“Living and Laughing by the Chopsticks-Fork Principle” Lecture · “Living and Laughing by the...
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“Living and Laughing by the Chopsticks-Fork Principle” Lecture the time of her arrival, public schools were not offering ESL (English Second Language) classes, making it a challenge to learn English. Bean even had to repeat kindergarten since she could not speak a word of English. She went to college in the early 60s where she majored in History and Government. Not soon after Bean met her husband who was shocked to find out that she was not Japanese. A little bit later, she states that everyone is at least bi‐cultural, whether it is by race, gender or nationality. On Monday, January 31, 2011 the East Asia Institute and the Bicultural‐ Bilingual Studies welcomed author Cathy Bao Bean who gave a lecture entitled “Living and Laughing by the Chopsticks‐Fork Principle” at UTSA. More than 80 people attended the talk. At the beginning of the lecture, Cathy Bao Bean gave the audience an abridged history of her cultural journey. She was born in Guilin, China in 1942 and immigrated to the United States in 1946. At “None of it has been painless, all of it has been fun, except the cooking.” -Bao Bean East Asia Institute, UTSA January 31, 2011 Author of “The Chopsticks‐Fork Principle, A Memoir and Manual” is a daughter, mother, wife, friend, sister, aerobics instructor, business manager, and board member of the Claremont Graduate University School of the Arts and Humanities, the NJ Council for the Humanities and Society for Values in Higher Education. Cathy Bao Bean
Transcript of “Living and Laughing by the Chopsticks-Fork Principle” Lecture · “Living and Laughing by the...
“Living and Laughing by the Chopsticks-Fork Principle”
Lecture
thetimeofherarrival,publicschoolswerenotofferingESL(EnglishSecondLanguage)classes,makingitachallengetolearnEnglish.BeanevenhadtorepeatkindergartensinceshecouldnotspeakawordofEnglish.Shewenttocollegeintheearly60swhereshemajoredinHistoryandGovernment.NotsoonafterBeanmetherhusbandwhowasshockedtofindoutthatshewasnotJapanese.Alittlebitlater,shestatesthateveryoneisatleastbi‐cultural,whetheritisbyrace,genderornationality.
OnMonday,January31,2011theEastAsiaInstituteandtheBicultural‐BilingualStudieswelcomedauthorCathyBaoBeanwhogavealectureentitled“LivingandLaughingbytheChopsticks‐ForkPrinciple”atUTSA.Morethan80peopleattendedthetalk.
Atthebeginningofthelecture,CathyBaoBeangavetheaudienceanabridgedhistoryofherculturaljourney.ShewasborninGuilin,Chinain1942andimmigratedtotheUnitedStatesin1946.At
“None of it has been painless, all of it has been fun, except the cooking.”
-Bao Bean
East Asia Institute, UTSA January 31, 2011
Authorof“TheChopsticks‐ForkPrinciple,AMemoirandManual”isadaughter,mother,wife,friend,sister,aerobicsinstructor,businessmanager,andboardmemberoftheClaremontGraduateUniversitySchooloftheArtsandHumanities,theNJCouncilfortheHumanitiesandSocietyforValuesinHigherEducation.
Cathy Bao Bean
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Forthesakeofthelecture,Beandividedtheworldintotwogroupsbasedonstereotypes.Shedidsobecauseeveryonelearnsbystereotypesfirst.ThetwogroupswereModern,whichrepresentstheUnitedStates,andTraditional,whichrepresentstheeasterncultures,specificallyChinainhercase.Eachgrouphascharacteristicsthatmakethemvastlydifferentfromoneanother.Theiruniqueattributesareasfollow:
IntheModerngroup,everyinstitutionmakesapyramid.Thisisrepresentedbyatrianglefilledwithdots.Thispyramidonlyallowsoneperson,being,ordeitytobeonthetopandeveryoneatthebottom.Everythinginthe
groupismeasuredinaquantitativeway.Afterall,upisthebestdirectiontogo.BaoBeanjokesbysaying,“youcangiveawayyourkids,andyoucandivorceyourparents,buttheonlyreasonyouhaverelationshipsisbecauseyouagreetothem.”Thisistakentomeanthateachpersonisindividualisticandtendstolookoutforonlyoneself,whichactuallyreflectsalotofpeopleinUnitedStates.Additionally,sincepeopletendtofocusmoreontheindividual,itispossibleforthatindividualtobethelastpersonintheworldtofindoutwhohe/shetrulyis.Thistypeofworldfavorsnaturevs.nurture,andeverythingistakenpersonally.
