Final week, I travelled to Dammam, Saudi Arabia to current my Summer season I Analysis Undertaking on the 2025 International Scholar’s Analysis Convention.
Now, I understand how posts like this are alleged to go. I share about how grateful I’m for this expertise, how I confronted my fears and provides my because of the individuals who made it occur. I need to use this publish, nevertheless, to share some insights round tradition I discovered from this journey.
Final month, the main target of our UofT Laidlaw Students management coaching was cultural fluency. Our cohort was directed to take an evaluation device which might inform us how culturally fluent we had been in addition to share steps about learn how to turn into extra globally-aware residents. Once I obtained my cultural fluency rating, the rating was so low that I jokingly informed my fellow students “wow, I’m actually not an amazing individual!”
Whereas I attempted to take it lightheartedly, deep down I felt disillusioned and ashamed. I’m the daughter of immigrants, in spite of everything! I’ve each heard and seen their struggles as newcomers adjusting to a wholly new nation. I’ve constructed my identification as a human rights advocate by studying culturally-sensitive scholarship, watching a wide range of information channels and making room for a number of voices. I’ve deliberate for my profession to be based mostly on “combating for the little man”, or communities who aren’t given a voice. My positionality necessitates that I be extra conscious of different cultures than the device reported I’ve.
This journey to Dammam represented the right problem for me to develop my cultural consciousness.
Main as much as the journey, my household and I consulted many sources to be taught the correct clothes, behaviors and habits in Saudi Arabia. This was some of the pleasurable unassigned pre-readings I’ve performed throughout my college profession; it was like boarding a aircraft from the consolation of my room. Although I’d encounter conflicting, drastic and outdated data, this analysis painted for me a preliminary image of what practises I ought to concentrate on and respect.
As my days in Dammam glided by, it turned much more obvious to me that my pre-reading wasn’t all that correct. There have been many practises I noticed that I hadn’t examine, and a few descriptions I solely understood after I noticed them with my very own eyes. I used to be grateful for these numerous alternatives to make clear my understanding of Saudi tradition. Being open to correcting my understanding gave me extra time to be taught concerning the “why” fairly than the “what”.
The prospect to converse (this ought to be learn as quote unquote “converse”, as I don’t communicate Arabic) with locals and observe the life-style turned me into an anthropologist finishing up an ethnography. Each new avenue, dialog and expertise, I felt like a water-starved sponge in a wealthy ocean who needed to tug out a pocket book and write every little thing down. The experiences weren’t simply experiences, however insights.
Having spent my daytimes studying about Saudi tradition, I’d return to my resort to begin fascinated about my very own tradition. My “twin membership” as somebody who seems Indian however talks, sounds, acts, clothes and behaves like a Canadian is one thing I’ve struggled to reconcile for years. My journey helped me conclude that tradition could be a selection. With numerous influences that encompass us and practises we’re uncovered to, you’ll be able to select to behave in whichever method you’d like. Tradition can also be versatile and forgiving; you don’t know a tradition by realizing it’s holy days, conventional clothes or meals however fairly understanding the concepts that kind the undercurrents to such practises. These findings helped clarify to me why I had a lot to be taught after scouring the web about Saudi Arabian tradition, and why I felt that disconnect between my Indian and Canadian heritage: it was the hole between listening to and experiencing.
The chums I made, experiences I had, students I spoke to and sights I noticed shaped all contributed to giving me an unforgettable expertise. It was my first time feeling like a whole outsider in a brand new place; not like a sense of unwelcomeness I assumed it might impart, it as an alternative gave me a “newbies mindset” and stronger urge to be taught. It was, in each sense of the phrase, a once-in-a-lifetime expertise.
To make this your conventional convention publish, I’d to increase my gratitude to the Laidlaw Program at UofT and You Jia Lee, UofT’s Laidlaw Coordinator, for encouraging me to take this chance. I’m additionally grateful to the International College students Analysis Convention organizers for his or her monetary assist to attend; with out it, I wouldn’t have had this expertise. To my mummy papa and didi: thanks for staying awake till I boarded the aircraft safely, your FaceTime calls and pushing me to proceed making an attempt new issues. Lastly, thanks to Dammam. Because of you, I really feel a way of “house” to a spot half method the world over. I can’t wait to return again.
In entrance of my poster at GSR 2025!
