Bending stereotypes through travel

Cosmo

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Life, today more than ever before, often involves the navigation of cultural stereotypes. It’s a tricky business, as world leaders, soldiers, missionaries, and Kentucky Fried Chicken will tell you.

Stereotypes aren’t necessarily negative. Like stories, they help us frame and understand the world. They give us a starting point from which to then delve deeper into issues and cultures. But when they become rigid, when they dehumanize others, or when they’re just plain incorrect, stereotypes are obstacles, sometimes even tragic.

A couple years ago while walking through KLCC Park in Kuala Lumpur, I passed several Malaysian students reading Cosmopolitan, Eva Longoria on the cover. Not wanting to intrude or embarrass, I kept on walking but soon turned around because the image was so compelling. I explained to the girls what I liked about the scene — their cheerfulness, their dress, the contrast with Cosmo — and they happily gave their consent to be photographed. I told them I was a fan of challenging people’s stereotypes, and that the picture would capture something of this multifaceted thing called the world.

We live in a world where conservative Muslim ladies may read Cosmopolitan, where Israelis may stand side-by-side with Palestinians, and where a man who admires Osama bin Laden may welcome you into his home for tea and treat you like royalty. We live in a world where a refugee kid may threaten your life with a metal pipe because of your nationality, and where a friendship may dramatically end because your friend has so dehumanized another people group that even the torture of innocents is condoned, even when one of those innocents is a cherished friend of yours. I know, because I’ve experienced each of these things.

In her song “Innocence Maintained,” Jewel has a line that goes, “Cause nature has a funny way of breaking what does not bend.” One of the beauties of travel is that it invites our stereotypes to bend, to be shaped into something more true and mature. Similarly, travel invites those who meet us to bend the stereotypes they have of us as well.

We’d love to hear your anecdotes on travel and stereotypes, whether broken, bent, or reinforced. Also, some may be interested in checking out the Cross-Cultural Blog.

Posted by | Comments (3)  | January 21, 2010
Category: General, Images from the road


3 Responses to “Bending stereotypes through travel”

  1. David Says:

    Everybody likes freedom.Same is with these little girls.They are more curious to know these things because it is restricted by their society.

  2. Dynamic Life Says:

    It’s not really a stereotype, but what always amazes me about people I meet on my travels is how intelligent they are. When you visit a third world country, I think a person’s natural tendency is to view the native people as ignorant because maybe they haven’t had as much schooling or they don’t speak English, but if you get to know these people, they amaze you with their knowledge and/or curiosity of the world.

  3. The Backpack Foodie Says:

    I’ve always considered myself an open-minded, nonjudgmental person, but living in China for 3 years has dramatically opened my mind in the last place I thought it ever would: at home.

    After being back to Montreal for 1 year, I moved to Western Canada for my work. Now, there’s a lot of stereotypes about the West in Eastern Canada, and vice-versa. But living abroad had shown me NEVER to take a stereotype at face value.

    What followed was an amazing, eye-opening year for me. I made friends with people in Western Canada that I might have overlooked otherwise. Kind-hearted, open-minded people, and they enriched my life. They also shattered any stereotype people back home keep repeating. When my parents visited, I kept harping about it: ‘You SEE? Go back to Montreal and tell them how it is!’