The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap

As a follow-up to 2013's Tiger Writing, Jen (Mona in the Promised Land) takes readers on an exploration of independent-minded, self-focused "big pit" Westerners and the interdependent "flexi-selves" found in abundance in many other cultures. Jen uses her experiences growing up in America as a second-generation Chinese American to explore the tensions and bridge the gap between these two worldviews and to highlight the ways in which these differences in social orientation can lead to cultural misunderstanding. Much of her argument is rooted in the work of cognitive scientists such as Richard Nisbett (The Geography of Thought). Jen builds upon this investigation by detailing the implications of these cultural and psychological differences for the arts, education, and sports, highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses of each group. Ultimately, Jen argues that both types of orientation are present to varying degree in most individuals, and that developing an "ambidependence" that leverages the best of each outlook could result in positive social, economic, and cultural change.