With the recent birth of my daughter and the self-reflection that followed, I began to consider the responsibilities of parenthood. For the first time in my life, I am responsible for another human. This includes making decisions for her well-being, but also sharing knowledge and wisdom to guide her. Much of my meditation on this has encompassed several of the issues discussed in our blog thus far. Civilizational highs and lows, cross-cultural dynamics, harmony with nature, political turmoil, and technology are just a few of the challenges we face.
Because of the enormity of these complexities, I put myself into a meditative state first introduced to me by shamans in Peru. That trip took place in November 2018 and was centered around Indigenous spiritual practices. My group was accompanied by shamans throughout the trip, visiting several sacred sites and participating in ceremonies intended to cleanse us energetically. We concluded the experience with individual healing sessions, during which the shamans assessed our spiritual state.
While my reflections on that experience were spiritual in nature, I couldn’t help but consider other valuable insights. This was only my second time outside of the United States, and my first time in a non-English-speaking country. It was also the starkest cultural contrast I had experienced up to that point. However, it strengthened my confidence in international travel and increased my openness to other cultures. In many ways, it was the experience that served as the genesis for my current approach to evaluating the world.
Although my childhood experiences with domestic travel sparked my passion for exploration, they were limited by the bias and ethnocentrism that come with being born into the dominant global power of our time. Even though I was a Minnesotan, I was still an American, and that overarching identity was present wherever I went. I could go down the historical rabbit hole of Americans shifting loyalties from their states to the nation as a whole, but I will save that for another essay.
In any case, Peru was my first real step into uncharted territory with regard to travel. Since then, and especially in Latin America, I have encountered different approaches to family, government, society, spirituality, and life in general. Most importantly, these differences have shown me the remarkable ability of humans to adapt, not only to their present circumstances but also by drawing from their past to move forward. In Peru, the history of Spanish conquest resulted in a fascinating blending of Catholicism and Indigenous beliefs.
Many of the Peruvians I met were Catholic, yet the country as a whole celebrates its Inca roots with tremendous pride. Cultural amalgamation like this is not unique to Peru; it is a constant and ongoing process throughout the world. However, this experience opened my eyes to the tension between what is currently established and the inevitable changes that follow. As we have explored in other essays, this dynamic is now evident in challenges to U.S. hegemony, shifting demographics, and unprecedented global interconnectedness.
Borders, flags, and governments change while humans adapt to these ebbs and flows. As we have mentioned, our family is experiencing these shifts in real time. While this process of cultural melding took several generations to shape me, it has taken only one for my daughter. My ancestors came from Europe, a heritage that is still celebrated but already integrated into my American identity. My daughter, however, will experience this blending of cultures and nationalities from the very beginning due to her dual citizenship.
While this presents a unique opportunity for her, it also means we must be more cognizant of current events than most. My parents and grandparents were already U.S. citizens, so my position was relatively stable. My daughter’s ability to remain connected to the other half of her cultural background and family is subject to the shifting priorities of governments. Consequently, she will have an active and ongoing interest in the relationship between the United States and Colombia. She will not have the luxury of living entirely within the borders of one country and passively observing global events.
In many ways, my daughter is the direct result of my introduction to Latin America via Peru. Without that experience, I may not have been open to crossing cultural boundaries with my wife, nor would I have embraced the merging of my American identity with another had I not recognized its inevitability. Peru gave me the opportunity to explore my spirituality while opening my mind to the recurring but uncertain flow of life. As my wife and I raise our daughter, we benefit not only from an ongoing cross-cultural perspective, but also from the ability to step back and better understand the ebbs and flows of our time.
What are your thoughts about the shifts in the global community? Do you think interconnectedness through technology accelerates or slows this process? How will this impact globalization?