As the bus pulled away from the stop, I looked out the window, relaxed but attentive to any possible new details.

Riding & Writing

This would mean that, biological factors aside, Japanese people express themselves differently because they were taught to present themselves to society in a certain way.  Eager to explore more possibilities around this phenomenon, I spoke to Professor Patricia Riggin, a faculty member in the Theatre Department, to gain a new perspective on this topic.

I stood under the beating sun, my shoes covered in rust-colored dirt, as the Himba (an indigenous Namibian tribe)’s signature earthly smell from the clay they use to cover their bodies wafted into my nostrils. My family had just presented the tribe with some gifts as a sign of respect, but there was no way to communicate what our gifts were to be used for, or any way to tell if they were pleased, offended, or simply confused. At the time, I was too focused on the obvious language barrier, but as I look back, I realize that maybe I couldn’t tell what the Himba were thinking because they used body language or wore facial expressions different than the ones we were used to. Although judging someone’s emotion based on what we see may be considered an innate ability, perception of facial expressions of emotion may actually be culturally bound. For example, would someone in Arkansas be able to tell what someone in Japan is feeling, just from the expression on their face? When traveling, I often wonder if it is just the language barrier that impedes tourists and locals from understanding each other, or if there is more in the way of full comprehension between these two groups, such as the way people convey their emotions through the expressions on their faces. 

(such as not being able to tell what the Himba were feeling during our interaction)

Something to consider, however, is whether people express themselves differently because of biological factors or because of how they were raised.

If I could watch old experiences in my life like movies, I would go back eight years to when I had the privilege of visiting the ancient Himba tribe and try to observe their faces more closely and see what I could understand from the interaction.

Although my curiosity was driven by my general interest in psychology (more specifically, body language) and, as someone who was raised in a bicultural family and multicultural environment as a resident of New York City, interacting with people of different cultures,

Before beginning his research, he believed facial expressions were socially learned and therefore varied across cultures. In an attempt to solve the long-standing debate, Ekman traveled to Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, and the United States, where he showed groups of people from each country photographs of individuals displaying different facial expressions of emotion. He then asked each group to judge what emotion they believed was being displayed in each picture, and most individuals from the five cultures agreed. Although this was already a big step towards proving Darwin’s theory right, Ekman was not fully convinced and therefore tried a different approach to support his findings. 

This theory has since then been the foundation of a continuous debate among various kinds of scientists.  Dr. Paul Ekman, famously known for his studies of emotions and how they relate to facial expressions, initially began his research opposing Darwin’s universality hypothesis.

As I push open the heavy red door, I am greeted by a stream of warm, humid air. The smell of chlorine fills my nostrils as I blink repeatedly, my eyes adjusting to the fluorescent light. Stepping through small puddles on the deck and listening to the quiet lapping of water against the pool’s edge, I feel beads of sweat starting to form on the bridge of my nose. The rhythmic splashing of the lap swimmers and the quiet hum of the filtration systems lull me into a kind of stupor. As I saunter across the tile floor, I prepare myself mentally for the next four hours.