raise your hand if you’re not from
Germany raise your hand if you don’t
consider Germany to be home raise your
hand if you’re not really sure where
your home is now that brings us to an
important question what is home or
rather where is home where is home
that’s always been a really difficult
question for me and other international
people that I know to answer because I
can’t just name one geographical place I
have to explain my entire life story
because my nationalities don’t answer
the question and neither does where I
live so the easiest option is to lie
just pick the place that’s easiest to
explain where is home America but then
why are you in Germany home has many
different definitions there’s the most
basic one which say it’s it’s the place
where one lives permanently especially
as a member of a family or a household
that seems logical but I can say I’ve
never lived anywhere permanently so does
that immediately mean I don’t have a
home does that mean that anyone who
raised their hands the statement that
they’re not initially from Germany
doesn’t have a home either thank you an
alternative definition is that home is
the town house or country where one
lives now where they were born often to
emphasize that they feel they belong in
that place but before we get into that
let me tell you about myself and my
international upbringing I was born in
Vienna Austria half my family lives
there and it’s the one place that has
remained a constant throughout my life
is that home I have no emotional
connection to the city other than that I
was born there so now that’s not home
when I was one I moved to the suburbs of
New Jersey I spent my childhood there to
me meaning or thinking that you belong
into place means that you would want to
move back there and live there
permanently as the first definition said
but believe me I do not want to move
back to the suburbs of New Jersey so no
that also isn’t home when I was nine I
moved to Amsterdam
I had never felt so alienated from a
culture before I didn’t speak Dutch and
I went to an international school so I
had no contact with the natives I was in
a complete bubble that had been the most
difficult move to adjust to of all the
places I’ve lived Amsterdam the city in
and of itself was never home because I
never felt that I belonged there even as
I lived there for longer masses time and
as I learnt the language
it was never my home but was my little
bubble with in Amsterdam home lastly I
moved here when I was 14 I wasn’t as
alienated because I already spoke German
but again I go to an international
school and for the most part all my
friends come from international
home to me is a place that is completely
mine one where I am so comfortable that
I would never feel like the odd one out
but let’s take a step back for a second
and look at what a culture identity is
and how home plays a part in that
Wikipedia the most reliable source as
I’m sure most the teachers would agree
defines a culture identity as a person’s
self perception or self conception and
it’s often related to nationality
ethnicity religion locality generations
social class or just a social group that
has its own distinct culture so since
really your cultural identity is
whatever you are in a nutshell I am a
white upper-middle-class Austrian
American atheist and I don’t have a home
at least I don’t have a home in the
traditional sense I was of those weird
not belonging to anywhere and I thought
that that meant I didn’t fit into the
strict guidelines of what I thought
cultural identity should be which made
me so jealous of people who had never
moved because they never had to think
where home was so they never questioned
their cultural identity taking one more
step back and looking at the broader
picture is so easy
in such situations for a person to be
made the other to be alienated and they
can quickly lead to resentment if you’re
in a culture that you don’t feel a part
of why would you abide by their rules
imagine this you’re dropped in a country
where you don’t speak the language you
don’t know anyone and the culture is
completely different from your own maybe
some of you don’t have to imagine what
that’s like because you’ve lived through
it what would you do I know I was really
unhappy when I moved to Amsterdam then I
went from one Western developed nation
to another with that in mind how can we
look at refugees for example and blame
or judge them for not abiding by the
social norms despite the fact that no
one has taken the time to integrate them
and teach them what those social rules
even are going back to the definitions
of home I mentioned at the beginning I
want to hone in on the part that says
it’s to emphasize everyone feels they
belong I feel that I belong with my
family with my friends with my school
community
ever that maybe could that be my home
could it be a non-physical community if
you’re looking at this I’ve decided I do
have an answer for when people ask me
where my home is home is my community my
community of international people who
have different religions ethnicities
nationalities my home is quite literally
a community full of people that have no
idea where home is so I like to offer a
slight adjustment to the definition of
home home is a place where one lives now
or where they’re born but home may also
be a community of people and one which
feels they belong so I’m gonna ask again
can everyone please raise their hands if
you at the beginning you felt that you
put your hand down if you now think you
know where your home is thank you [Applause]
