Any journey toward understanding ourselves or others begins with perspective. It seems simple. It’s just a word that implies subjectivity. What’s the big deal?
I would say that perspective defines many crucial aspects of what it means to be, think, act, and interact as humans. It has the power to either create barriers or pathways to understanding each other. If we want to engage ourselves and others on discussions about humanity and society, we must first find ways to unpack what our perspectives are, how they came to be, and in what ways they inform our relationships with other people.
Perspective is the basis for experience and experience is the setting that creates perspective.
A few years ago, my boyfriend and I were standing out on the porch enjoying the night air. After standing in that same spot night after night, I decided to point something out that I had looked at many times; an image accidentally formed by the wood and paint of the old building. We have all had these moments, looking up at a cloud wondering if anyone else would see the same shape.
I looked at him and simply pointed, saying, “What is this?”
“The letter W.”
“Batman!” I responded in triumph.
Immediately, I became elated to see this real life example of a greater truth that I continually reflect on: Perspective is the basis for experience and experience is the setting that creates perspective.
Throughout time, and in different geographic locations, humans have adapted and changed based on their environments and the people around them. Culture, a mechanism that arose for guiding human behavior, allowed for people to begin to share values and to be able to function together in groups. This tool, meant for in-group cooperation, also created distinctions between how we live, eat, take care of our young, etc. To this day, culture continues to play a large role in what unites as well as what distinguishes people from one another, shaping our beliefs and ways of thought, inevitably creating differences in perspective. Culture, however, is not just a concept that applies to large groups of people and nations. It exists at every level of human experience. Within a family, a school, a classroom, a church, a group of thought, or a group of friends, a specific set of views and ideas will guide actions and future patterns of thought. This is how we end up with a world full of people who each have a unique take on life and an individual or group way of experiencing the world.
When I first traveled to Africa, I remember being shocked upon my arrival in Ghana. Culture shock is common. I thought I was mentally prepared but was completely surprised by my sense of displacement. I noticed this difference of lifestyle in many ways. One example was my expectation of what night time meant; I expected the night to wind down and for me to get alone time to reflect on my day. But that is not how they did things. At night, the town came alive with loud music, dancing, and late night socializing. Within a few days, I found myself having to go through a process of adaptation in order to find any semblance of comfort. It took real work to switch my perspective to see the world through their beliefs and lifestyle. It was easy to take for granted how big of a role culture and surroundings played in intricate aspects of how I think, feel, and react to the world around me. It was a very difficult adjustment to make.
A few years later, I traveled to a different part of Africa; Morocco. This time, I knew what I had to do. I had to recognize how my perspective impacts me. I had to step into the shoes of the members of this culture and to see how they ate, talked, and joked differently than I did, and try to understand why. When things happened that were different than how I would normally experience life, I had to remember that I was not living through my own lens, but through that of a different culture. This is the role of the anthropologist as they make their way among groups of people, getting to know different spaces and places: to observe and analyze the patterns of behavior that make us so distinct. As you continue to look at life through the lens of others, habituating yourself to perspectives that are different from your own, each interaction begins to feel as though you are stepping into a different world, each filled with its own entire set of rules and shared behaviors. Differences don’t have to create separation. They can be taken advantage of as a pathway to deeper understanding.
In the present day, there are more opportunities to hear from and learn about other cultures and ways of life. Modern technologies allow us to have more contact with one another than before which has led to an increase in awareness of how others live. This contact has also led to more shared space, both physical and mental. Cultural boundaries are merging more than ever, creating a need for unanimity around global problems that affect us all. Our globalized world sheds light on the difficulty that we face when people with different lenses share the same space. Our expectations of each other become more important to us. Universal ideals towards politics, beliefs and codes of conduct become a necessity. It becomes harder to engage differences because difference can lead to insecurity and confusion.
Many examples of this occurred over the past few years as Terrorism created a growing perspective of fear toward Muslim people. One such example took place in France when a woman was seen wearing a burka at the beach. Officers stopped her, giving her the option to either remove her body covering or to leave the beach. Something that distinguished her from others was seen as a threat to the comfort of those who were not dressed in the same way. Some see this cloth as a symbol of her culture, but to others it signifies her association with a group that the global culture has a negative perspective on. We live in a tumultuous time in which globalization also means global tensions. As we war with different countries, we have found ourselves equally at war with their culture, their way of representing themselves, and their beliefs. Once this starts, the slope becomes very steep. If fear creates the need for uniformity, we will continue to deny people rights based on difference, when “difference” is built into who we are and how we live.
“Perspective is the objective.”
Difference, who we are, our roots…these are not scary things. They define us. They make our world the intricate tapestry that it is. How can we expect anything but individuality when we know that even on a daily basis, just by standing on the opposite side of the porch, we can see a totally different image than someone standing right next to us?
Perspective is everything. But the only way to see that is by using a little perspective.
As my professor J.W. Wiley always says, “Perspective is the objective.”
Not only is it up to us to gain a little perspective on others, but it is also necessary to do so objectively. How can I try to understand you through my own lens? I can’t. All I can do is to try to put myself in your shoes and understand what it must be like to be you. Not only that, but to ask myself, how did you end up the way you are? What factors influenced your development and your viewpoint?
If perspective is both a barrier and a point of cohesion, we may gain more by using it to our benefit rather than allowing it to scare us. Think about this the next time you are finding it difficult to understand where someone is coming from. Pay attention when someone sees a color as blue and you see it as green. Take a moment to think about your roots, to reflect on how much has shaped who you are and how you see the world. And take the time to be more understanding of people who live life in a way that you can barely fathom. Join me in being an active anthropologist. Let’s use our shared humanity as a tool for better understanding.
