Author: ehokoda

Summer 2023 was the busiest period I’ve had post 2020 pandemic. I jumped into my SLA grant just a few short days after wrapping up two months of fieldwork in Nigeria for my Masters of Global Affairs i-Lab project. While the summer was hectic, I am so glad I worked diligently to make sure I had time for language learning. My month in Guatemala was a wonderful experience and I am so lucky I was able to return to Antigua to continue studying Spanish.

While mentally taxing some days, I’m glad I pushed myself to take six hours of private lessons a day and live with a host family. This commitment allowed me the structure and immersion I needed to push my Spanish skills forward. One of the biggest things I noticed was how much my confidence grew since I was in Guate in January (I will credit Intermediate Spanish II at Notre Dame for that) and how it grew over the course of the month. By the end of the trip I was confident ordering food in restaurants, negotiating with shop owners, asking for help or directions while traveling, and striking up conversations with new people. This gained confidence was a huge win for me because my own fear of failure has been the primary factor holding me back from further learning.

The SLA grant has pushed me to seek future immersive, language learning opportunities. I am in the process of applying for a Fulbright Research Grant to return to Guatemala next year as well as a Boren Graduate Fellowship. Both would allow me to conduct research on the intersection of environmental and development issues while continuing to improve my language skills. I am also excited to continue weekly Spanish tutoring with a CSLC tutor and practice conversation with my three housemates who are all fluent/native speakers. The SLA grant reminded me that opportunities to learn Spanish are out there if I am bold and committed enough to apply for and take advantage of them.

Studying Spanish in Guatemala this summer may not have changed my life per say, but it has certainly pushed me further out of my comfort zone into a level of language learning I have never achieved until this point in my life. I also was lucky to have developed some wonderful relationships with my host family and teachers who will always hold a special place in my heart. For that, I am incredibly grateful to the SLA program and CSLC for the opportunity to learn new skills, even later in life as a 25-year-old graduate student.

Using the Hofstede D6 model, I have been able to reflect on some of the most significant differences in various cultural dimensions in Guatemala. For this blog post, I have chosen to reflect on individualism and uncertainty avoidance between Guatemala and the U.S.

One of the first things I noticed in Guatemala was the country’s collectivist culture and strong family and community ties and values. Most people never move out of their parents home, even when they are married and have children, and if they do, they stay very close by. Both of my Spanish teachers who are women in their 30s and 40s live with their entire families. As such, families tend to live together in large compounds to accommodate everyone and there is very little personal choice in one’s actions as each decision affects the entire family. Large families that are close are regarded highly and are seen as desirable. On the bus, in the market, and in the streets I see countless mothers with their children taking them to work and on various errands and childcare is uncommon. Families work together to support one another and income is shared and everyone is responsible for everyone else. The other day I even witnessed a minor car accident in front of my bus stop that was surrounded by ten or so people and more cars kept coming to drop off additional people to the scene. It seemed as though the entire extended families, neighbors, and friends of the two cars in the accident had shown up to help.

For me, this type of ultra-collectivism seems a bit restrictive and certainly strange as it is not something I am used to. Coming from a small multicultural family that has been in the U.S. for several generations and being an only child, I have always been very individualistic in my beliefs and attitudes. I don’t call or visit home often, I seldomly talk to my parents, and I feel completely normal making big life decisions independently from my family or anyone else. While for example being a single 30 something year old that still lives at home in the U.S. would be looked down upon, in Guatemala it is common and celebrated as someone who has the right values and who cares for, supports, and is responsible for their family. I certainly don’t look down upon my teachers or other adults I know in Guatemala who still live at home because it is a completely different context than the norms and expectations in the U.S. Knowing that there exists a significant difference between Guatemala and the U.S. in this dimension of culture helps to provide more understanding of why family/community ties are so important and hold so much weight in Guatemala compared to the U.S.

When it comes to uncertainty avoidance, Guatemala has a score of 98 which means it is incredibly high in regards to trying to avoid uncertainty and ambiguity. This is clearly reflected in the country’s high affiliation with religion. 45% of the country is Catholic and another 42% is Protestant. The vast majority of the people I have met in Guatemala are religious. Religious rules and customs help Guatemalan explain the world around them, particularly when disaster strikes, and it often does, in a country filled with active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes, and now increased drought and heat waves due to Climate Change. In addition to Christian religious adherence, over 50% of Guatemalans have indigenous Mayan descent and Mayan traditions, rituals, and practices also help to make sense and give a reason to a wild and unpredictable world. At times, the Christian and the Mayan mix as in the example of Machimon, a Mayan “saint” who represents light and dark is often worshiped and given offerings to by Mayans and Christians alike. Venerated most during Holy Week, Guatemalans go to Machimon for miracles and good fortune. Machimon is just one of many traditions, rituals, and beliefs that orients Guatemalans and helps them make sense of the world. In general, traditional values and practices are held in high regard and are held to tightly. 

In the U.S. religion is still practiced by many but the country becomes more and more secular and atheist each year. In addition, because there is a vast mixture of cultures in the states and because many Americans are many generations removed from their initial family members who first immigrated to the country. As a result, traditions, rituals, beliefs, and faith exist but tend to have less of a stronghold on American culture as a whole. While Americans may tend to perceive Guatemalans as superstitious or overly reliant on religion/traditional practices, Guatemalans may perceive Americans as lacking faith and being devoid of belief of anything greater than themselves. 

