I have been thinking about how traveling is correlated to whiteness. In my art history class my professor explained where the term tourist originated. The word comes from the idea of the grand tour, which was a popular activity for educated individuals in the 17th century. In order to complete ones education, one would travel through Europe and study antiquity. The grand tour was reserved for people who were white, wealthy, and well educated. Before Dr. Moore mentioned that traveling was a white idea, I did not comprehend that fact. I understand why the grand tour was correlated to wealth and whiteness, but why is the idea of traveling still correlated to whiteness, why is wanting to understand and experience other cultures a white idea? Maybe my impression of traveling is skewed since I grew up immersed in the concept, but traveling has led me to want to live outside of the United States, study other cultures, and learn more about the world. I do not think that these things are necessarily bad, and the way we discussed traveling in class seemed to have a tone of negativity. Is traveling bad, or is it only something reserved for higher socioeconomic classes; therefore, a luxury correlated with whiteness?
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11 years ago
why is wanting to understand and experience other cultures a white idea? good question, i never thought it was a white idea, i always thought of it as a 'nationalistic' idea
ReplyDeletemaybe coz i come from a small country in a whole continent of countries, so to me the idea of nations -which i must say have always correlated to culture for me, so to me it is about knowing what other nations are like in terms of their culture, but see, i did not have to travel to see how other nationalities live, by being an immigrant myself and then observing other immigrants, and this is not a voluntary wanting to find out about other cultures but an accidental one
the tourist phenomena is really a class issue i think more than it is of race, and often the high class -the wealthy, educated, and thus able to travel and explore other places in the world and therefore other nationalities and cultures, this class has been mostly white
historically and even at present
so then i think it is a class issue and not race and so it seems that it is associated with white just coz white is mostly those that are able to do this
purely what i think
I think traveling will always be a relatively white idea because of the disproportionate distribution of wealth in the world. To travel one must have money, and a significant amount of it. Furthermore, to develop the love for traveling to study other cultures and learn about other places in the world requires a certain degree of education in itself.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up and studying abroad, I've always known there are 2 types of travelers: those that travel to experience a new world and interact with the people in the place and really go beyond the designated tourist spots to see the place-- and then those who travel bc they think a place is beautiful, they stay in a 5 star hotel, do the super touristy things, and then leave--- while they think they've experienced a new culture, they've only experienced what has been crafted for people just like them.
An excellent example of this is Martinique, an island my mom is from, and where my whole family lives. To an outsider it is a paradise, when people know it is where my mom is from and where my parents live now and my extended family has always lived they think of how incredibly lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. While it is in fact a beautiful place, tourist can very easily overlook the major social issues associated with the place. It is an incredibly complex place and to actually understand the culture or learn from it would require much more than a week. It is far from the romanticized paradise picture people paint, yet it is home because of the family there.