Depending on who you ask, I’m arrogant, brave, or naive. And if you ask me, I am neither. Well, maybe a little naive.
I was born into a homogenous society in Europe where people with skin tones different from mine were very rarely seen on the street while I was growing up. This has somewhat changed, our cities are slowly becoming more diverse but a few years ago, when someone from Ethiopia became our neighbour in my hometown with its population of 60 000 people, that resulted in a few surprised looks.
In my childhood, no one I knew travelled beyond the border of my country, no one had much knowledge of what was beyond. Then there was me. I was seven years old when I asked for a giraffe for Christmas, and as a teenager, I found a pen pal in Ghana, a country whose existence I had a heated argument about with a one-time classmate. ‘What? No way that country exists!‘
A long time has passed since and now, on most days I interact with people who confidently move between languages, cultures, and continents. It doesn’t mean that I’m not aware of the general lack of information about ’others’. Others can be anyone beyond the culture we were born into, regardless of our geographical situation.
¿Qué?
A few days ago I went to a concert of Orquesta Failde, which was founded in Matanzas (Cuba) in 2012 by Ethiel Faílde, a descendant of Miguel Faílde, the composer of the first danzón, a typical Cuban musical genre and dance.
After the show, I overheard the next conversation between a group of friends.
- There were no black musicians in the band. (There were three of them.)
- Cubans are not black! (Close to 10% of the population is Afro-Cuban.)
- They are mestizo. (Out of 11 million people, approx. 3 million identify as mulatto or mestizo.)
- They are Americans. (They are not.)
I found this conversation equally amusing and sad. I’m not a Cuba expert, I haven’t been to Cuba, and I don’t speak Spanish well enough to understand how the society works, and how people think and feel. What I know about the country comes from my readings, research, as well as my studies about the connection between Africa, Latin America, and the former colonial powers. I just gave this example because it was the most recent one, and it shows how under-informed the average individual is.
We judge, therefore we are
As a white European woman living in a white-dominated society, because of where my focus is, I often experience, or rather notice situations where race is at the forefront. At times questions arise out of pure curiosity, other times the comments qualify as overt racism.
As a white European woman who travels whenever life provides the opportunity, I sometimes experience uncomfortable situations that arise due to the negative perception of white or so-called Western women in general in various parts of the world.
Neither of these situations should happen.
The gap which doesn’t exist
There is still not enough dialogue or willingness to close the artificially created gap between people. Lack of information is not a problem in itself, and it is partly the result of our education system – worldwide. Certain subjects touch on distant parts of the world, their customs and history, but almost never in depth, and the official curriculum rarely succeeds in bringing facts and people to life. Let’s admit it, most of us are reluctant to connect with the dead. As a result, we don’t get a chance to discover how similar we actually are in our differences.
No one has to be able to list data like the above about Cuba, but we have to realise that there are more ways to reach the same destination. Our mindset is influenced by how we grow up, what we absorb from our environment, and what we choose to unlearn from it.
The useless social scientist (yay, that’s me!)
When I started university, the default attitude was that training social scientists was a waste of resources. Even our professors shared this view, instilling into us our worthlessness. ‘Do it for fun, travel as a hobby if you can afford it, but you should know that your degree will not get you a job.’
We didn’t dare to question this stance, it took time for me too to distance myself from their toxic way of thinking. Just look around how big the need is for people who understand how societies operate, what principles they are built upon, how religions influence lives, what the role of arts is in our personal development, how we can build communities to lessen loneliness, or how we can co-exist peacefully in our diversity. We desperately need people with a high level of cultural awareness.
The mentioned conversation only proves how important it is to share information in an accessible way, mixing personal experiences with facts and engaging narratives. The work of social scientists is essential to bridge the gap between strangers through education.
My purpose
World peace, no less. We like to mock those beauty pageants where the contestants’ only aim in life is achieving world peace. They might have never seriously considered it but world peace is an extremely important idea. Imagine how life would be without wars and armed conflicts. We can still argue, shout, and cry due to personal disagreements but what if we could solve them without escalating them into worldwide conflicts? Did someone call me naive? So be it.
Education has the power to eliminate ignorance which causes most of our struggles. Not knowing, not understanding, and not accepting always end in disasters, minor or major ones. The only way I feel I can contribute to a liveable future is by sharing information through my writings. You know, every little helps.
But… how dare I?
My PhD degree says that I’m qualified to address Mongolia and Tibet-related matters, and my master’s degree allows me to speak out about whatever has piqued my curiosity about West Africa. Sometimes I wish I could stop here but my curiosity seems to be insatiable and I’m always paddling into new waters.
Thankfully, due to many years of research and writing academically, I can deal with cultures and analyze their existence objectively even if I don’t know them as deeply as I know the societies of Tibet and Mongolia.
Having said that, I will not write a word that I cannot back up with facts, sources, or personal experience, mainly because I know that as an outsider, I see things differently than those who were born into the culture in question. My focus is on sticking to facts and writing with an open mind and heart, keeping my biases in check for I still have them. Overcoming our learnt prejudices must be a continuous work if we choose to share our views and experiences.
There are topics I will never touch simply because I’m not qualified to do so and their complexity requires a writer who is an expert of the field. Accepting that we don’t know it all, is essential.
As I see and understand more of the world, I write more and more about my personal experiences, leaving science behind, which can also provide a platform for attack, but if someone decides to go public, they have no choice but to take a risk. They have no choice but to dare.
That’s how I dare.