Germany raise your hand if you don’t
consider Germany to be home raise your
hand if you’re not really sure where
your home is now that brings us to an
important question what is home or
rather where is home where is home
that’s always been a really difficult
question for me and other international
people that I know to answer because I
can’t just name one geographical place I
have to explain my entire life story
because my nationalities don’t answer
the question and neither does where I
live so the easiest option is to lie
just pick the place that’s easiest to
explain where is home America but then
why are you in Germany home has many
different definitions there’s the most
basic one which say it’s it’s the place
where one lives permanently especially
as a member of a family or a household
that seems logical but I can say I’ve
never lived anywhere permanently so does
that immediately mean I don’t have a
home does that mean that anyone who
raised their hands the statement that
they’re not initially from Germany
doesn’t have a home either thank you an
alternative definition is that home is
the town house or country where one
lives now where they were born often to
emphasize that they feel they belong in
that place but before we get into that
let me tell you about myself and my
international upbringing I was born in
Vienna Austria half my family lives
there and it’s the one place that has
remained a constant throughout my life
is that home I have no emotional
connection to the city other than that I
was born there so now that’s not home
when I was one I moved to the suburbs of
New Jersey I spent my childhood there to
me meaning or thinking that you belong
into place means that you would want to
move back there and live there
permanently as the first definition said
but believe me I do not want to move
back to the suburbs of New Jersey so no
that also isn’t home when I was nine I
moved to Amsterdam
I had never felt so alienated from a
culture before I didn’t speak Dutch and
I went to an international school so I
had no contact with the natives I was in
a complete bubble that had been the most
difficult move to adjust to of all the
places I’ve lived Amsterdam the city in
and of itself was never home because I
never felt that I belonged there even as
I lived there for longer masses time and
as I learnt the language
it was never my home but was my little
bubble with in Amsterdam home lastly I
moved here when I was 14 I wasn’t as
alienated because I already spoke German
but again I go to an international
school and for the most part all my
friends come from international
home to me is a place that is completely
mine one where I am so comfortable that
I would never feel like the odd one out
but let’s take a step back for a second
and look at what a culture identity is
and how home plays a part in that
Wikipedia the most reliable source as
I’m sure most the teachers would agree
defines a culture identity as a person’s
self perception or self conception and
it’s often related to nationality
ethnicity religion locality generations
social class or just a social group that
has its own distinct culture so since
really your cultural identity is
whatever you are in a nutshell I am a
white upper-middle-class Austrian
American atheist and I don’t have a home
at least I don’t have a home in the
traditional sense I was of those weird
not belonging to anywhere and I thought
that that meant I didn’t fit into the
strict guidelines of what I thought
cultural identity should be which made
me so jealous of people who had never
moved because they never had to think
where home was so they never questioned
their cultural identity taking one more
step back and looking at the broader
picture is so easy
in such situations for a person to be
made the other to be alienated and they
can quickly lead to resentment if you’re
in a culture that you don’t feel a part
of why would you abide by their rules
imagine this you’re dropped in a country
where you don’t speak the language you
don’t know anyone and the culture is
completely different from your own maybe
some of you don’t have to imagine what
that’s like because you’ve lived through
it what would you do I know I was really
unhappy when I moved to Amsterdam then I
went from one Western developed nation
to another with that in mind how can we
look at refugees for example and blame
or judge them for not abiding by the
social norms despite the fact that no
one has taken the time to integrate them
and teach them what those social rules
even are going back to the definitions
of home I mentioned at the beginning I
want to hone in on the part that says
it’s to emphasize everyone feels they
belong I feel that I belong with my
family with my friends with my school
community
ever that maybe could that be my home
could it be a non-physical community if
you’re looking at this I’ve decided I do
have an answer for when people ask me
where my home is home is my community my
community of international people who
have different religions ethnicities
nationalities my home is quite literally
a community full of people that have no
idea where home is so I like to offer a
slight adjustment to the definition of
home home is a place where one lives now
or where they’re born but home may also
be a community of people and one which
feels they belong so I’m gonna ask again
can everyone please raise their hands if
you at the beginning you felt that you
put your hand down if you now think you
know where your home is thank you [Applause]
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