TASK 2 SEE AND SAY THINGS IN ENGLISH (MODULE 2)



Federica Bartolomei GROUP: G 14/05/07



A DAY AS YOUR DOUBLE


ETHNOGRAPHIC REPORT


INTRODUCTORY NOTE : My double is Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the United States House of

Representatives. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in the community of Little

Italy where people speak Baltimorese, a particular variety of English. DESCRIBE IT OR AT LEAST FURNISH A LINK! However, she attended a private all-girls high school and university and has always been in a close contact with members of the American upper class; moreover she now lives in San Francesco, California with her family. Indeed, because of her job, I can confirm that she lost it and speaks West Coast American English (California English), DESCRIBE IT OR AT LEAST FURNISH A LINK! so I will write my report in a very linear, explicit and responsible way as I’m going to document everything that needs to be documented. I hope to make my voice strongly heard as Nancy Pelosi does in her life.




1) ITALIAN MAXIMS AND COUNTER-MAXIMS


Io come Italiano: “Bisogna portare rispetto alle persone di grado superiore al nostro”


Io come Nancy Pelosi: “All men are at the same level, everyone’s equal, in particular men and


women!!”




Io come Italiano: “Mantenere sempre i legami vivi e stretti con la famiglia è importante”

.

Io come Nancy Pelosi:” I don’t always need help from my parents to survive, I can be


independent!!”




Io come Italiano: “Le cose non possono migliorare perché c’è la Chiesa”


Io come Nancy Pelosi:” Don’t try always to find a “capro espiatorio” for everything that you feel


doesn’t work. If you want to change something, stand up and do it.”




Io come Italiano: “ Chi riesce ad arrivare in alto può essere solo stato aiutato da qualcun altro”


Io come Nancy Pelosi:” If you really want to arrive high, start from creating your future by


yourself!!”




Io come Italiano:” Il rispetto delle regole non è fondamentale tanto pagherà sempre qualcun altro


al posto nostro”


Io come Nancy Pelosi:” Only if observing the rules you can creating the same opportunity for


everyone, and if you break them you should feel guilty because you lost


an opportunity!!!!”




Io come Italiano: “ Bisogna sempre contare sull’aiuto degli altri per superare un ostacolo”


Io come Nancy Pelosi:” Don’t always count on somebody who does the job for you. Do by


yourself and you will reach high degree of satisfaction in your life!!”




Io come Italiano: “ Si può vivere benissimo accontentandosi della sufficienza, senza sforzarsi


troppo”


Io come Nancy Pelosi:” Don’t remain stocked in what you have now but aim higher to be really


satisfied!!!”




Io come Italiano: “ Si può fare un’esperienza nuova soltanto se qualcuno che conosciamo l’ha


già fatta e ce la consiglia”


Io come Nancy Pelosi:” Having new experiences, taking risk is not negative. It learns you to


live, to be independent!!“




2) MY DOUBLE’S MAXIMS










3) OBSERVATIONS OF STRANGENESS AND PRESSURES plus VALUES



a) Saturday morning. My mother wakes up late and drink coffee in pyjama and I think “Hurry up,


there are a lot of things to do, the world cannot change if we don’t move” . She speaks with my


father but there is no a word spent about politics, concrete plan for the day, but only useless and


boring things about the marriage of one of her colleagues.


b) On the other hand, my father spends a word about it, telling me what he thinks about a new law


in America (“it is not more allowed to smoke in television programs and in movie scenes”). He says: “ It’s


incredible! No more smoke in television or cinema, but still guns in newsagents!!” and I feel to answer “Yes


I know it is a contradiction, but we have to trust the law if we want really to change things”. He looks me in


a strange way as he thought I was not feeling good that morning, as I was raise up my head too much, but I


remained with my opinions.


c) When I went back to my room, I was still observing their attitudes and I realized that they chose to listen


to the music rather than watching television news or reading newspapers and I thought it was very strange


because they didn’t have my same feeling or desire to know what was happening in the world until it was


time for lunch. Only sitting around the table and eating all together, they turned on the television on a news


program, but they weren’t really watching it; It seems it was there just for entertainment, indeed they talked


about other things. Almost at the end of the program, there was a news about cooking!! I’m positive it was!!


