What Is True Internationalization? Y.T. Female, high school student (tenth grade) in Kyoto

The world today seems to have gotten closer and more and more open--- that is what most of us call the internationalization. But what exactly is internationalization? I think that the world hasn't yet truly been internationalized because some prejudice based on ethnocentrism still exists in our lives today. We must find a way to overcome this negative factor which obstructs our internationalization. To begin with, we must all recognize what the term "ethnocentrism" means. Basically, ethnocentrism is the belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group and that one's own patterns of behavior are the best: the most natural, most beautiful, most important, or most right. From my perspective, there are three levels of ethnocentrism. First of all, there is ethnocentrism at the non-official or interpersonal level, such as food preference. Secondly, there is ethnocentrism at the domestic level, that is, a confrontation among different ethnic groups within a multicultural nation. By way of example, the latest Australian political policies toward the immigrants could be seen as the ethnocentrism of white, European-descendants. Another area of ethnocentrism that I'd like to mention is at the diplomatic scale. That is, a discord or bias at the "nation verses nation" level. The North Korean Taepo Dong Firing Incident that happened on September 9th, 1998 is one example.

First of all, there is the ethnocentrism at the non-official (individual vs. individual) level; food preference is probably the most familiar and basic example of ethnocentrism. Every culture has developed preferences for certain kinds of food and drink. The differences occur because of particular qualities of one's own country such as climate, geography, custom, religion, and natural features. One example that affects food preference is the different set of values toward certain animals. For instance, the Hindu people believe that cows and pigs are sacred, while Japanese and Americans have no affection toward or regret in eating these animals. Indian people may regard Japanese and Americans as barbaric.

One Chinese food custom had a big impact on me. The unexpected incident which occurred in California on one December 25th swayed me emotionally. My mom and I were invited over to my mom's friend's party, and she (Chinese) took us to a surprise. We were taken to a house located at the end of the road in a quiet residential area. In contrast with the other well-maintained houses in this area, the house itself seemed very rustic. But, in front of the house, three or four fine cars had already parked, and several well-dressed people were standing there. She, my mom's friend, began to speak with them in Chinese. My simple brain didn't know what would happen next. As we entered the house, I saw a few cheerful children in the living room; the carpets were faded and had lots of stains. And then, we (Mom and I) stepped out into the backyard which looked like it had never been trimmed. Then, we were shocked to see two big dried animal skins hanging on the bars at the corner of the yard. Furthermore, some sausages were hanging down by the patio roof. Then, a sweet smell that we had never experienced began to drift in the air. We thought it might be like the Japanese yakitori. The owner of the house, who was cooking silently, seemed Mexican-American, and his wife who was busy preparing the tables was Chinese; they didn't seem friendly. As soon as the barbecue began, the most of the guests sat around a coarse dining table and the rest of them sat around an unclean plastic table. Nevertheless, every guest's face was brightened up when the delicious meat and sausages were served. Some cheered. As we knew by intuition that the meat was unusual, we got the answer to our question; that is, this was dog meat. The house was a kind of a secret restaurant where people could eat dog meat illegally in the U.S. And I remembered that a few days before this feast, my Doberman pinscher which we kept in our yard had been stolen by someone who opened the gate, just as some other big dogs in my neighborhood had disappeared. It must have been coincidental, but I couldn't keep myself from connecting these incidents and the dog-meat restaurant together.

Later on, I learned from my Asian friends that not only some of the Chinese eat dog, but some of the Koreans and Vietnamese eat dog as well. Most people, like Japanese and Americans, regard dogs as very good companions; the pet is a member of family, and we never regard dogs as food. So what I experienced at the Chinese dog restaurant made a huge prejudice arise in my mind that those "dog-eaters" were totally insane, even we're all Asians. But on the other hand, my Asian friend protested, "Japanese eat whales and raw fish even while they're still alive. It's cruel too!" I didn't know how to reply.

Then, I recalled the time when I first went to a Chinese market in California. I saw all kinds of parts of pigs, chickens, and so on, from head to toe or tail, everything that is eatable, displayed. And most Chinese purchase even pig ears and noses without any problem. Live turtles and whole roasted ducks are also sold in the markets. At the time, that sight just seemed bizarre to me. But my friend told me that Chinese value food as much as medicine; that is, it's a courtesy as well as matter of course to eat every single part of the animal, that gave their lives for humans' nourishment. And humans should never waste those animals' sacrifices. I recalled that moment when I was deeply impressed to hear this. At the same time, I began to realize that Chinese people eating dogs couldn't be blamed for their custom. I began to notice that the attitude of Chinese people toward dogs is similar to the attitude of Japanese toward whales and raw fish, and Indian people criticizing us for eating (sacred) cows is also similar as well. So I regret having had such prejudice, based on ethnocentrism, toward Chinese. I feel that I have overcome the ethnocentric prejudice in my mind.

