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Sat | January 07, 2006

Gift Culture

This prompt was taken from the GRE issue essay topics pool. The idea is to take a position on the statement and "present your perspective" on the issue.

"To truly understand your own culture—no matter how you define it—requires personal knowledge of at least one other culture, one that is distinctly different from your own."

As a person of Asian descent raised amidst American culture, I have much first-hand experience with cross-cultural disconnections. Much of what I know about Asian culture comes from trying to understand why my instinctive behavior is so dysfunctional in American society. It is true that to understand what something is, you must understand what it is not.

Intuitively, I have a reflexive desire to give gifts to others. This differs from the massive stint of gift-giving which occurs around the holiday season in the United States. It is common in Asian culture to give small gifts, which may not be very special or remarkable, and which are given almost in passing-- for no particular memorable occasion. They are given "just because." Moreover, whereas holiday gifts are often given with the understanding that the person is also going to give you something, these gifts are given freely, with no obligation to reciprocate.

How do I know that gift-giving is an aspect of Asian culture? I have never been told. I learned from my experience with both cultures. The most extended example is a friend I had once, in college. I realized that I gave her a lot of gifts, and she never gave me anything. She simply never thought to. I perceived this pattern in my experience with others, also.

Specifically, I learned from the dysfunctionality of gift-giving between myself (a person of Asian culture), and persons of American culture. Gift-giving "works" in an Asian society because not only do you give things to people, but people give things to you. Although there is no formal or specific obligation to reciprocate, there is a general, open-ended tendency to do so. Otherwise, you give and give, and never get anything back, and something falls out of the equation.

From this I can also extrapolate something more general about Asian culture-- it is oriented towards the other, with a consideration for the others' needs, that is absent in American culture. In Asian culture you look out for others and they look out for you. In American culture, you must take care of yourself.

From personal experience with the differences between cultures, I am able to understand and operate more effectively in both.

Posted by Lily at January 7, 2006 01:35 PM

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