Being raised half German and half Japanese and having lived in Germany and Japan for 9 years each, I have come to realize that coming to Pomona, and distancing myself from my home countries forced me to critically think about my identity as a binational individual. I was never in a situation, until now, where my opinion about my home countries was not heavily influenced by those that are around me. Even when learning German or Japanese history, I was being taught by teachers who used textbooks that presented the stereotypical stance of that country and significantly identified with the respective country. I am not claiming that my teachers were irrational or were glorifying the countries, but it became evident that what I was learning was a reflection of the environment in which I was learning. That particular environment was filled with homogenous ideas and perspectives, which in turn lead me to a distinct interpretation of my country’s position in the world.
Coming to America, I never thought that I would learn as much as I did about the countries that I grew up in and strongly associated myself with. I mean at the end of the day, people study abroad at certain countries to learn more about the country that they are going to. While there are obviously some biases that are accentuated by the media and popular belief, I constantly find myself in situations where I am forced to view a scenario from an outside perspective that I was never previously exposed to, there are a lot of moments where I feel more aware of my nationality. On top of this, it wasn’t until I completely removed myself from Germany and Japan, that I truly was able to appreciate and learn to critically analyze their systems. That’s not to say that I never liked either country but it wasn’t until I came to America that I truly developed a strong identity being shaped through my love for my nationalities. -Tami Sacre Pom '21
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