In researching why American life style and economy are so appealing to people in Zambia, I found that an explanation was hard to come by. I did find some articles that were seemingly unrelated, however, I believe they have helped me come to a conclusion. The first article is about foreign exchange students in America (http://www.usa.afs.org/usa_en/news/afs_in_media/4537). These exchange students came to America, skeptical of the American culture. These students were from Germany. After their stay in the United States, they found it hard to part. They had previously been submersed, in their native country, in prejudices of the U.S. They had preconceived notions that “Americans are dumb, ignorant of the rest of the world and satisfied with lounging on a sofa, beer in hand, and watching a football game on TV”. However, after spending time here, their ideas changed. This article made me think. If in countries such as Germany, preconceived notions of our country are passed on through generation, what’s to say that the same does not go for Zambia. In Zambia, the used-clothing trade is a dominant industry. This exposure to American products, no matter how used, and the passing on of preconceived notions of the U.S. both shape the attitudes of these people. However, this explanation is too simple.
In another article about influences of American culture, culture and globalization are combined in explaining American influence (http://www.america.gov/st/econ-english/2008/June/20080608094132xjyrreP0.2717859.html) . The author talks about the spread of modernity as a major contributor to strong American culture influences. With the spread of modernity comes the loss of local cultures. In the case of Zambia and other localities, the used clothing market has dominated life. Facilitated by the race to the bottom, Americans have been buying and discarding more and more clothing. Hence, more and more used clothing has been shipped and marketed in Zambia over the past couple decades. The younger generations in Zambia have been submersed in this used-clothing market since birth. And since these articles of clothing come from America, the people relate themselves to the U.S. They are wearing clothing previously owned by a United States citizen and clothing is a type of individual expression. So therefore, these people relate their individual selves with the U.S. This is also accompanied by a lack of education of U.S. intervention in Zambian issues. This is why I believe there is such a Zambian appeal to American lifestyle and economy.
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I am not at all surprised that the Germans came over to the U.S. with preconceived notions of our country. I feel like most of world has some opinion about America, which is negative most of the time. But once this people from different countries get to experience and observe the American culture, they realize that we aren't just lazy people who have no goals in life, but we are individualists who work hard to achieve the things we desire.
ReplyDeleteI actually had a German-foreign exchange student stay with my family and me during my sophomore year of high-school. I had quite a different experience with them than the German exchange students had in the article. As soon as the students arrived at my high-school they had nothing but good things to say. They were all very excited to be in the states, and their preconceived notions of America was that they had cheaper clothing than that back in Germany. This seemed to be such an important aspect of the American way of life that one of the German exchange students at my school needed to buy another back to transport all of the clothing she bought back to Germany. I think it depends on the area of the foreign country they are coming from and the influence that their parents have over them in telling them things about different parts of the world. If one of their parents maybe had a bad experience in traveling to America, then that biased would probably be passed on to their children.
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