Your pal simply returned from the journey of a lifetime – touring round distant areas, being invited into houses of locals, feasting on ethnic spreads, and immersing in centuries-old cultures.
Seething with journey envy, you join your individual life-changing journey, solely to reach there and discover your reception fairly totally different from that of your pal’s.
You’re not readily welcomed with open arms and also you’re continually being gawked at. At that second, nobody can perceive the extent of dejection you’re feeling.
Although journey is spiritually and emotionally rewarding, you will need to observe that beneath each unique tradition and custom, you will discover basically comparable human beings. And we human beings share the identical pure flaws which embody susceptibility to bias and prejudice.
ABOUT STEREOTYPING
As avid vacationers who continuously transfer between cultures, you’ve in all probability heard among the stereotypes beneath:
Agreeable Asians. Aggressive Africans. Feisty Latinos. Impolite Francophiles. Chilly Scandinavians.
Stereotypes are born after we apply the persona paintbrush to a complete tradition based mostly on our experiences with only a few people. We predefine our views of a folks or tradition earlier than absolutely immersing ourselves inside their tradition.
When that paintbrush extends past character to the touch on areas equivalent to faith, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and different private views, it morphs into prejudice.
THE DANGERS OF STEREOTYPING
The issue with predefined stereotyping is that your journey expertise turns into tainted even earlier than you embark in your journey. Your travels not change into natural and also you cheat your self out of an enriching expertise.
Stereotyping also can depart you unprepared. If you’re confronted with an “Aggressive Asian”, you’re left weak since you presumed they’d be agreeable. With preconceived notions of aggression, you strategy that African with a defensive stance. If you discover out they’re mild-mannered, you find yourself wanting just like the jerk.
DEALING WITH HOW PEOPLE SEE YOU
As an African girl who travels lots, I’ve discovered myself on the receiving finish of bias borne from stereotyping. I’ve traveled by way of areas the place I’ve been handled poorly in addition to areas the place I’ve been embraced warmly – each receptions solely based mostly on stereotypes of black girls.
Too few visas in your passport and also you’ve pulled apart for probably desirous to defect. Too many visas in your passport and also you’ve pulled apart on trafficking suspicions.
So how do you affect how others view folks like your self?
For starters, search out alternatives to teach and inform with out chastising. On a visit to Nicaragua, I used to be innocently but ignorantly requested why Africans had been violent. With out being defensive, I defined the intricacies and complexities of Africa – from over 3,000 distinct languages to the 50-50 cut up together with Christianity and Islam inside the continent.
One other approach to break stereotypes is by controlling your feelings and selecting your battles correctly. Some feedback and actions are higher left unacknowledged.
All the time search for a constructive angle in all conditions. Being served that Dutch pastry lasts despite the fact that you had been clearly first in line means you bought to pattern some delicious conventional dessert as a substitute of being upset the remainder of the day.
DEALING WITH HOW YOU SEE PEOPLE
We’ve all fallen into the pit of stereotyping sooner or later throughout our travels. Even probably the most intrepid of vacationers morph into creatures of behavior, reverting again to their consolation zones and inherent biases when confronted with challenges.
As a substitute of writing that girl off as a typical impolite French girl, ask inner questions on her. Was she having a foul day? Was she in some kind of ache? Possibly a heat smile and eye contact would raise her spirit?
Breaking your stereotype a couple of sure group or tradition begins with questioning all generalizations about that tradition. When you cease asking questions on others, you change into complacent and ignorance seeps in.
Journey is such a profoundly private journey. The world stays unforgiving when it comes to how we understand one another however by not partaking based mostly on our predefined views, we miss out on some really enriching and wonderful experiences.
