Where Do I Belong?

My friend in New York is Filipino, and he's always going back to the Philippines to visit his family. Arjun Appadurai, a contemporary social-cultural anthropologist, however, states that the Philippines is a nation of make-believe Americans. When I read this I tried again and again to see how my friend qualified for this title. It's true that he's American and grew up mostly in the United States. Would that phrase even apply to him?

I agree with Appadurai that the entertainment and leisure of a country reflects political and social ties. This is one of the reasons why I think entertainment and the media are important and should not be over-looked. The concept of borrowed cultures disturbs me. Take Anime for instance. My sister turned me on towards certain Anime series and what strikes me the most is how a lot of the Anime characters have American or Anglo-Saxon features. Living dolls, exaggerated faces, big wide eyes.

I don't think the appropriation of cultures can really be helped. Although the 70s Disco craze of the USA took awhile to reach East Asia, when it did in the 80s, the Korean people took what they could and put their own spin on it, a completely new cultural identity though the influence was American based.

I agree that the inevitable intermixing of a nation's cultures brings on the search for one's own difference through one's ethnicity. For example, I have always wondered why I am fiercely protective over my Italian and Greek Heritage and where my relentless curiosity comes from to want to know everything there is to know about where my parents are from, their traditions, their parent's traditions and so forth.

I never considered that I was fighting the perpetual sameness of American culture and that this was my own personal rebellion. I'm always intrigued by aspects of cultures that are polar opposites from the concepts of McDonaldization and Americanization. Could it be that I'm ashamed of my own society? The land of the free and the home of the brave?

I think there are aspects of this country I am unhappy with. I hope by learning about other nations, I will be able to see into my own perceptions of the country I have lived in all my life. When I went to Greece and Italy, I saw the two countries as a foreigner would. I wasn't familiar with Greek or Italian customs enough to consider myself a part of the land where my father grew up in or my mother's mother and father were raised. So my question is: Where do I belong?