Soul Food in Japan, India, and the Middle East?

I may have mentioned in a previous post that the president of the UAB International Student Association and the graduate student association president converged upon my office in October 1990. They were both from India. They had read that I had a background in international relations. My position at UAB did not have direct responsibilities regarding international students, but any student who paid student service fees was a constituent.

We quickly developed a friendship. I hung out at the international house and frequented ISA (now the ISSA) events. One day some of the international students asked, "Bettina, when are you going to take us to a soul food restaurant?"

I had to think about it. My grandparents, mother and five great aunts lived in Alabama. Between their homes and my friends' mothers, I had NEVER eaten soul food at a restaurant. Plus, I lived my first 11 years out of the south so I was accustomed to eating soul food on special occassions and holidays. Sure. There were places that cooked southern food, but not what I call "hardcore" soul food dishes like chitterlings (pronounced chitllins) and other pork scraps, ox tails...My secretary told me to take the students to Family Reunion in West End.

Well, I get lost in Mountain Brook and West End. Birmingham and many surrounding communities are based upon a grid pattern. Those two communities are more complex. I had to get a navigator, my husband, to make sure I did not get lost.

When we got to Family Reunion, I ordered several dishes for the students including: chittlins, ox tails, neck bones, greens, candied yams, okra and I can't remember the rest. My husband and I ordered fish. We started off with a conversation about hot sauce and pepper sauce. One of the students had put pepper sauce on his chitllins and hot sauce on his greens. I would remember this incident when I traveled to Japan and my polite Japanese host family screamed, "no" as I covered my rice with soy sauce. Anyway, we shared that hot sauce was for the meat and pepper sauce for the greens.

Eventually, the students noticed that my husband and I were eating fish. They asked why we weren't eating the items we had ordered for them. I shared that I wasn't sure if they would like soul food so I didn't want to ask my relatives to cook for us due to the fact that most of the foods are labor intensive. However, both my husband and I were raised not to eat certain foods out unless we knew the cook and the condition of the kitchen. However, I didn't want to disappoint them and I had gotten really good references on this particular restaurant.

It didn't seem to matter to my Indian, Japanese, Middle Eastern and Western European students. They were excited to be in a predominately African American city and actually learning about African American culture. They also found commonalities. The Indian students taught me about bhindi masala (an okra based dish) and a Japanese student taught me about fried pig intestines. From that point on, the students made regular trips to Family Reunion.

Anytown, Anytown

Last night I had an unexpected encounter. Almost everyone in the room had an association with Anytown Alabama. Anytown is a prejudice reduction camp for high school students that was sponsored by the National Conference for Community and Justice. Most states had an Anytown, Metrotown or some version of the camp. Now that the NCCJ national office in New York is defunct and a number of other factors, the Birmingham office had to close its doors.

I have had an instant connection with people that were associated with Anytown. Anytown organizers were intentional in putting classes together of people from different races, faiths, ethnic groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and different parts of the state. It involved an intense week of delving into their souls and developing a lifelong bond with people who started as strangers.

So how can I spot an Anytowner? Usually, Anytowners have no problem stretching beyond boundaries of most of their peers. Their experience at camp made them face their prejudices in an open setting. The residual effect of this intense searching of the soul includes a new human being with a perspective on life that most people will never have.

So what am I talking about? Many people say, "I don't have any prejudices. I don't see color..." These statements are rarely tested. This attitude is self-reported. We never get to ask people who interact with them whether they behave in a manner contrary to their opinion about themselves. If Anytowners were in denial at the beginning of the week, they faced their prejudices and learned to overcome them. They were put through the test and passed it with flying colors.

In my world of training, we are doing well to get more than two hours with a group. In that amount of time, appealing to the affect is very difficult. Anytown offered 24 hour, round the clock, facilitated activities.

Next to my family and classmates, I would say Anytowners make up my close friends. The picture above is from my baby shower which was given by several Anytown Alumni, high school and college classmates and one military brat.

Back to the encounter on last night. When we found out that we were all involved in Anytown, we began to sing the theme song, Anytown, Anytown yellow, white, black, red or brown or something like that. We also did an energy check which was a series of claps that you have to hear to understand what I am saying. I was amazed that I could somewhat remember a song I learned in 1992. We went on to reminisce about our experiences. We will miss you Anytown, AL

Poetry and Music Festival at Malcolm's Meeting Room

Are you living under a rock and unaware of Birmingham's diverse culture? If I were still teaching African American Studies, this would be a required event. Birmingham's Civil Rights District is ALIVE!

Per a Facebook invitation from Sharrif Simmons: Enjoy a mix of music and poetry July 10 -12 at Malcolm's Reading Room featuring Def Jam Poet/Apollo Winner/Author Jessica Care Moore, The Sharrif Simmons Experiment, The Common Ground Collective, Sparlha Swa, S.Fly of Red Light District...Weekend/Daily Passes available at malcolmsreadingroom.com, Malcolm's Reading Room, Charlemagne Records, Greencup Books, Dreams Salon, and Matthew's Bar & Grill

Michael Jackson, International Phenomenon

Michael Jackson’s music transcended race, national boundaries, generations, and musical genres. A DJ in Birmingham, AL interviewed Joe Jackson on a program called the Juke Joint on 98.7 KISS FM. He said something to the effect that, “Everyone, all over the world knows the name of your children.” Please share your thoughts memories and international experiences with Michael Jackson as many of us continue to mourn his death.

