Comments on: Identity: Report from Kenya, by David Zarembka http://www.riehlife.com/2008/11/22/identity-report-from-kenya-by-david-zarembka/ Creating connections through the arts and across cultures Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:30:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Janet Riehl http://www.riehlife.com/2008/11/22/identity-report-from-kenya-by-david-zarembka/comment-page-1/#comment-3890 Janet Riehl Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:56:08 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/?p=1605#comment-3890 Thank you, Susan and Sharon, for your comments which elaborate on this important theme. Dave Zarembka's essay is an excerpt from his regular AGLI (African Great Lakes Initiative) newsletter. Dave Zarembka's reports are now available on the AGLI web site, http://www.aglionline.org/kenyareports/kenyaupdate.htm. You may also receive them hot off the press via email by subscribing to the distribution list; contact Dawn Rubbert, dawn@aglionline.org for details. Best, Janet Thank you, Susan and Sharon, for your comments which elaborate on this important theme. Dave Zarembka's essay is an excerpt from his regular AGLI (African Great Lakes Initiative) newsletter.

Dave Zarembka's reports are now available on the AGLI web site, http://www.aglionline.org/kenyareports/kenyaupdate.htm. You may also receive them hot off the press via email by subscribing to the distribution list; contact Dawn Rubbert, dawn@aglionline.org for details.

Best,
Janet

]]> By: Susan Ollar http://www.riehlife.com/2008/11/22/identity-report-from-kenya-by-david-zarembka/comment-page-1/#comment-3869 Susan Ollar Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:11:40 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/?p=1605#comment-3869 As a psychologist with special training in neuropsychology, I have been interested in the ways that people process and store information for many years. Honestly, this interest started when I was a very young girl, raised in an Orthodox Jewish home. The categories that were struck quickly were "Jew" and "non-Jew". Further distinctions were made in those two categories...Jews were wither "Litvaks" or Glitzianas" indicating where in Europe they came from, (Eastern or Western Europe) and family stories helped me to understand why my mother's family (Litvaks) would scorn my father's family (Glitzianas) and vice versa. In my mind, silly distinctions, but in my parents' families, reason to create discord and humiliation. Among the category of non-Jews, when at home or in my Jewish neighborhood, there was tolerance and a kind of indifference to the ways that Christians lived their lives. There was also a level of scorn about the foods that Christians ate, since eating pork and shellfish, banned in a kosher home, was a mark of ignorance and carelessness about health that was attributed to Christians. Outside the safety of home and neighborhood, there was an acute understanding that we were a small minority swimming in a sea of Christianity and it would frighten me at times to think that I might be the only Jew in a crowd. The Holocaust was a constant reminder of how far Christians might go to rid themselves of Jews. It was a wound that I don't think will heal for many generations. It took many years for me to find books about Christians who protected Jews during the slaughter in Europe and it gave me access to a new set of ideas that integrated Christians and Jews into a new category, called "people." I have been a practicing Buddhist for decades, leaving behind the day to day consciousness of Jew or Christian. However, I remember a day at the University of Colorado library, when a man who appeared to be from the Middle East approached me, a smirk on his face. He stated, "you are a Jew from Russian background, right?" I was stunned and afraid. In the middle of my community, my University, I felt like I had a bulls-eye painted on my chest. Standing up straight, quaking inside, I replied, "Yes." I felt brave, and somehow humiliated. The man laughed and walked over to his Arab looking friend, where they exchanged money, and I heard one say to the other, "I told you so!". I was the bet. The incident stayed with me, reminding me of something that my Grandfather once told me. He said, you can say you're not a Jew, but to the world, you are always a Jew." David. Zarembka's article about Africa, Africans, Barack Obama and the seeds of the Rwandan Holocaust brought all of this to mind today. My secret hope has for many years been that we would all intermarry so that there wouldn't be racial or religious distinctions left to provoke violence and genocide. I know that Dr. Seuss wrote a book about ingroups and outgroups for children. I hope that one day that book will be something of an artifact of a time in the distant past when people didn't know that we are all the same, wishing to love and be loved. As a psychologist with special training in neuropsychology, I have been interested in the ways that people process and store information for many years. Honestly, this interest started when I was a very young girl, raised in an Orthodox Jewish home. The categories that were struck quickly were "Jew" and "non-Jew". Further distinctions were made in those two categories...Jews were wither "Litvaks" or Glitzianas" indicating where in Europe they came from, (Eastern or Western Europe) and family stories helped me to understand why my mother's family (Litvaks) would scorn my father's family (Glitzianas) and vice versa. In my mind, silly distinctions, but in my parents' families, reason to create discord and humiliation. Among the category of non-Jews, when at home or in my Jewish neighborhood, there was tolerance and a kind of indifference to the ways that Christians lived their lives. There was also a level of scorn about the foods that Christians ate, since eating pork and shellfish, banned in a kosher home, was a mark of ignorance and carelessness about health that was attributed to Christians. Outside the safety of home and neighborhood, there was an acute understanding that we were a small minority swimming in a sea of Christianity and it would frighten me at times to think that I might be the only Jew in a crowd. The Holocaust was a constant reminder of how far Christians might go to rid themselves of Jews. It was a wound that I don't think will heal for many generations. It took many years for me to find books about Christians who protected Jews during the slaughter in Europe and it gave me access to a new set of ideas that integrated Christians and Jews into a new category, called "people."

I have been a practicing Buddhist for decades, leaving behind the day to day consciousness of Jew or Christian. However, I remember a day at the University of Colorado library, when a man who appeared to be from the Middle East approached me, a smirk on his face. He stated, "you are a Jew from Russian background, right?" I was stunned and afraid. In the middle of my community, my University, I felt like I had a bulls-eye painted on my chest. Standing up straight, quaking inside, I replied, "Yes." I felt brave, and somehow humiliated. The man laughed and walked over to his Arab looking friend, where they exchanged money, and I heard one say to the other, "I told you so!". I was the bet. The incident stayed with me, reminding me of something that my Grandfather once told me. He said, you can say you're not a Jew, but to the world, you are always a Jew." David. Zarembka's article about Africa, Africans, Barack Obama and the seeds of the Rwandan Holocaust brought all of this to mind today. My secret hope has for many years been that we would all intermarry so that there wouldn't be racial or religious distinctions left to provoke violence and genocide. I know that Dr. Seuss wrote a book about ingroups and outgroups for children. I hope that one day that book will be something of an artifact of a time in the distant past when people didn't know that we are all the same, wishing to love and be loved.

]]> By: Sharon Lippincott http://www.riehlife.com/2008/11/22/identity-report-from-kenya-by-david-zarembka/comment-page-1/#comment-3868 Sharon Lippincott Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:12:41 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/?p=1605#comment-3868 What a moving and fascinating essay. Like you, I was struck by the emphasis on Obama's "blackness" during the campaign. You make powerful points. I suspect some of this is hard-wired into our brains, involved in the way we process information, but we can begin to move beyond it. Peace! What a moving and fascinating essay. Like you, I was struck by the emphasis on Obama's "blackness" during the campaign. You make powerful points. I suspect some of this is hard-wired into our brains, involved in the way we process information, but we can begin to move beyond it. Peace!

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