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.
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.
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