University of Helsinki
A year ago a very insensitive person kept asking me about my “real” identity at a project meeting dinner. The project deals with questions of identity and interculturality and I felt that it was rather ironical that this person was being so pushy – putting me in an embarrassing situation… Yesterday evening this sad episode came back to mind when I listened to this Ted Talk by Pico Lyer:
“More and more people worldwide are living in countries not considered their own. Writer Pico Iyer — who himself has three or four “origins” — meditates on the meaning of home, the joy of traveling and the serenity of standing still.”
Before asking about people’s origins, let’s find more original ways to approach them in their diverse diversities…