countries.

[this_bugs_4_you]

i've been thinking a lot about this concept of "country." i guess because once you have to get all your official papers and get your passport stamped and get your i.d. card in A WHOLE NEW ONE, the world is suddenly defined in terms of countries much more than it used to be. i think most of us have said we've experienced the whole "i never defined myself as ______(insert nationality here) until i moved to _____," but i think i mean something more than just that type of awareness. living abroad makes two opposing things seem so much more real to me: the world is small, it's tiny, and we're all inter-connected more than we could probably ever understand; but also, people seem to be fanatically connected to their national identity. a)how could that be, because i seriousy doubt an entire nation ever really felt or thought or decided something unanimously and b)WHY do we define things that way, when it seems so much more logical that we are all much more closely related than border lines would suggest? and also, what about people who live in border areas--does their culture REALLY only reflect the characteristics of the one which issues their i.d. card? and also, what about people who identify more strongly with a religion/different cultural tradition/even nieghborhood, for goodness's sake, than their nationality? and also, what about people who feel equally like a 'visitor,' never really home, wherever they go? (or is that just me?). 'country' is feeling more and more silly....example: especially when my chilean students tell me of COURSE they would never support giving part of their coastline to bolivia. even though it used to be bolivia's until the war of the pacific. even though they don't, personally, know any bolivians. even though they are in general, nice people who seem to care about others.

yes, yes, i understand...international politics and the modern nation-state and all that. got it. i think i was just thinking out loud.