Post 4: Cultural shock

Since anthropology is defined as the studies of culture –in a very simple and general definition-, the anthropologist used to see everything different to their own culture as something strange and worth of being studied. From this point of view, a cultural shock can be defined as an aspect of a culture that is different from ours and cannot be understood. This is very usual when we visit another country or even, when we visit a non-urban place (as urban people) in our own country.

For example, when my family and I visited northern Argentina, my father asked for potatoes to dinner and the waiter told him that it was one potato, and my father reply that he wanted at least two of them. The waiter told him that they were big, but my father insists and when the waiter brings the dinner to the table, we realized what he meant. The potatoes were really big; my father couldn’t even eat one!

This can be funny, but there are others cultural shock that can be really hard to face. For example, my friends and I visited a non-urban place two weeks ago and the machismo was strong. The girls were sexually harassed by men. For the men it was something normal, to say things and to whistle when we walk in the town. I felt terrible because I couldn’t do a thing to prevent it.