Cultural Mediators or Marginal Persons?

Abstract

Traditional Chinese culture has been severely altered by Western influences. Military and economic reversals, cultural isolation, and the lack of a central cultural trait, such as religion, in Chinese identity have combined to create a sense of alienation from both the past and the modern world among many Chinese. Led by persons educated in the West, Chinese intellectuals are mostly marginal personalities estranged from both native and Western cultures. Cultural mediation between China and the West is still lacking. Mr AINTAINING a balance between technology and culture is a central contemporary challenge. Although the world is approaching homogeneity in technology and lifestyle, with an increasing obsession with material progress, the need to seek roots is a powerful impulse throughout the world today (Tu 1991, 7). Yet there are also indications that humans are becoming more egocentric and indifferent to one another, and that they have inadvertently accepted that different cultures cannot, and should not, know one another (Tuan 1989). Such a situation calls for more cultural exchange and for cultural mediators, persons who can act as links between diverse cultures. It is only through such movement and interaction that cultures can become more aware of themselves (Grinberg and Grinberg 1989). It has been asserted that, ideally, cultural mediators can overcome conflicts and estrangements between separate cultures through a strong personal commitment to the unity of humankind and to internationalism (McLeod 1981; Ninkovich 1987). This interpretation, however, is unrealistic and misleading at a time when nationalism submerges any trace of internationalism and in a world where monoculture is the norm. Cultural identity is near the core of one's humanity; history and place constitute one's existence. Acute awareness of one's past and feelings of at-homeness are necessary for an authentic life. Cultural mediation or interaction without strong roots is susceptible to cultural alienation and the creation of a marginal personality that is cut adrift from both the native and the adopted cultures. This article explores the tension between native culture and Western technology by focusing on the experience of Chinese educated in the United States between the late 1800s and the late 1900s. Ostensibly cultural mediators, many of these students became marginal to both cultures by drifting away from their Chinese roots and attempting to embrace Western lifestyles and Western science. The experience of these students should interest geogra* I thank Patricia Gober for her comments on early drafts of this article. * MR. WANG is a graduate student in geography at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-0104. This content downloaded from 40.77.167.93 on Mon, 24 Oct 2016 04:09:56 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms