know that home is a feeling, not a place.

    As for me, I've moved to immigrant status, if an immigrant can still claim two countries. I can't be an expat, because that assumes a temporary living status. The longer I'm here in the country I chose, the happier I am. Not to say I could never live in the US again, but it's changed, I've changed, and I've made peace with that.

    But I'm baffled that a country of immigrants such as the US could show such contempt to the 'wrong sort' of new arrivals. After all, my birthplace California was home originally to native tribes, then part of Mexico, Spain, independent as a Republic for 23 days, then made part of the US. Clearly that geography has given plenty to all those who've claimed it, more than the other way around.

  • http://www.skaiangates.com Yazarc

    No instant badge of tolerance. There are a lot of reasons for being an expat, depends on why you are in the country as to how open you are to it. Being married into the culture helps a huge amount though we all have our off days. Working on an assignment in a country you didn't choose may not be so good. I recall an embassy worker in Ankara who responded to my apology for baby crying with 'who wouldn't cry in Ankara'. It was the first time I met that attitude and it shocked me a little (though on that smoggy December day I could see where he was coming from).
    There is also a type of expat wishing to 'educate the natives' that can be particularly obnoxious in their assumption of superiority.
    My tolerance rises and falls with my mood, my level of homesickness, and frustration. I don't know that it lowers as the years go by, though different aspects arise as my kids grow.

  • rosedeniz

    Great links in this post, Figen – thanks for drawing attention to the 'crabby intolerant expat' personality that can emerge, and interesting that the Matador post suggests that the longer you live in an emerging nation, the crabbier you can get. I personally disagree with that – in fact would argue that the longer I am abroad, the more tolerant I do become of my adopted home (and the less tolerant I am of the one I left). No badge awarded on entry nor for longevity, because I don't think it's really earned. You don't suddenly because a new person just because you move abroad. As someone commented on the Matador post, the girl who was crabby about the fiber bar was probably crabby about a lot of things before she went to Mexico. Maybe being abroad just brings out the tension of differences, and some people don't handle differences well regardless of where they live.

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