Cederström: A Swedish-American in Sweden Reflects on Stereotypes

Marcus Cederström was born in Sweden and moved to the US just before his 6th birthday. He grew up bi-culturally and lived in the U.S. for about 17 years before moving back to Sweden three years ago. He is currently moving. Again. This time back to the U.S. to further his education in Scandinavian Studies.

I live my life in stereotypes. Holding dual citizenship in both Sweden and the US allows me plenty of stereotypes to play with and not a day goes by that I am not confronted with a stereotype from one country or the other. It’s not that I am trying to validate stereotypes about Americans. Or trying to validate stereotypes about Swedes. It’s that moving to Sweden from the U.S. has made me increasingly aware of stereotypes in my everyday life. How they are used to generalize and categorize. How they act as an initial definition of a person. How I live my life because of those very stereotypes.

Stereotypes are easy to find in both countries. From the appearance of Swedes (tall, blonde and blue-eyed of course), to the political (borderline communists who rely solely on the government to solve all their problems of course), to the absurd (polar bears wandering the streets of Stockholm), to the seemingly inconsequential (Sweden has great dairy products). Of course, not all Swedes are tall, blonde, and blue-eyed, the Swedes live in a social democracy, and I have never seen a polar bear outside of a zoo, although I do love Swedish dairy.

On the other hand, being American leads to a variety of stereotypes as well. From the appearance of Americans (fat), to the political (gun-toting conservatives), to the absurd (American professional athletes only drink Coca Cola during competition), to the seemingly inconsequential (young Americans don’t drink coffee). Of course, not all Americans are fat, the U.S. has a wide range of political beliefs with Democrats leading the country at the moment, and I have never heard of, nor seen, a professional athlete drinking Coke during competition, although I definitely do not drink coffee.

I have been living in Sweden for about three years now after 17 years in the US. The majority of my life has been spent as a Swedish-American in America, often times being referred to as Swedish. With each passing day here in Stockholm though, more of my adult life is being spent as a Swedish-American in Sweden, often times being referred to as American. It’s left me living my life in stereotypes, because I don’t fit nicely into either one.

Stereotypes allow us to simply categorize and generalize. They can make our lives easier because we know that all Swedes look like this, and all Americans look like that. All Swedes believe this, and all Americans believe that. But those same stereotypes carry with them both positive and negative connotations. Some are true, some have a sliver of truth, and some are just plain wrong.

And I think that’s the point. These stereotypes, good and bad, true and false, create a unique experience for each and every person. Whether it be how they experience an American in Sweden, or a Swede in America. The stereotypes we live with, those that we validate, and those that we cast aside, all color our initial perception of a person.

It is this unique experience that I have become acutely aware of while living abroad. How Swedes view me as an American and what I do to confirm, and at the same time invalidate, certain stereotypes they have about me. How other Europeans view me as an American when traveling. And how Americans view me as a Swede when I head home to visit.

We are all a product of stereotypes when we travel or live abroad. Whether we want to be or not. We carry our unique stereotypes with us when meeting new people just as those very same new people carry stereotypes when meeting us.

We cannot eliminate our stereotypes completely. At least not initially. We can, however, realize that those stereotypes do not, and should not, define the relationship we have with the people we meet. Nor define who we are. It may be the most important thing that I have learned while living abroad. Despite living my life in stereotypes.

By Marcus Cederström

Here is a link to his blog, A Swedish American in Sweden.