Cultural Contradictions

Living in a culture that isn’t your own is inherently difficult. You’re away from what you know. You’re away from people you know. Then, there are the standards of the other cultural which you’re immediately put into despite the fact that everyone points out the fact that you’re not part of the culture. Talk about a double standard.

So here’s something that I’ve been struggling with lately. As Peace Corps volunteers we’re supposed to live at the level of the Burkinabe. However, we’re supposed to dress as professional Americans. I get that. We’re representing our country- and we’re responsible for our conduct 24 hours a day/7 days a week. But at the same time- you can dress casually in Burkinabe culture and still be perceived as well dressed, and proper. And by casually I mean- wearing a t-shirt and maybe flip-flops. I’ve asked about this and the response is- well you can afford to look nice so you should. But if we’re supposed to be living at the level of everyone else- why should we flaunt it like that? Doesn’t that pose an inherent contradiction to the goal of fitting in? So that brings the response- well people expect you to be different- but then do you automatically have to fit other people’s expectations? It’s okay to be different and be the exception to the rule. That’s part of the second and third peace corps goals. This thought process just leads me in circles until I lose interest and decide to think about something else.

In my experience, people dress very professionally in the morning. Then around 12 when everyone breaks for the repose, everyone goes home, chills, takes a nap, reads, watches music videos on MTV, whatever. Then at 15 (that’s 3PM for those of you not on a 24 hour clock) everyone goes back to work. But since this stint is after the respose, only two hours long, and at the end of the day- everyone dresses a bit more casually. T-shirts are now perfectly acceptable for both men and women- that runs contrary to what we’ve been told but it’s the case (in Poa at least) and I’ve heard the same thing about a few other villages as well. However, there are 16 million people here so maybe I found the exception.