Mercy02’s Blog

After reading Bennett’s article I believe I can categorize myself under Ethnorelativism, for instance acceptance.  As my day goes by, I find myself accepting Thailand in its
unique way; accepting the culture and the people as whole. It was easier for me to
comprehend what Thailand is made out of due the multiple backgrounds that I
have. I remember when I first moved to the United States, I found myself being
ethnocentric because I used to ask myself why things were done differently. However,
I was able to combine my experience from United States and Ghana which made is
easier for me to be able to compare and contrast Thailand to the two countries.
I have encounter that Thai’s values and cultures are different from the ones of
the united states, however, some of them tend to be similar to the one of Ghana’s.
I remember when I visited Nan; I was able to make comparisons between that
village and some of the villages in Ghana. For instance, I realized that the
sons of my host family were home the entire time due their summer vacation and
since Thai parents do not agree with the idea of working over the summer they
stayed home and helped with the family linche and mango farm. It reminded me of
Ghana because having a summer job as a high school or a college student is unusual;
however, in the United States, that is how most kids support themselves over
the summer. I’ve also come to accept the idea of Thai’s having their extended
family live with them or close by. With the home stays that I have done, I’ve
been able to recognize this and it was interesting to see because having extended
family living together is unusual in the United States. In addition I’ve
experienced and heard other traditions of Thailand and am glad that I was
either able to experience it or know about it. For example, I think sonkgran is
a very nice and intriguing festival and I am glad that I was able to be in Chiang
Mai and participate in it.