Wajdy Ali
160 Convent Ave
New York, NY 10031
5th September 2018
Dear Professor von Uhl,
Hello, my name is Wajdy Ali. I am a Yemeni-American citizen stuck between being Yemeni and American. Growing up in a western surrounding, yet concentrating on grasping to a Yemeni culture has been a lifelong challenge for me. My family and I moved to the United States when I was only a few months old. With that being said, I was never truly exposed to the true Yemeni environment. On the contrary, my parents have and so they hold strong values in preserving our Yemeni culture, therefore it became my way of life. I spoke a Yemeni dialect of Arabic, celebrated Yemeni holidays, ate Yemeni food, followed Yemeni mannerisms, and did everything my father did when he was younger back home. The only thing I couldn’t find myself doing was surrounding myself around other Yemenis my age. I just could not do it. When going to school I tried to be as American as I could be. I partly blame that for the hatred towards Muslims after 9/11, and so I aimed to disassociate for personal safety. Nonetheless, when making friends I avoided my own people at all cost. For a long time I believed it was my subconscious attempt to fight the demands and oppressions my parents bestowed upon me in by forcing culture. When in reality, although they and I shared similar ideas, we were very different. They held different values than I did, they behaved differently, and for the most part had completely different goals. When all they wanted to do was hang out and fool around, I focused on my education. While they were flunking classes, I was performing well in mine. I gave my best effort to not affiliate myself in that subculture group, but nothing was effective. It confused me for a very long time. Why did society always associate me with the Yemeni subculture in school, yet I didn’t even associate myself with them. It was that question, that led me into the interest of social science, studying subcultures and the link between society and human behavior.
I began to ask myself many questions on my journey into the social sciences. My first question was, what constitutes a person into being part of a subculture? Is it self-reflection, or does society ultimately place one into a subculture based on their own understanding? I spent time observing many other subcultures at school. I’d observe the musicians, the basketball players, the kids who’d walk home together after school. I observed and recorded every subculture. Ones I felt like I belonged to, and ones I shared nothing in common with. I observed the people, their behaviors, their mannerisms, their jargon. When in public, like at the park or on the train, I’d attempt to guess what subculture I believed one belonged to. Or, I’d pay close attention to how they treated each other versus how they treated outsiders. What I discovered at my early stages of being a social scientist was truly fascinating. Subcultures are endless and all that was required to make up the subculture was one similarity amongst its members. It can be in the form of literally anything. Whether it be you all live on the same street, or you spoke a certain language, or you played certain sports with only certain people. You belonged to that subculture. What fascinated me even more about society, is how the subculture that one belongs to does not merely change with the people, but also with the setting. All those people who come from Bergen Road, are only “those people from Bergen Road” when they’re physically not on Bergen Road. A better example is how I identify myself when I’m in any other state. I am a New Yorker. I’d never identify or associate myself as a New Yorker when I’m actually in New York. Now I belong to a borough, then a neighborhood, and down to even a block. The most fascinating part about that is, you are the same person, but the subculture you belong to evolves and adjust accordingly, and society will treat you and view you differently depending on your subculture you harvest at that point in time. Finally, I realized why I belonged to the Yemeni subculture in school. Society knew me to be from Yemen, and so people noticed the small similarities I shared with the others. Small tiny things I never even noticed I was doing; people still noticed. The mere fact that I was a Yemeni in a school with a majority of Guyanese, Trinidadians, and Dominicans, meant I belonged to the Yemeni subculture. It was out of my control, as to how society perceived me, and today I am okay with that.
Studying human behavior has grown in fascination for me. I look forward to so many new experiences as a social scientist in this course. Getting to know people on a completely different level, I want to break racial and territorial barriers. Living in New York City, I am privileged to see and greet hundreds of different people a day. Getting to know where they are from, their jobs or careers, what are their goals in life, and what they look forward to in life. I’m eager to learn it all and how it shapes society. My biggest fear will have to be stepping out of my comfort zone, and visiting neighborhoods that maybe won’t be too fond of who they think I am and what I represent. It will all be worth it on my quest for a better understanding on the most social creatures on the planet, humans. The questions I am most frantic about answering are, why does racism exist, how does one influence a change in culture, and why do humans need other humans for sanity? I hope that I can gain an insight to all my questions on my journey of becoming a social scientist in this course.
Sincerely,
Wajdy Ali
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