Culture in a Suitcase

A successful restaurant owner in Istanbul talks about the life-changing journey from one culture to the next in a recent article from the Daily News and Economic Review. (12 Feb 2010 Hürriyet Daily News)

The article describes the experience of Alp Eyüboglu, who arrived in the U.S. to attend university in Boston, Mass., and faced a struggle to defend himself in a foreign culture. Cultural transitions were not foreign to Eyüboglu, however, having spent his earliest years in Germany before moving back with his parents to a town in Turkey. There his German dialect drew attention from his Turkish classmates and he suffered through the adjustment of carrying an accent as excess baggage.

Once in Boston, he said, "I learned to differentiate the different types of dialects between black, white and Hispanic people. I then learned the differences in their cultures...I received a lot of support."

But once again, his accent seemed to oblige people to treat him differently.

"It was when I started to learn about the differences among the branches of American culture that I realized I could be friends with everyone."

Sadly, his accent and appearance continued to attract the wrong kind of attention. Stopped by police for a speeding violation, he claimed he was harassed by a trooper with insults aimed at his ethnicity and religion. He responded by striking the officer.

"I could not help  myself," he said. "It was direct cultural discrimination."

He was promptly deported back to Turkey with remnants of American culture packed in his suitcase. Today he attributes his success to what he feels are the best aspects of American culture that he's implemented in his work in Istanbul. Hard work, a thirst for learning, fair play, honesty and a sense of social obligation are cultural elements that make "the American dream" come true. And from Eyüboglu's perspective, these are elements Turkish culture still lacks. The key, according to Eyüboglu, is a willingness to learn about the culture from the inside out.

Whether migration is of free will or imposed by force, transplanted individuals carry a cultural understanding from one cultural context to the next. Strangers, exiles, diasporas, emigrants and immigrants are resources for anyone who wants to understand how cultures collide and enmesh themselves. There's something to be said for carrying culture in a suitcase - and opening it wide no matter where the journey may lead.