Generation X -- Dazed and Confused?
Loyce Kareri
They are the most stereotyped and under appreciated generation in recent history. Who are they? Here is a surprising snapshot: Tom Anderson the founder of MySpace; Chad Hurley, founder of YouTube; Larry Page, founder of Google; Senator Barack Obama, 2008 Democratic party presidential candidate; Jerry Yang and David Filo, founders of Yahoo!; and Michael Dell, founder of Dell computers Inc.
On the African platform we have such high achievers as South Africa's Mark Shuttleworth, a 34-year- old computer whiz and entrepreneur who was the first African in space; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a 30-year-old Nigerian author and winner of the prestigious 2007 Orange Prize of fiction; Angelique Kidjo, a Grammy award-winning Benise musician; you, me, and thousands upon thousands of young, trailblazing African-born Generation X-ers whose talent and brilliance is paving way for Africa to emerge as a veritable force in the cultural, intellectual, and scientific arenas.
In a broad sense Generation X stands for those born between 1960 and 1980. This genealogical demarcation has never really been clearly defined since the definition is widely used in different sociological niches with no apparent authority on the subject.
"... underemployed, overeducated, intensely private, and unpredictable." This is the banal description of “generation x” as written by author Douglas Coupland when he unwittingly stereotyped an entire generation in his fictional novel of the same heading back in 1991.
Often referred to as the “lost generation” or the “forgotten generation,” X-ers in the West have long endured vehement socio-cultural stereotyping, plastering them as apathetic slackers whose frustration, hopelessness, and cynicism drives them to spend the better part of their day whining about what could have been but doing little to remedy their plight.
For African-born Generation X-ers in the Diaspora, our plight is two-pronged; overcoming cultural/racial biases pitted against us while inheriting a societal stereotype that has little if any semblance to our overall experience back home. The expectation of most African cultures is for the youth to expend themselves and find a way to make money and help support their family—and we are doing that. The problem is, we are still subject to this stereotype by virtue of our involvement in the Western culture.
Though most of us (who have either emigrated to the West or remain here temporarily for college, work, etc) can brand ourselves as hard workers with a distinct vision and plan for a successful future, we are still subject to these unfair stereotypes at our workplaces, in business and industry, and in the political arena. The very fact that we are achieving some measure of success in a foreign country is cause enough to be celebrated back home, but are we celebrated here, in the West?
My personal experience has been interesting. Reactions to my ability to forge ahead and make significant contributions in my chosen vocation and career, in spite of my age, have been a mixed cornucopia of surprised delight because of my African heritage and slightly veiled suspicion from those who are unable to distinguish between my actual heritage and the perfect elocution in my “American” accent. To the latter, who can't tell that I am not an American unless I actually tell them, I could very well be just another Generation X-er, the fallacy being we cannot be trusted with too much responsibility because we are bound to botch it.
So, how do we navigate this minefield? Like we really need any more tough issues to overcome, I mean we already have Homeland security, culture shock, employer bias, interracial relationships, financial pressures to support families here and back home, to name a few. Well, I decided to educate myself on Generation X and get to the root of who they really are. If my abilities are going to be evaluated in some arenas based on a stereotype, I might as well learn how to “fight” back, right? Knowledge is power, so here goes. Who really is Generation X?
Being mostly post-high school or college educated post-Vietnam war era professionals, X-ers around the globe hold a distinctly different world view on many issues, a quality that probably fuels the disfavor directed at them. Unlike their baby boomer parentage, they do not believe that arduous toil and laborious employment are the only paths to career success but much prefer entrepreneurship and creativity as more fitting avenues for prosperity and achievement.
Unafraid to challenge authority, X-ers are more likely to leave a job that they feel is unsatisfying unlike the more long suffering boomers. They are less interested in status-quo and divisive socio-politico stances and would rather expend more energy in lobbying for or promoting social equality, racial justice, and economic security.
X-ers are also actually more realistic than pessimistic. In the words of one X-er, "We're frustrated and cynical because of Baby Boomers' censorship and unwillingness to understand what we are about." This realism is the driving force in their confrontation of issues such as hate, crime, violence, poverty, pollution, and disease.
Perhaps as a reaction to their previously muzzled or muted existence, X-ers can be obtrusively vocal against what they perceive to be injustices in society, garnering mammoth grassroots support for their intense opinions through social or political commentaries in online blogs and social networking sites.
As the first generation for whom the TV served as a regular baby-sitter, generation X-ers emerged as the most media-savvy group. They fueled the advent of the Internet, MTV, and demographic-based marketing in which they are the most sort after target group by advertisers.
So, that's who we 'really' are, a tad bit subjective isn't it? Well, now that we know, let's press in to the marketplace and cultural playing field and let the fruit of our labors speak for itself. Amen?
Loyce Kareri is a Kenyan Writer, Christian Minister, and Social Activist. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.
