The purpose of this post is to explore the stereotypes that people from our host country have about Americans and American culture. Being in Jordan, this provides a very unique and different perspective than other nationalities and cultures that experience much more contact with Americans. As an American here in Amman, Jordan, I have found that at times our cultures can be quite different from each other and several differences are extremely noticeable in our daily lives. But none of these differences are truly surprising.
In exploring this purpose, I asked one of my teachers her opinions on American culture and the American people at large. Her response was generally focused on the family dynamic that occurs in America and the differences that occur out of this. From my own observations, I have seen that Jordanian families are incredibly close and do everything together. She has also made this observation and believes that American culture breeds families that are not close nor have the interests of the family unit as their number one priority. She continued to explain her belief that American families are not close because, more often than not, we do not live in multigenerational homes. She found it odd that parents insist on sending their children out of the house once they reach adulthood and explains that Jordanians do not share this in common with Americans. She thinks that this action signals that American individuals do not care about the members within their family and instead are selfish, only caring about themselves.
Although I understand completely where my teacher is coming from and understand that this behavior is not common in most cultures, I also understand the American perspective of seeking out to be on your own once you reach adulthood. I believe that many of the underlying reasons for this behavior are ingrained in American society as we wish to create our own success.From a non-American perspective, I can see that from the outside this can appear selfish towards your family members, but I also know that families wish for their children and their family members to be successful. I have seen that the approach to higher education at times is very different here where children wish to stay with family during the educational process, whereas Americans tend to seek opportunities that can be far away from their families. But again, this is only because families wish for their children to seek out the best opportunities that are available.
I enjoyed hearing my teacher’s perspective on this matter because she is a very educated woman who cares deeply about her family and about family values. From this conversation I have learned that, for most Jordanian families, the concept of a strong family is important and central to a ‘good’ family.