I had begun this blog last week, but after this weekend I had a new perspective and decided to restart this entry. This past weekend I went to Washington DC, and it unexpectedly helped my incorporation of some of the themes of the class into the United States context. The trip brought back waves of memories and emotions of South Africa. A large part of the association was all the museums I went to, similar to what we did in South Africa. One in particular, the Native American Smithsonian, reminded me of our many discussions of history. It was a memorialization of the experience of people who are often left out of history. In an exhibit about the history of 8 different tribes in which the description specifically pointed out that it was a history that was not often told. I also saw displays on languages, of which half are at risk of being lost if they do not receive some sort of support. This museum was refreshing amongst the many, many statues of white men and their horses that I saw throughout the city.

Another interesting part of my trip was the fact that I realized I was still tracking groups to see if they were mixed. I realized this because in DC I saw the most groups of mixed racial composition than I have seen anywhere else. There were mixed couples, families, and friends from all different backgrounds. It was contact hypothesis at work.

It was July 4th, so the patriotism in the city was overflowing. I couldn't help but be slightly troubled at the reminder of how much such a strong national identity, both in our case as well as South Africa inherently contains negative attitudes towards other nations, often leading to violence. Yet there was such a beauty in the diversity of all the people celebrating together in the spirit of Independence day that it cannot be denied there is importance in sharing an identity and culture. So once again I am considering the question of what kind of patriotism is helpful and when does it turn us against others?

One thing I realized that in these thoughts, I do have much more background knowledge on the American context. With this comes a comfort in being critical of our own patriotism, while still strongly holding on to my American identity. For me this makes it much easier to think about these ideas without feeling guilty, allowing me to be more flexible with my ideas. It really drives home the importance of doing work around reconciliation in the places I have the most knowledge.