“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

eai@utsa.edu