Where are you from?- Extended

Hello Everyone,

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned how I didn’t have a secure answer to the question- ‘Where are you from?  Because of my expatriate life that I have had. A fellow student on the course commented on this post, pointing out that she has encountered the same problem with some of the students she teaches in Singapore. I don’t know why expat children feel like this, and why they don’t know how to answer this question. However, the other night I found a ‘TED Talk’ by Taiye Selasi, called ‘Don’t ask where I’m from, ask where I am local’ and it really opened my eyes to a different way of thinking. This established woman talks about, countries being a stable point but, in our ever-changing world there are an increasing number of the world’s population becoming part of the expatriate community varying on different circumstances. She quotes a conversation between herself and a fellow colleague of hers ‘All experience is local he said, all identity is experience she said’ (Paz, 2015). One of her conclusions in the video was ‘My experience, is where I am from’ (Paz, 2015). This conclusion, made so much sense to me, it made me question to myself –‘Wow, Why has no one told you this before??’ Such a simple way of putting it. Where you have your experiences, makes that place home. I was dumbfounded.  It made me realise yes I am from Australia but more than that, I am a local of Melbourne, Brisbane, Jakarta, Dubai and Cambridge because these are the places that my identity has grown, these are the places where I have experienced my life. She talks more about a lot of different situations and a technique that she uses to find out why people feel more at home in certain places called ‘The three R’s’. Overall I drew more from her logic of saying ‘My experience, is where I am from’ (Paz, 2015) this logic has simplified the question, Where are you from? From now on I know, when I am asked that question, I have a stable answer to reply with. There will no longer be any nervous ranting of explaining my life story. Just one sentence. Yes my nationality is Australian, but me as a person, goes so much deeper than that, based on the experiences I have had. The YouTube link for this talk is below. I hope people find it as interesting as I did! I would love to know if anyone else has gained anything from her speech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT5OpU2PlS4

Bibliography

Paz, O. (2015, 10 20). TED Talk - October 2014 - Taiye Selasi - Don't Ask Where I'm From. Ask where I'm Local . Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT5OpU2PlS4

Thanks again for reading.

Cassie V.