Secondly, there is ethnocentrism at a domestic level. That is the confrontation among different ethnic groups living in the same country. A typical example I want to point out is the present situation in Australia. So far, some political groups, which advocate giving priority in rights to the Australian whites, have always been recognized in Australia. Recently, an extreme party is gaining more support from the whites and its movements are getting more active. The instability of the Australian economy led to an increase in the unemployment rate; people are in need of relief measures. The Australian whites believe that the large numbers of new immigrants are quite alien to them and give them a serious anxiety about losing their jobs. So some Australian whites support this political group, called One Nation, and they're about to take actions to kick the immigrants out, especially Hispanics, so that the whites can get their jobs back. I think that this truly is an instance of ethnocentrism. Today, many objectors (mainly immigrants) are taking actions and holding demonstrations against this political group and its female leader, Pauline Hanson.

Lastly, there still exists the ethnocentrism at the diplomatic (nation vs. nation) level. For instance, the North Korean Missile Incident can be looked as a current example of ethnocentrism. On September 9th, a North Korean missile (Taepo Dong 1) firing was reported by unidentified U.S. military officials. The object, which had been fired off without notice, had flown through Japan's airspace and crashed into the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. This selfish action which ignored the feelings of Japanese people was completely North Korean's fault. But, the reactions of the Japanese government and the mass media also embarrassed me. They jumped to a hasty conclusion. First of all, the Japanese mass media spread the news that North Korea had fired a dangerous missile without confirming the story. So the influence of the mass media caused great numbers of Japanese people to have the uncertain and false ideas. On top of that, the Japanese government enacted some sanctions toward North Korea, including the break-off of normalization talks. To make matters worse, the Japanese bureaucracy has suspended food aid to the starving people of North Korea. I think it is really senseless and heartless. Furthermore, Korean students in Japan are being bullied and are oppressed by the pressure of cruel prejudice. Meanwhile, the leaders of North Korean government protested that it was just a reconnaissance satellite for use in peacekeeping. Where did such information gaps come from? Later on, the U.S. Department of State pointed out that there was a strong possibility that the object was a satellite rather than a missile, according to their latest investigation. Japan must have regretted the illogical jumps. I think that this mess has occurred because of ethnocentrism, which still exists in the nations, both North Korea and Japan. Japanese bureaucracy hasn't ended the sanctions yet. Although the World Conference is taking place among North Korea, Japan, USA, and some other countries, there still exists a preconception that North Korea is one of the most reclusive and closed countries. And many nations are wondering if North Korea might manufacture those missiles and possibly sell them to other third-world countries in addition to their own use. This remains an unanswered question to be settled.

Thus I conclude, that there are three levels of ethnocentrism; non-official, domestic, and at the diplomatic scale. But what's common among these three types of ethnocentrism, is that at any level ethnocentrism makes sacrifices of the weak. For instance, the immigrants in Australia (at the domestic level) and the starving North Koreans and the Koreans living in Japan (at the diplomatic level) are becoming the victims. According to these unfair results, I think ethnocentrism isn't an obsolete term. So, what exactly is true internationalization? I think the true internationalization isn't simple, but rather tough and painful, although many people believe that speaking English, traveling to foreign countries, and shaking hands with foreigners constitute internationalization. Although it's often difficult to comprehend what others are thinking or doing, we must give priority to others before preconception dominates our mind. That means, to respect every person's culture, values, customs, and traditions. Sometimes that requires us to suppress our own culture and ego. Especially at the diplomatic level, communicating face to face with one another from our hearts before criticizing is absolutely essential. Persevering discussions and the willing to know each other should at least prevent us from jumping to the wrong conclusion. To build up trust between individuals (or nations), generosity and a global, intellectual field of vision is required. The world today is facing crises, especially in environmental, economical, and diplomatic issues. In order for these global problems to be solved, cooperation, true internationalization, and a society with no prejudice or selfishness is necessary in our world today. I strongly hope that we can advance ourselves toward true internationalization. In the world TV news, a Hispanic immigrant in Australia said, "We are all the same family on the earth, aren't we?"

Copyright (c) 1999, Child Research Net, All rights reserved.