Jonno Marlton, Blog #2

Where are you from from?  I’ve heard this question before.  In fact, I’ve become quite good at pretending like I don’t understand the implied difference of the added final word.  Because I either have one really weird accent or three sort of weird ones, I get asked the “where are you from” question regularly.  For other people, it is not just the ways someone sounds; it’s the way that they dress or the color of their skin—or a combination of these factors and others.  I am a dual citizen of Australia and the United States.  I was born in Philadelphia.  Also, I am white.  Meaning, I “look like” an Australian.  I am not trying to be provocative, but rather I am merely pointing out that I am a white male descended from white Europeans who took over two continents that are now majority white.  My thesis for this blog essay is that my whiteness results in a different sort of judgment from others on the matter of Nationality.  In other words, I never hear, “that’s funny, you don’t look Australian.”  Or American.  I just get “that’s funny, you don’t sound Australian.”  Or American. 

But I do sound American.  I think.  I guess we need to decide what an American sounds like.  Good luck.  Thinking back to the discussion in class about proximity and shared values defining community identification, I want to throw a few words out there that we all managed to avoid.  Color.  Race.  Appearance.  We are talking about reasons why a member of a community would characterize another as part of that same community.  Think back to the Native American tribe example.  There are people who live together, have similar values, and look the same (or similarly.)  If you think about the apartment complex, it is worth realizing that this community could be (for a new addition) something to ignore because of a preexisting community.  But when the apartment complex’ residents make up the only social grouping for a person, I imagine what would happen is that sub groups would form.  They would form around values, personality types, and, as I am asserting, appearance.

If you are an avid runner, and you see someone come back to your building from a run, you may start up a conversation.  If you are a devout Christian, and you see that one of your neighbors subscribes to a Satanic magazine, you may put them on your “maybe not” list.  You may not, but my point is that we as humans make judgments, and these judgments become particularly valuable in finding and maintaining a community.  Think back to Billy Elliot.  The working class father put value in things that made a man tough in his eyes,—which speaks to the culture of his industry job—and as a result, he attempted to rid his son of his goals to become a dancer…because it went against what I imagine we could call community values.  I don’t think anyone would admit to having “close-mindedness” as one of their community values, but I think in a discussion about community and group behavior, we must admit to ourselves that communities are exclusive.  What makes them exclusive?  What mechanisms exist to induct new members into a community, and what mechanisms exist to get rid of members that are deemed ill-suited?