I am posting this article because I enjoyed reading it, and I think you will too. It was written by a former colleague of mine at New York University, Jonathan Zimmerman. Jon is now on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. He and I sometimes disagreed, but I always admired his deep learning and his collegiality.
In this article, he addresses a phenomenon of which I was unaware: a new movement to close down the Peace Corps by partisans on both the right and left, with those on the left accusing Peace Corps volunteers of acting like “white saviors.”
In this article, Zimmerman examines the controversy from his unique perspective: Both of his parents joined the Peace Corps as soon as President John F. Kennedy created it, and he and his siblings grew up in the countries where they were stationed. When he came of age, he too enrolled in the Peace Corps and served in Nepal. He shares what he taught and what he learned.
It’s a good read.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
He wrote/published an article in 2022 for Peace Corps about White Saviorism. I guess his memoire is just an extension of the article? The Peace Corp is worth saving and worth every tax dollar invested.
I’m tired of “the movements” here in the US! I’m weary and leery of anything they espouse. They all start out as a general “good” for humanity, but then morph (by way of big $$$) into an ideological hellscape for everyone. Defund Police, Me Too, BLM, Women/Men’s March etc etc etc…..once big money takes over from the big players behind the scenes, it becomes just another screaming match between “sides” and a distraction from what really matters.
LisaM,
I’m not familiar with the other article, they may be the same.
Funny coincidences: my ex-husband and I were friends with his parents; he and I were colleagues at NYU; his daughter is teaching my grandson, who is a senior in high school
Your counsel of moderation is wise, Lisa. Often people grab onto an ideology or lifestyle and take it to such extremes as to make it into something ugly. If you haven’t read it yet, you would probably enjoy the opening chapter of Sherwood Anderson’s classic, revered collection of connected short stories, Winesburg, Ohio. It’s like a fictional Spoon River Anthology. The introduction of the collection is called “The Book of the Grotesque.” In this, Anderson tells of an old man in the small town of Winesburg, Ohio, who dies and how, when people go to clean out his house, they find little pieces of paper everywhere, in the man’s pockets, in drawers, wherever, each with a townsperson’s name on it and a statement of “THE TRUTH” that that person lived by. The moral of the opening is this: When people latch onto a single idea and make it THEIR TRUTH and judge everything by its light, they become distorted, grotesque. Thus the title of the intro.
Aristotle was wrong about a LOT of stuff. But he was onto something when in the Nicomachean Ethics and elsewhere (Nicomachus was Aristotle’s father) he counseled moderation–that the good lay between the extremes. So, for example, feelings of self-worth are good. Vanity and self-debasement, on the two extremes, are not. That said, I know people in long-term, happy polyamorous relationships. It’s a big country, and there are many cultures within it. Btw, only about 17 percent of human societies over time have been strictly monogamous as an enforced norm. But if one digs deeper into the studies that reveal that, one finds that monogamy has also been quite common in those societies that were polygamous. So, there is no answer to the question, “What is the natural arrangement for humans?” from the anthropological literature. And, indeed, again, if one looks at U.S. today, very few families are Leave It to Beaver nuclear families.
Young people today have very different ideas about a lot of things than their boomer grandparents did. A comparison of their ideas with those of a throwback troglodyte like Hugh Hefner doesn’t seem to me accurate. He was a POS. The kids are alright.
And, I think, the wise way forward is toleration.
Btw, marriage is rapidly becoming a thing of the past in Europe. As laws change to protect the rights of unmarried couples, the allure of marriage has fallen. Marriage rates in Europe have been declining since 1964. According to a report by Eurostat, the crude marriage rate in the EU has declined by more than 50% in relative terms, from 8.0 per 1,000 persons in 1964 to 3.9 in 2021. The downward trend is interrupted by some intermediate peaks in 1989 (6.4), 2000 (5.2), 2007 (5.0), and 2018 (4.5). The number of weddings has fallen to historical lows in France and Spain and has tumbled in other Catholic countries such as Italy, Ireland, Poland, and Portugal. However, people have also fallen out of love with marriage in countries as varied as Greece, Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Britain. Only in parts of Scandinavia, the Baltic republics, and Germany is the institution retaining its allure.
Thanks for this interesting read. I must admit that an ESL/ENL teacher for many years, I was often the only white face in the room. Frankly, my students mostly from Haiti, Mexico or Central America, didn’t know enough history to understand that they should suspect me for being a “white devil.” We forged our own path based on tolerance and mutual understanding. In fact, some of my high school students from Haiti didn’t know that that the Black people in Haiti were descendants of African slaves, but I made sure they understood their past. We owe our students the truth. Sure, they were curious about my whiteness, particularly the girls, that were fascinated with my white hair. Once I addressed their curiosity, we were able to move forward with the bigger issue of education. Drawing on my background in anthropology and history, I came to the same conclusion as Dr. Zimmerman. “Whether trite or jaded, we’re all the same.” Despite color and culture, we all want to be accepted and understood.
That’s the point: our common humanity.
Anyone using the phrase “white savior” unironically should be mocked or ignored.
I think he is using terminology often employed by some supercilious leftists to explore the idea of white guilt and colonialism in order to introduce his article about his experience in The Peace Corps.
I think he’s using the term ironically, Flerp.
Yes, I was referring to this: “a new movement to close down the Peace Corps by partisans on both the right and left, with those on the left accusing Peace Corps volunteers of acting like “white saviors.”
Ah, I see.
Read the piece, Flerp. It’s good. He is using the term ironically.
Thank you so much for posting the piece by John Zimmerman, Diane! I served as a PCV in Southern India, 1965-67, so I knew his father, Paul. It is such a well-crafted reflection, and such an important perspective. I designed and led the cross-cultural part of preservice training for three India bound PC programs after I returned. The experience altered my career path into primary prevention and public service, as it did in unique ways for others I served with. Of course we gained more than we gave as volunteers, and the politics were too close to the bone sometimes, but what an effective investment in individual lives on both sides of the many divides that only direct human contact can ameliorate, allowing the best notes of our species to emerge.
My best friend, who speaks French, was in The Peace Corps in Tunisia more than thirty years ago. She was a teacher, but some of her colleagues were involved in bringing a water source to an area where there was none. She remains friends with her Peace Corps associates, and she makes the best couscous I’ve ever had. I don’t think the idea of colonialism entered their minds. They were just idealistic young people trying to be helpful and promote mutual understanding.
Thank you, Phil!
I have been working on a novel about a school in a struggling community. In some of the interactions of my characters I attempt to convey a sense of vernacular, both black and white, that I experienced while working the majority of my professional time in majority minority schools. I have been participating in an on line critique group to help me edit and tighten up the story. One of the online critics said that I was in dangerous territory being a white man writing in this way. The irony of that moment was that the Black participant in this group later emailed me and told me not to change a thing. I think when we approach community as a servant we expose ourselves to the criticism of being inauthentic. What I think I have learned is that the only way to break that perception is to be a part of the community being served. It’s difficult to pull off, but well worth the effort. Thank you for posting this Diane. I think the only way we get past this idea of imperialistic identity is to engage in the world.
It’s difficult to pull off, but well worth the effort.
Amen to that!