Off the Mark: Perceptions of Diversity in Scotland
By Jongmi Kim
This article appeared in Abroad View spring 2004
As a Korean-American born and raised in the States, I grew up constantly aware of my hyphenated identity, but I always felt more American than Korean. I was comfortable and proud of both my backgrounds, but I still found it annoying when the first thing a stranger would ask me was, “Where are you from? No, no, where are you from?”
In the fall of 2002, I packed my bags and traveled abroad to study at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. I was excited to live in a place that was foreign yet English speaking. It would be an adventure with no language barrier. But I had one concern that lingered at the back of my mind: I knew that Scotland was not nearly as diverse as my home in the Jersey suburbs or my school in Chicago, and I wondered if my ethnicity would be a bigger deal abroad than at home.
With extremely social housemates and the beautiful extinct volcano Arthur’s Seat literally in my backyard, I knew that the next three months would be fantastic. While I couldn’t wait to explore Edinburgh, I prepared myself for any annoyances or challenges I might face for being Asian in a very Caucasian environment. But since my life in the States was not devoid of the occasional irritating racial comment, I hoped that my past experiences had taught me enough to deal with whatever challenges might come my way.
The first few weeks of being abroad were filled with hours of dialogue with housemates, chats with new friends and, of course, classes. Weekends were spent exploring the gorgeous city, castles and natural wonders. Meanwhile, I couldn’t ignore the fact that there was less racial diversity in my classes than on the streets, which was the reverse of the situation in the States. I had expected a more, not less, mixed classroom.
At first, I felt self-conscious about being the only non-white person in most of my classes and tutorials. I wondered if the students saw me as “extra” foreign, even though they knew I was a study abroad student from the U.S., and I braced myself for the onslaught of questions.
However, my premonition regarding the students’ perspectives on race was completely off the mark. While my accent obviously told my fellow students that I was American, the answer “New Jersey” to the inquiries of “Where are you from?” seemed to satisfy them completely. They didn’t ask me again what my nationality was or where my parents were born.
Since Edinburgh is much less diverse than metropolitan New York or Chicago, I had expected people to be a little more curious about my Korean background. I was wrong; cosmetic factors were not foremost on their minds. I was who I was on the basis of my ideas, values, interests and personality. They were much more interested in how long I had played rugby, where I had traveled that weekend and how I was enjoying my stay, rather than where my parents had immigrated from.
If my classmates didn’t care about race, what did they think about? While it sounds basic, they simply saw people as individuals. Although these students may not represent their entire nation, I think that my classmates in Edinburgh were more open-minded—perhaps because although there is not much racial diversity in Scotland, there is an impressive amount of cultural diversity. The students not only claimed an ethnic heritage, such as a great-great-grandmother from Greece, but they thought of practically the entire European continent as home. In this less obvious, less color-coded form of diversity, I met Germans, Belgians, Italians, Irish, Scots, English, Spaniards, Croatians and Scandinavians. With their diverse backgrounds, they also revealed a depth of intellectual, moral and cultural diversity I had never experienced. With such different types of diversity, not just racial diversity, I realized why my Korean-ness was not as big of an issue as I had expected.
Neither my appearance nor the spelling of my name framed my classmates’ and friends’ perceptions of me. This is not to say that Scotland was some kind of racial utopia or that my Korean identity was completely absent from all conversations. I did share my experiences as a Korean-American with my new friends.
My ethnic background was and always will be an integral part of who I am. It was marvelous and ironic that I felt most appreciated and free to be myself in a completely foreign place. The students I met knew much more about diversity than I had anticipated. My classmates unknowingly taught me an important lesson in open-mindedness.
This bio was accurate at the time this article was printed: Jongmi Kim is a senior double major in Political Science and International Studies at Northwestern University. She spent the first term of her junior year studying Politics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Upon graduation, Jongmi plans to attend law school to study Public International Law.