Bettina's Michael Jackson Tribute

Are You a Third Culture Kid? President Obama is.

President Obama and many members of his cabinet are Third Culture Kids. What is a third culture kid? A simplistic definition is one who may or may not share the culture of his or her parents. Having one or more parent of a different culture or growing up in a different cultural environment than one's parents could lead to an outlook on life that varies greatly from one's perceived culture. President Obama fits this category on a number of levels including having a mixed racial heritage, living in Indonesia as an American and so on. See Time.com for about the President's heritage.

Ruth Van Reken, author of the book Third Culture Kids, is one of the premiere researchers on this topic. She believes that experience as a TCK positively influences the President and his cabinet regarding foreign policy. To view the post by Ruth Van Reken, see Third Culture Kid.

For additional information:

Visit: tckid.com and Belong or Bust: Third Culture Kids

Read: Between Cultures: Developing Self-Identity in a World of Diversity.

HipHopistan: Intersection of Turkish Culture and Hip Hop

HipHopistan: Representing Locality in a Global City is a documentary by Cigdem Akbay. I have been sitting here attempting to write an objective post about the documentary, but I can't. Cigdem is one of my former interns. We worked together nearly a decade ago when I first started Diversity UAB and a community program called Diversity University. She was engaged in cross-cultural studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and willing to provide assistance to programs in their infancy.

I remember when she was taking a new course in Guerilla Filmmaking. It was a course that taught amateur filmmakers how to make ethnographic films. Emphasis was placed upon the story, not necessarily the film. However, to the delight of the instructors--Rosie O'Bierne and Michelle Forman, they developed many budding filmmakers. Some of the student films have been submitted to local festivals such as the Sidewalk Film Festival and on to national and international festivals.

HipHopistan reflects what I know of Cigdem. Her background as a transnational, a person with roots in her parent's ancestral home and the U.S., helps her delicately describe the intersections between U.S. and Turkish Hip Hop movements. Cigdem was raised by parents of Turkish descent who moved to Huntsville, AL. She spent significant time in both Turkey and the U.S. As a music documentary junkie who used to spend entire Saturdays watching VH-1 Behind the music, BET, and now TV One's music documentaries, I must say that Cigdem's background in cultural studies adds a layer of complexity that sets this film apart.

I recall her descriptions of Turkish culture as European and Asian. She talked about the Grand Bazaar as a symbol of this cultural juxtaposition. I was reminded of her observation in the introduction of the film. It features a rap song that mentions Turkey's unique geocultural status.

The film describes the Hip Hop movement in Turkey from various vantage points. She even interviews Turkish American and Atlantic Records co-founder Amhmet Eregun. Name not familiar? Watch the Ray Charles film starring Jamie Fox.

Besides the fact that I was able to offer practical experience for her interests, Cigdem and I always seemed to relate well to one another. This film includes an intersection of an American art form that grew out of an underground movement in mostly black urban communities with a country on the other side of the world. I don't recall if we ever discussed the significance of Hip Hop when I was growing up. Of course the incarnation of Hip Hop today differs significantly from the Hip Hop of my youth. However, the underground nature of the movement and the generational divide between Turkish youth and their parents' generation is quite familiar to me.

Although the film was released in 2006, it speaks to some of the thoughts I have been having lately. Cigdem contacted me just after I had made several statements to friends on the global power of Hip Hop. I think I was watching America's Best Dance Crew reruns and the fact that few of the top contestants were members of the culture where Hip Hop originated. I was also thinking about a visit that I had made to Southern Africa. The young people often asked whether or not I knew Ludacris and Beyonce. A visit to Japan in the mid-nineties hinted to the power of Hip Hop among Japanese youth.

In addition to her mother's Baklava that I still dream about from time to time and the Evil Eye ornament she hung in my office, I have a film that blends aspects of both of our cultures.

Job well done Cigdem.

Japanese Festival in Birmingham

JASA 1st Annual Natsu Matsuri!
Japanese-style Summer Evening Festival
日帰りでたのしい夏祭りへ行こう！
When: Saturday, July 18th from 4 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Where: Morgan Creek Winery, www.morgancreekwinery.com
What: for indoor and outdoor entertainment, wine/sake tasting
Featuring: - Miki Band from Lincoln, AL みきバンド
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Okinawa Taiko Drummers from Huntsville, AL 太鼓
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Shounoryu stylized dance from NW Florida 翔乃流
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Japanese-style H.S. dance-Tuscaloosa こギャル・パラパラ
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Yukata robe display and wearing for pictures 浴衣
酒Japanese sake tasting by
Sake Story, of Atlanta, GA! 酒
Free Alabama wine tasting by Morgan Creek Winery.
かき氷、綿あめ、焼き鳥、ポップコーン、ソーダ
Shaved Ice! Cotton Candy! Yakitori! Popcorn! Drinks! . . .
With RSVP, Family concession package, $35 for 15 tickets.
Food items, sake tasting – 1 ticket each (tickets also sold at the event- $2.50 each)
一つ食べ物とお酒の試飲にはそれぞれ１チケットが必要です。割引のファミリー・パッケージが予約制で
１５枚、$３５で購入できます。ご希望の方は、このメールで返信して下さい。
RSVP to Tamara Moriya, JASA, 205-943-4730 or to jasa@mindspring.com