The Hofstede D6 model is a useful tool to make sense of cultural differences that I have perceived but have been unable to label, quantify, or describe clearly. This exercise has been eye-opening in demonstrating that the differences I am perceiving are indeed real and are rooted in various dimensions of culture.

When I returned to Maximo Nivel this summer I was excited to learn that my morning private lessons would be with Alma, the same teacher I had when I was here in January. However, I also learned that I would have a new teacher: Arecely. I was excited to reunite with Alma and was curious to meet a new teacher.

I remember my first Spanish lesson with Arecely vividly because of how personal it was and how much she opened up to me right away. Shortly after basic introductions Arecely began sharing very intimate details about her life and family. I don’t recall if I asked a question that lead into this conversation or if she was the one who lead the conversation in that direction but I remember how stunned I was with how vulnerable she was being with me without knowing hardly anything about me. She shared everything from her experiences as a young girl getting pregnant and being pressured to get married and have more children, her divorce from her husband and experiences as a single mother, and her ex-husbands struggle with alcoholism until he passed away a year and half ago.

In the moment when Arecely was sharing these personal life details I was in a state of shock. I wanted to show my support and care for what she was sharing but I also didn’t want her to feel like she had to keep talking about these topics if they were emotionally distressing to her. I realized my limitations in the language in that I couldn’t express such complex reactions and emotions in support and care for her more than saying “lo siento” or “que triste/horible”. I began to question why she was sharing this information with me so quickly and what her motives were – did she want sympathy, to connect, to build trust, to explain herself? I wasn’t sure. My reaction revealed that I am a much more guarded person who shies away from being open and vulnerable with others from the onset and who needs more time and trust built to feel comfortable talking about my personal life and struggles.

In the moment I had difficulty processing all the information Arecely was giving me and I also felt very insecure with my ability to respond and react. I was overwhelmed by the information she shared. Looking back on the incident, I feel grateful that Arecely felt comfortable enough to share her story with me. Reflecting on it, I believe that being a young woman, just a few years older than her daughters, made Arecely feel like she could share with me the things that had impacted her life and made her the woman she is today with the beliefs she holds. Being women around mother-daughter age who spend 2 and 4 hours 1:1 together every day respectively, I definitely feel like my relationship with both Arecely and Alma is similar to mother-daughter relationship. Because we have private lessons we are able to speak more openly, share our real opinions, and go deeper with one another. I feel very lucky to have developed open and honest relationship with my teachers that are of course professional, but which maintain a more personal feel.

In looking back on the incident and describing it, I realize that Arecely was sharing who is, her story, and what is important to her (her family). For her, these things were simply facts and experiences she has had and I believe her intention was to tell me more about herself so I could get to know her better. While I generally find myself filtering quite a bit when I meet new people so as to control their perception of me, Arecely had no filter on her life and was being open and honest. Generally, I would say I have found this to be a common trend with the Guatemalan’s I have met, particularly when we are able to connect in Spanish. Alma has also opened up to me about the death of her father, her previous relationships, and her relationship with her family including a brother who she doesn’t speak to. She even often uses these personal experiences and stories as examples of different grammar rules in Spanish. Overall, I have found Guatemalans to be very open and willing/excited to share about their lives, family, culture, and beliefs.

Especially when traveling abroad and running into many small critical incidences a day, I think the DIVE exercise is a great one to use at the end of a long day or week to begin to reflect, unpack, and sort through those incidences to make better sense of them and increase our intercultural understanding.

My Spanish teachers Alma and Aracely are bubbly, energetic, intelligent, and have been friends and coworkers for nearly a decade. Each day I have four hours and private lessons with Alma in the mornings and two hours of private lessons with Aracely in the afternoons. While the days can be long and grueling, their lighthearted nature and positivity help me push through on days when my brain can’t seem to function right.

Because my lessons are just me and teachers, we converse in Spanish the entire time. Of course, sometimes they explain new vocabulary or grammatical rules, but most often we are putting language into practice through conversations and discussions on a wide range of topics. Through these conversations I have come to learn more about my teachers as well as share aspects of my life with them. Through this process I have also come to understand their perceptions and stereotypes about Americans.

While my Spanish teachers have met a lot of Americans throughout the years who have come to take lessons at Maximo Nivel, those Americans all have the same thing in common: money to travel to Guatemala. In most conversations that we have about Guatemala and/or the U.S. it is clear that my teachers think that Americans are wealthier, more educated, and more individualistic than Guatemalans. While this stereotype certainly fits many Americans, particularly those who study at Maximo, as stereotypes always do, it fails to tell the full story. I also see why my teachers hold these beliefs and agree with some of their assertions. There are significant discrepancies in education, wealth, religion, culture, corruption, and economy between Guatemala and the U.S. however looking at the two in such black-and-white terms as one being “better” than the other (which is often the sense I receive from my teachers though it has never been explicitly said) misses the mark.

A auto stereotype I hold about Americans that has often been reaffirmed when I meet other Americans traveling abroad and/or connect with non-Americans is how ignorant we can be. A large part of this ignorance is influenced by the global reach and attention the U.S. draws that many other countries lack making them less represented in global/national media, news, and education. My experience in the Masters of Global Affairs program in which over 50% of students are international students, has revealed to me how much global awareness I lack and has pushed me to engage more intentionally as a global citizen. The SLA grant and my month in Guatemala has been a great way to practice being a global citizen and I am so grateful for the opportunity to increase my awareness of Guatemala through living with a host family, learning from local teachers, reading Guatemalan texts, visiting historical Mayan landmarks, trying local foods, and more.