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March 17, 2005

An American Student in Spain: Reflections on Anti-American Sentiment

By Monti Datta

I recently had the chance to interview Carmen, a student from the University of California, who has been studying abroad in Spain since last fall. I posed a series of questions to Carmen, who responded to me via email. At times Carmen wrote eloquently yet painfully of some of her recent experiences as an American student living in Spain. What follows are some of the questions and answers from my interview with Carmen.

To what extent do you find Spanish public opinion positive or negative towards the United States government?

I have found Spanish public opinion to be extremely negative towards the US government. It is a daily topic of discussion in the streets and on the news. The incumbent president, Zapatero, is noted as one of the most Anti-american presidents Spain has ever had. During a Spanish congressional hearing, the President was asked about US relations; he stated the the US and Spain have always had good working relations, but due to US bigotry, Spain was deciding not to have relations at this moment. During another hearing, he made a few jokes about not needing the US. Though most people are fed up with the incumbent president, his Anti-American resonance lives in his people.

To what extent do you find Spanish public opinion positive or negative towards American citizens living in Spain?

When I arrived, I believed that I would face Anti-Americanism towards our policies and not towards our people. This I found was a mistake. ...When I voiced that I was American, they turned their backs on me. I volunteered for a language exchange program to help Spanish students practice their English. When I began speaking they noticed I didn't have a British accent; they immediately closed up and began voicing back every American stereotype that existed that they believed would be indicative of me. For example, "you're from the states so you have a lot of money and don't care about us poor Spaniards", "all Americans are conservative oil grubbing people, especially if they're from Texas", and "Californians are idiots because theyre being led by movie stars." I was also knocked for my "American" accent a few times for being unrefined. I thought that this might be a big city view of Americans since I am living in Madrid. However, I went to a tiny town in the southern region called El Campello in the region of Jaen. This town has about 400 people in it. ...Once I was discovered to be American, people closed off to me. ...It was hurtful because they knew me to be a nice person, until they found out I was from the US. I encountered the same in the northern region of Spain as well.

That Carmen has felt a strong wave of Anti-American sentiment in Spain is unquestionable. As to the extent to which we may generalize about her experiences, I am unsure. On the one hand, there clearly seems to be deep-seated resentment against Americans living in Spain. On the other hand, perhaps the wave of Anti-American sentiment is only temporary. It still remains to be seen if other students such as Carmen will continue to feel the sting of Anti-American sentiment, or if the tide of negative public opinion in Spain will eventually subside.

I want to thank Carmen for her comments and insights. I hope the experiences she has shared can serve for further discussion. What do you think about Carmen's experiences? Please post your comments.


Posted March 17, 2005 11:59 PM

Comments

I have just returned to the US after spending a little over a year studying and working in Spain. I was searching the web for other american experiences and comments on anti-americanism in Spain.
I don't doubt that anything in this interview is untrue, but my experience was so different that I feel compelled to share it.
I did experience what I felt at first to be overwhelming anti-americanism--on T-shirts, posters, spray-painted on walls. And people do talk about us. We are the most powerful country in the world and have more influence over the lives of citizens in other countries than we sometimes realize, so american politics are a common topic in many parts of the world.
But instead of people closing up to me when I met them, they appeared very curious and I had many interesting, exciting conversations. Many people said I wasn't what they thought an american would be, but I consider myself fairly typical. I found that people were able to seperate the politics from the individuals. I gained many friends whose ideas were very different from mine. It was only the fiery way they argued that made me uneasy the first few weeks,but almost no one was offensive or closed off.
And when I visited a friend in a small town, it was like a celebration in that town. They loved that someone from so far away was entering their tiny world. No one there spoke much english and no one said one harsh word to me.
Overall I found that the Spanish are passionate in their beliefs and talk a lot more about politics than most Americans. Most were very generous, curious, and open. Those that chose to close themselves off to me, and ignore the oportunity to examine thier beliefs and mine, didn't bother me. There are people like that everywhere.

Posted by: jbcrafty [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 4, 2006 06:11 PM

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