Josie Pont
The diverse ethnic roots that constitute the various American cultures have had a profound influence on me. This has left me with the need to bridge the sometimes too wide a gap between the Catalan and American societies, and my hope now is to promote a greater cross cultural understanding.
From an early age my curiosity and passion for foreign cultures, different races and past civilizations made me inhabit, through the pages of books, exotic worlds which populated my imagination.
However, the move from the books to actual life and my first real contact with the English speaking culture happened at 19 when I went to live and work in London. This Cosmopolitan and enchanting city surpassed my expectations, and it finally provided me with what I had always dreamt; the chance to meet people from the five continents.
I returned to Barcelona where I became secretary to the director of Burberrys but, after a few years I took a degree in Anglo-Germanic Philology at the UAB, which gave me a much deeper insight into the British and American cultures and Literatures. Consequently, I left the world of business to become an educator.
In 2001 I journeyed to the USA, San Diego, to carry out field research for my PhD. Dissertation on the reconstruction of Native American female identity through literature. There, I was hired by the American Indian Studies Department at San Diego State University, initially, as a research assistant and later, to give under and postgraduate classes on Native American Literature. These posts gave me the chance to travel throughout the majority of the Sates and many reservations, at the same time, I visited several countries in South America where I helped to set up projects in or related to Native communities.
I had to leave the States for personal reasons, however, an important part of my heart, and my brain, is still there. I lived through what I believe to be a turning point in the History of the USA; the tragedy of the Twin Towers and the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. The pain, anger and disbelief these events caused were shared by everyone but the political reaction to it was individual and arose much controversy. Because of the very special circumstances I lived there, the travelling through different States and the endless passionate and enlightening conversations and debates I had with my peers and the people from all ethnicities I met, I believe that now I am a little acquainted with this vast and quite unique country.
When I returned, with many people in Europe and Spain against the “Americans” , due to the States’ foreign policy and the Iraq’s war, I felt the need to use my position as an English teacher and teacher trainer to make as many people and adolescents as I could aware of the complexity, diversity and beauty of the States. And I hope I am succeeding in transmitting the characteristics and values of this melting pot of cultures the USA embodies.
From an early age my curiosity and passion for foreign cultures, different races and past civilizations made me inhabit, through the pages of books, exotic worlds which populated my imagination.
However, the move from the books to actual life and my first real contact with the English speaking culture happened at 19 when I went to live and work in London. This Cosmopolitan and enchanting city surpassed my expectations, and it finally provided me with what I had always dreamt; the chance to meet people from the five continents.
I returned to Barcelona where I became secretary to the director of Burberrys but, after a few years I took a degree in Anglo-Germanic Philology at the UAB, which gave me a much deeper insight into the British and American cultures and Literatures. Consequently, I left the world of business to become an educator.
In 2001 I journeyed to the USA, San Diego, to carry out field research for my PhD. Dissertation on the reconstruction of Native American female identity through literature. There, I was hired by the American Indian Studies Department at San Diego State University, initially, as a research assistant and later, to give under and postgraduate classes on Native American Literature. These posts gave me the chance to travel throughout the majority of the Sates and many reservations, at the same time, I visited several countries in South America where I helped to set up projects in or related to Native communities.
I had to leave the States for personal reasons, however, an important part of my heart, and my brain, is still there. I lived through what I believe to be a turning point in the History of the USA; the tragedy of the Twin Towers and the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. The pain, anger and disbelief these events caused were shared by everyone but the political reaction to it was individual and arose much controversy. Because of the very special circumstances I lived there, the travelling through different States and the endless passionate and enlightening conversations and debates I had with my peers and the people from all ethnicities I met, I believe that now I am a little acquainted with this vast and quite unique country.
When I returned, with many people in Europe and Spain against the “Americans” , due to the States’ foreign policy and the Iraq’s war, I felt the need to use my position as an English teacher and teacher trainer to make as many people and adolescents as I could aware of the complexity, diversity and beauty of the States. And I hope I am succeeding in transmitting the characteristics and values of this melting pot of cultures the USA embodies.