There was a man cooking in a television news program!! I thought and said “Now I have found out how


they manipulate you. They treat you as a population of cookers!!”. My parents looked at me as I was a


stranger. How couldn’t a news about cooking and Italian ancient traditions interest me??


d) After lunch, while I was sitting by my desk in my room, my mother entered and gave me an apple. I


looked at her as I have never looked at her and said “Am I a prisoner?? If I was hungry I would have


brought an apple by myself!!”. My mother smiled and didn’t say anything, as I was joking or as that was is


job.




VALUE: a) This made me think that there is a precise family structure in Italy where man has


most part of the control on the decision to make. Thus, this reflects a stereotypical Italian


behaviour about the lack of a “self in control” but the presence of “other control”. In particular, women are


not involved in this kind of conversation as a projection of what the political system does too because


women have not the same importance in politic as men. Indeed, Italy is one of the few Country that has not a


lady Prime minister yet and women are like prisoner of the idea of looking strongly after their family so that


don’t feel to need to make their voice heard.


b) His strange way of looking at me made me realize that it is very difficult here in Italy to say what you


want to say whenever you want and to show freely what you trust, what you believe in. Indeed, if you do


that, it seems you are raising up your head too much and you want to break the wall between you


and your superior, that has not to be touched in this culture. A daughter or a son cannot have a so strong way


of expressing their own ideas in front of their father just because this culture has never learnt them how to


do it and, in particular, the freedom to do it.


c) Firstly, watching them listening to the music, I noticed a low degree of will to do something, to react to


the present situation of their lives, as everything that happens in the world didn’t interest them, as they were


living in another planet at all. I felt an air of sufficiency in the atmosphere of this home as I was wearing a


too much tight T-shirt.


Secondly I felt really under pressure watching that program and I was amazed because it was a television


news program. That is the evidence for the reason why Italian people seem to be so attached to their


traditions and origins without that feeling of willing to be involved in higher affairs: all the system doesn’t


want them to look at the future, to raise their heads up and learns in a devious way just not to do anything,


not to desire to change anything.

d) This was the episode that really made me under pressure because it was a clear sign for me to be normal,


to remain Italian. Indeed, I could do that, just be feeding by her and this action represents a typical Italian


mother behaviour towards their children. With this kind of action they feel to save us, they are in peace with


their consciousness they have done their job of mother, otherwise they cannot respond to the definition of


mother. Even thought it was a real simple action, it represents a great problem of the Italian families.


Because, on the other hand, they will have the security that we are never going to leave them and that we


will be dependent from them forever.




4) CONCLUSIONI IN ITALIANO



Ho vissuto questa esperienza in maniera veramente positiva perché ho potuto mettere in pratica e capire in


modo molto più diretto tutto quello che è stato affrontato durante il corso. Ossia quello di imparare


a parlare Inglese da un punto di vista che mai avevo pensato potesse essere un modo effettivo di


imparare una seconda lingua. Cercare di agire e pensare come una persona parlante nativa Inglese e quindi


inglobare le sue esperienze culturali e le sue abitudini, mi ha aiutato, non solo a conoscere qualcosa in più


su un’altra cultura, ma anche a distanziarmi dalla MIA cultura. Questo non vuol dire che la rifiuterò per il


resto della mia vita perché sarebbe qualcosa di impossibile, ma posso dire di aver imparato ad avere un


occhio critico nei confronti di ciò che mi succede intorno, senza lasciare che gli eventi mi scivolino addosso,


senza che possano essere prima filtrati. È proprio questo quello che ho imparato: a mettere dei filtri, a


costruirmi una sorta di corazza critica nei riguardi della realtà che mi circonda. Infine, volevo


aggiungere una critica a questo tipo di esercizio che, oltre al fatto che necessita sicuramente di molto più


tempo per l’elaborazione di una nuova mentalità, non è stato sufficientemente chiara l’impostazione per


quanto riguarda le modalità di distaccamento dal proprio IO, non tanto quindi quelle riguardanti la ricerca e


la comprensione dei valori culturali del proprio double, lavoro tra l’altro reso difficile proprio per questo


motivo intrinseco, in quanto arrivati ad un’età adulta (nel nostro caso 20 anni e più) esiste già una mentalità


ben radicata dentro ognuno di noi, difficile da estirpare anche se si tratta di una sola giornata o anche meno,


perché, come affermato anche durante il corso, del tutto inconsapevole e sentita come “normale”.