time

Last class period, we discussed this super interesting article called "Monochronic and Polychronic Time". In countries where time is thought of as doing many things at once, the author calls that "polychronic time" and where time is thought of as one thing at a time, he called it "monochronic time". I just found this article so fascinating because I have never really thought about how we keep track of time and how we think about time in our culture. The U.S. falls under the monochronic time category and the author talked about how we think of time as something tangible. We talk about wasting time, spending time, killing time...etc. Also, we schedule everything so that we do one thing at a time and we get frustrated when things come up that get in the way of our planned time. In polychronic time, time's not as structured but more about just completion and being involved with the people around you. Well, it's kind of confusing to explain and I don't completely understand all of the differences myself.

After reading this article, I have been thinking about how I've noticed these two ways of thinking about time in my life and surroundings. I related it to a few of my Indian friends from back home who would tell me about parties and gatherings within their Indian community and how when the hosts say to come at 8pm, that really means that people start showing up around 10pm, or kind of whenever they're ready. Even though within my extended family we have to tell people to come way before we actually want them to, sometimes people get kind of upset about it and it can cause contention. Within my friend's Indian communities, they made it sound so normal and just how it is. The author also talked about how you can't really mix monochronic and polychronic time because it causes problems. That's evident in my family because some of us are always late, some of us are sometimes late, but then some of us are also sometimes on-time. That causes problems because those on-time get mad at those who are late because they have to wait. Those with monochronic time tables usually get frustrated with those on polychronic time tables.

Opening my mind to the idea that not everyone thinks about time in the same way, makes me wonder how time is perceived in Uganda. I will have to do some research on that and so a follow-up post.