How Others See Us

Having the opportunity to study abroad in Israel is an amazing experience.  I am learning about the culture in Israel, the culture of Kibbutz Ketura, and the Arava desert through my diverse group of classmates, professors, Kibbutz members, and the desert itself.  I find it thrilling to learn of new cultures and ways of living.  Though my interactions with non-American classmates, I can also see them learning more about my culture which either adds to or disproves their notions of people from the United States.  With these interviews, I was able to directly ask my classmates about their perceptions of Americans and how they based their beliefs.  I decided to interview one Israeli student, one Arab-Israeli student, and one Jordanian student.

Each student had different perceptions of the United States, the people from the States, and unique experiences that helped build their perceptions.  My Israeli friend thinks that the United States is a very strong nation with a very capitalist society.  I thought it was interesting when she told me that she believes that the United States has too much political freedom.  She also mentioned that she saw the United States as having a lot of politics in the Middle East.  Her experience with people from the States came from interactions with friends of friends and from when she visited New York and Orlando.  My Arab-Israeli friend thinks that the United States is very similar to Israeli.  He lived in the United States for 3 years when he was in seventh through ninth grade.  My Jordanian friend perceives the United States as a country run by large corporations.  He believes that these corporations have more power than the government itself.  Like my Israeli friend, my Jordanian friend thinks that United States is a very strong nation.  He even said that the United States is the world leader and that everyone in Jordan wants to have the ‘American Dream’.  He has come into contact with Americans when his family hosted two American Students for a year and has worked with American engineering students while he was working as an engineer.

My Israeli friend knows Americans to be loud people.  She also stated that the States has a lot of famous people that are known around the world.  The Arab-Israeli student told me, “some of them can be really ignorant,” when he was referring to Americans.  He told me that when he lived in the States people assumed he was Muslim and that the Americans he encountered did not know that an Arab could be Christian.  He also recognizes Americans as more polite than people from Israel.  My Jordanian friend sees Americans as structured people.  He told me that they, “can’t do anything without a specific plan.”  Like my Arab-Israeli friend, he thinks Americans can be naive.  He then went on to explain all the good he sees in Americans.  He perceives Americans as organized, loyal, and independent.  He said, “[they] can do what they want to do whenever they want.”  I thought it was interesting that both he and my Israeli classmate think Americans are well educated.  I discussed this further with my Jordanian classmate and he told me that this view could have come from him only working with well-educated Americans through work and hosting them.

I also asked my classmates about their perceptions on American women expecting to get responses like easy or ditzy, – and one of my friends did say that at first—but what my friends did say pleasantly surprised me.  My Israeli friend told me that she believes that American women are strong; she is proud of American’s feminist movement and thinks it is a good example for the rest of the world.  My Jordanian friend stated something similar when he said that American women care a lot about other women.  He said he sees other women fight people who view them only as a piece of meat.  Both my Jordanian and Arab-Israeli friend see women from the States as open-minded.  My Jordanian friend went on to say that he admires how women from the States follow their dreams, have strong personalities, are kind, and can discuss any topic with him.

The final question I asked my classmates was if I or any of the other Americans here at Arava Institute fit their image of people from the United States.  My Israeli friend said that we do not exactly fit the profile; she went on to say that she sees each person as special.  My Jordanian friend told me that he sees us fitting his image, and he had many positive things to say about Americans.  I enjoyed talking to my friends about their perceptions of Americans and hearing both their positive and negative perceptions.

Improving perceptions of Americans through friendship.