Thursday, September 19, 2013

Powerful Proximity


Oh! Hello Again. It appears I suck at blogging; go figure.

I wish I could say things have been really crazy and that I’ve had no time to keep up, but that would be a complete and utter lie. Honestly, I forgot about it. Have you ever had one of those “This-is-the-best-idea-ever” kind of idea which just turned out to be more of a hassle than anything? YEP, I could file this in latter more than anything. Once I do get going, ideas start to flow fairly easily; it’s just getting to that point that I’m struggling with. Luckily, it’s not hard to think of solid things to blog about when you’re living in a completely new area, adjusting to the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, enough of my ranting and slew of excuses; here goes nothing…again.

The topic: Close proximity. First I’ll attempt to explain how American’s view proximity, my view, as well as the perceived view of proximity right here in Taiwan. Based on this being my blog, obviously there’s going to be somewhat biased views as well as sociological questions that will probably never be answered, which I’m completely fine with.

Before stepping on the plane to come to Taiwan, I was aware that one’s personal space in America was NOT the same as one’s personal space in Asia. With that being said, this is probably the sole thing that I’ve had a hard time getting my head around. American’s seem to view personal space as a right; a God damn given right! (Insert American hick image here) Personal space really is just the area around people that certain cultures regard as psychologically theirs. In America, there’s no negotiation; it is what it is and there’s no crossing those boundaries. If someone gets even a toe into someone else’s space, they’ll find out very quickly. Now, comes my sociological thinking. You would think that after being surrounded by the same individuals, say at work, one would feel comfortable enough to break that personal space and allow people to stand closer in line at lunch, at meetings, etc., But no. When you’re brought up in a culture that values space, distance, and expectations that others will respect those boundaries, instinctually you obey the social norms of the culture. Have you ever tried walking into an elevator with only one other person in it, and standing right next to that person? I have. Not only did I feel like a creep, I could tell the other person wanted to punch me in the face.

Walking in amusement parks and fairs in America seem to be the same way as well. Yes, there are hundreds of people, but every single person still wants (and expects) the same amount of social proximity that you’d get in a grocery store. With that being said, there is a bit of leeway with areas that are expected to be crowded, but the underlying feeling is “stay far away from me unless you NEED to get close.”

Now to tackle the beast: Asia (more specifically Taiwan). I’m almost positive the word proximity does not exist in this culture. Here’s some mind blowing facts and numbers for you:

Taiwan has a geographical area of 35,980 km². With a population of 23,268,087, its average population density is 642/km2 (1,664/miles2). This makes it the 16th most densely populated country in the world. Population density in major cities is, as expected, much higher. In Taipei (where I live), 9,600 people live in every square kilometer.

Let me remind you, we are talking about a tiny Island off the coast of China. In most places, the cultural determinate of personal space is shaped by your geological location in the area such as urban, rural or suburban. Typically, the further away from a populated area you move, the more space you acquire, vice versa. So, after landing in Taipei and feeling the stress and discomfort of people on top of me, I hustled out of there. AHHHHH green lush land and small villages, there won’t be any social discomforts here! WRONG. In the villages (or at least the ones I visited) the people seemed to behave in the same way; people on top of people. It confused me because clearly there was enough space to move about freely, so instead, I took a deeper look into their history and focused more on their cultural upbringing than on their outward social behaviors.

Much like other countries, struggle for power engulfed Taiwan’s history, which allowed Taiwan to experience Japanese, Chinese, and even Spanish and Dutch culture. It was Mainland China’s customs that reigned above the rest and continue to have a strong presence in present day Taiwan. For obvious reasons, people in China don’t have personal space because they can’t afford to have personal space. There are too many people which makes the idea of space such a novelty.  So going back to the small village in Taiwan… space isn’t limited there so what’s the beef? It’s a combination of two things: the past shaping the present/future, and so the strong village ties people come to appreciate.

While I’m not going to go on and on about the overwhelming amount of genuine, helpful people here, in this blog post, I will say that you’ll never find nicer people than the people here in Taiwan. They’ll go above and beyond to ensure you are comfortable, feeling welcomed, and having a good time. Sometimes (I’m guilty of this myself) people can begin to feel feelings of resentment toward their constant social curiosity and cultural assimilation assistance just based on the simple fact that they conduct it all within your personal space. What I’ve come to learn is that personal space is non-existent; it’s a human made term created to help justify reasons for humans to keep their distance. If you think about it even further, you can even think of it as a socially/ culturally made detriment to society; a slow deterioration to our already deteriorating societal connection to one another.     

…and then I found $20. Haha but really, so much for ending on a positive note. Overall, personal space is what you make of it. It’s something that can really hold you back if you make it more apparent than what it really is. So, next time you’re standing in line, take that one step closer and see what happens. If they punch you, my bad, but you never know they may just start a conversation with you!


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