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Many Canadian university students take time off upon graduation in order to travel the world. This practice has become so common that it is practically a rite of passage. Those students who choose not to travel often remain at home, jealously stalking their friends’ Facebook pages in order to see photos of their fabulous adventures. And who doesn’t know the story of the American who travels with Canadian flags on his bag in order to receive a better reception overseas? That being said, it is important not to take for granted our ability to travel. North America has a well-established infrastructure of roads, train tracks, and airliners, allowing Canadians to travel easily both within and outside the nation. Low-cost travel operators such as Greyhound and Travel Cuts allow even students with thousands of dollars in debt to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
However, for a majority of the world’s people this isn’t an option. While the right to freedom of movement is granted in the Charter of the United Nations, a majority of the world’s people are unable to enjoy this right. Totalitarian leaders, insufficient and non-existent national infrastructures, and violent environments all restrict the movement of individuals within or between countries. Furthermore, according to the United Nations, over 1.38 billion people earn less than a dollar a day, leaving them with no money for recreational travel.
It is important to keep these facts in mind while traveling the world. For those who are fortunate enough to be able to travel, it is important to remember that with this right comes responsibility. When in another country one needs to be respectful of the people and culture of that nation. As a foreigner in a nation you are often automatically a cause of much attention and disruption within small communities, and therefore one should try to minimize this impact.
For a person trapped in an overbearing state, stripped of their rights and freedoms, struggling to achieve the basic necessities of life, the ability of a foreigner to come and go from their country with ease is an affront to their dignity. Imagine their shame when a wealthy person views their poverty with curiosity. Imagine their anger with someone who has little understanding of their dire circumstances, whose wealth and rights allows them to travel freely in a nation where the majority of people live in dire straits. In these cases, simply entering a country without any understanding of or respect for a country’s background can become a means of flaunting one’s western rights and ‘superiority’.
This does not mean that we should stop traveling. Travel is the best way to open one’s minds to different points of view, different cultures, and different experiences. But there are a few things that one should do in order to respect local peoples while traveling, and to minimize the consequences of one’s actions.
First, do your research. Before traveling to a country do basic research on the country’s history and stats. Is the country a former colonial state? Has it experienced a war in the past decade? What is the GDP per capita and the nation’s human development index ranking? This is the first step to understanding the people you will encounter.
Second, research who you are traveling with, or how you mean to travel. If going with a tour operator, what are their corporate social responsibility commitments? How have they integrated social and environmental consciousness into their programs? If you are traveling on your own, what means of transport are you using? Are you using a porter in Nepal who looks under the age of 15? Are you taking a private bus which illegally cuts through protected lands? These are ways that you can make your travels more socially, and environmentally, conscious.
Third, travel with an open mind. It has been said before, but is worth being said again: leave your prejudices and stereotypes at home, and be willing to experience new things. That’s the whole point of traveling, after all. This doesn’t mean that you should leave your consciousness behind, nor your sense of right and wrong. It just means you should be willing to suspend your traditional knee-jerk reactions to things you see, and to embrace different lifestyles and value systems with an open mind.
Fourth, before leaving on your journey, re-examine the considerations above, and adjust your itinerary if necessary. If the tour group you had planned on traveling with doesn’t match the social values you’ve defined for yourself, search for a different travel operator. If you’re an American planning to do development work in Afghanistan, consider how your presence may be interpreted by an Afghani whose relative was killed by an American soldier, and decide if you still feel comfortable undertaking that project. Maybe you should reconsider which country you are traveling to, and should choose a nation which has a more positive collective memory of American intervention.
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Stacia
As my work shows, I am an advocate for development projects, yet am somewhat tormented by the best means of accomplishing them. The dignity, agency, and abilities of people in need are often undermined by development projects, or more accurately, by the mindsets of the people implementing them. I'm hoping that by writing about these issues I'll be able to work through these concerns, and find a middle ground where development work can be done without disparaging those who are the recipients of it.
If you have any answers to this dilemma, let me know - it would save me a lot of stress and guilt!
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