Inthishumorousandpoignantmemoir,theauthor,animmigrantfromChina,recountshowshefiguredouthowtobeherself,aswellasraiseasonwhoseartistfatherdidthingslikepaintthelawn.AsCathyBaoBeanattemptstosatisfydisparateculturalnorms,sheprovidesuswithauniquewindowintotheexperienceofabiculturalfamily.
TheChopsticks‐ForkPrinciple,AMemoirandManual
"No father - esp
ecially an imm
igrant from
China - says to his d
aughter,
"Please, marry an artist."
"Please, marry an artist."
- Bao Bean
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ATraditionalgroupontheotherhandisaworldwhereanindividualisatthecenter.Aweblikestructurerepresentsthis.Thisisaworldwhereeveryonemust
participate.Afterall,besidesthefamily,thepeoplewhohe/sheinteractswithprovidehis/heridentities,whichisactuallywhatbindspeopletogether.Sinceeveryonepracticallyprovidesone’sidentity,anindividualalwaysknowswhohe/sheisatalltimes.Unlikethemoderngroups,everythingis
“Freudnevermadeittotheeasterncountries.Thereisnopersonalpsychologyinthesecultures.”
–BaoBean
measuredbyqualitativeoverquantitative.Inthisworld,theglassthatisemptyisbetterthantheonethatisfilledbecauseitshowsthatapersonisopentoallthings.Thistypeofworldfavorsnurtureovernature,andnothingistakingpersonally.
Insteadofhavingonetrueself,Beanstatesthateveryonehasmanyselves.Shebroughtupananecdotethatprovidedaclearexampleofthisprinciple.ShetoldtheaudiencethatwhenhermotherwasinherChineserole,hermotherhatedBeansinceshedidnotfollowtheroleshewassupposedtodo.Although,whenhermotherwasinherAmericanrole,sherespectedherdaughterforgoinganddoingwhatshewantedtodo.Eventhoughpeoplemayhavemanyroles,theycannotbeallofthematthesametime.Instead,peoplecanbecomefastatswitchingbetweenthetwo.
Forthissheshowedtheaudienceapicturethatlookedlike
BaoBeanshowsacaptivatedaudienceherrepresentationofatraditionalgroup
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botharabbitandaduck.ThiswasreferredtoastheDuck‐RabbitMetaphor.Apersoncanseeaduck,andapersoncanseearabbit,butthehumanmindcannotseethetwoanimalsatthesametime.Themindcanhowever,quicklyswitchbetweenthetwoanimals.Thismetaphortiesinverywellwithwhatshewasexplainingabouttheroles.Themostimportantpartisforapersontobecomfortablenomatterwhatrolethatpersonmaychoose.
Beanconcludedthelecturetalkingaboutthefinedistinctivelineofdysfunctionalstereotypesvs.functionalgeneralization.Shesaidthebestwaytonavigatethelineistojustaskforhelp.Moderngroupshavealinerlineoflogic,asenseofindividualism,andadefineexpressionofpunctuality,whileTraditionalgroupsarealmosttheexactpolaropposite.
Amongthe80peopleinattendancewasUTSAPsychologyand
JapanesestudiesstudentThomasAlvarado.“Ithinkalectureonamattersuchasthisisimportantbecauseitallowsapersontogetperspectivefrombothsidesofthelookingglass,”saidAlvarado.“Beangavealotofinformationthatleadstoabetterunderstandingandadeeperappreciationaboutthevastdifferencesbetweenthetwocultures.AsapsychologystudentIwasecstatictofindouthowpersonalpsychologyalmostdidnotapplytoeasternsocieties.”
Duck-Rabbit Metaphor
AudiencelistentoBean’slecture
Co-sponsored by
The East Asia Institute UTSA Main Building 1.209
210.458.4943 http://www.utsa.edu/eai
