The Traveler's Quandary

October 10th, 2017

Arriving in England 30 years ago last month, I was daunted by a number of challenges, none as great as the ubiquitous charge I faced of cultural imperialism.  I was a 22-year-old who had barely been out of Indiana and had no intention of imperializing anyone or anything.  On the contrary, I was charmed by many of the differences in our nations' histories and cultures.  I didn't understand how I or any American could be accused of cultural imperialism when, for the most part, American culture existed passively and was being actively consumed by the rest of the world.  No one was forcing jazz or rap or hip hop or Meryl Streep or Jack Nicholson on the British---they simply liked those things and were listening to and watching them.  I understood, on some level, that my accusers knew this and simply were annoyed that they now had to deal with unfamiliar and un-British music, movies, slang, food, clothing.  (There is obviously also a rich irony associated with British charges of any kind of imperialism.)  

Thirty years on, the coin has flipped.  The crime to be avoided at all costs now is not cultural imperialism but cultural appropriation.  After all, my attempts at assimilation could lead to caricatures of the target culture, like what has happened in the US with Cinco de Mayo, or the fetishization of Native American artifacts.  

So what is a traveler to do?  Whenever one is outside one's native culture, daily decisions must be made about, for instance, doing things the American way or the French way, sticking with English or trying to speak French, dressing like a local or wearing the clothes you brought, eating cheese after dinner instead of before, etc., etc.  One choice always has a slight taste of the British charge levied against me while the other choice is tinged with the same lack of authenticity as the cafeteria workers at Oberlin trying to serve sushi (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/the-food-fight-at-oberlin-college/421401/).  

And yet travel is essential.  Travel is the way we learn, the way we see our own experiences from a different perspective, the way we develop empathy.  I don't feel like I have a clever answer to this quandary, but I guess I come down on the side of more dialog, more understanding, more exchange, and, yes, maybe even some cultural appropriation if that aids the cause.  Jeremy Lin, I think you've got it right:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/10/06/after-kenyon-martin-rips-his-dreads-jeremy-lin-kills-him-with-kindness/?utm_term=.fe3849a45f28  

And it seems like Kenyon Martin has come around, too.