Novotny Page 1 of 6 Sonja Novotny Professor Wiley English 100 - Honors September 10, 2021 The Journey to Home Away from Home Step into just about any resort in the world, and odds are you’ll recognize the same formula in play. This familiarity is carefully crafted for travelers to feel at ease navigating predictable arrangements. Although this approach may mirror the typical way of life in the US, more often than not it doesn’t reflect the traditions of international cultures. Rather than embrace the local norms, resorts contort their facilities and services to match the single story of the American traveler abroad. Full immersion in another culture can often be the best way to learn a new language, enjoy unfamiliar cuisine, and experience a different way of life, but travelers often gravitate toward the familiar comforts of home in their new destination, causing international hot spots to become globalized versions of stereotypical touristy resort life, lacking any nuanced indigenous character. On the TEDStage, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shares her realization that “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” In the case of the American traveler, this single story of their assumed expectations buffers them from fully experiencing foreign cultures as unrelated yet human equals. Novotny Page 2 of 6 Nearly all who work in hospitality with guest contact are fluent in English, regardless of their location or native language. Gone are the days that American travelers needed to prepare for their trip by studying common phrases or to carry translation guide books. Today they can assume that wherever they go someone will always speak English and be available to help them. Travelers who don’t attempt to communicate in the foreign tongue lose the opportunity to experience that society through the lens of language. The sounds, tones, and rhythms of different dialects reflect the culture of the region, not experienced in the same way anywhere else. A great sense of pride and connection is felt, from both parties, when local people hear their words and accents from the mouth of a stranger who made the effort to learn. However, tripping over foreign dialects can be mentally taxing, so many on both sides of the conversation avoid attempting at all, eventually discouraging local people from even trying to engage with tourists in their own language. “Diversity also increases cognitive development, both intellectually and socially. And yet, actually encountering and working through diverse viewpoints, experiences, and perspectives is hard work. It’s uncomfortable. It’s emotionally exhausting. It can be downright frustrating. Thus, given the opportunity, people typically revert to situations where they can be in homogeneous environments. They look for “safe spaces” and “culture fit.” And systems that are “personalized” are highly desirable. Most people aren’t looking to self-segregate, but they do it anyway.” (Boyd) Travelers weary from interpreting their unfamiliar environment are grateful for the safety of taking a break from the constant exploration and find momentary comfort in their hosts’ gracious adaptations. Unfortunately, bridging the cultural gap through conversation is lost when travelers slip into the comfort of communicating with only their ingrained vocabulary. Novotny Page 3 of 6 As an American traveler walks into a foreign restaurant, an English version of the menu will always be presented first, offered in the resident language only upon request. Rather than suffer through awkward explanations of the meals, both parties politely assume a mutual understanding that the translated versions will suffice. Throughout the world, no matter the cuisine, these menus typically contain the standard American staples like fried appetizers, burgers, fries, and sodas, if not meant for adults these will inevitably appear on the children’s menu. Servers will assume American travelers dine with a full set of standard utensils, not relying on fingers, flatbreads, or chopsticks. When the food is served, unless expressly requested, the spices are generally tempered, the dish a pale resemblance of what a local person would enjoy. A restaurants’ globalized style restrains local customs, traditional foods, drinks, and even schedules. Seating a guest at chairs around a table while the host prefers to sit cross legged on a floor mat at home, or serving foods a local person would never eat, also robs the traveler of the unique experience of dining in a new and different way. Chances are good that local delicacies that may not be found elsewhere, will pass by, undiscovered. Some cultures begin serving dinner after 8pm and value mid-day breaks where all people return home to enjoy lunch and quality time with their families before returning to work, including restaurant staff, but the demands of the international travelers require them to adjust their availability to conform to the foreigners’ plans. Jhumpa Lahiri touched on this topic when she described the juxtaposition of her own mixed heritage and nationality, “The traditions on either side of the hyphen dwell in me like siblings, still occasionally sparring, one outshining the other depending on the day. But like siblings they are intimately familiar with one another, Novotny Page 4 of 6 forgiving and intertwined.” Hosts often put the needs of their guests above their own, so the traveler never feels the urgency of planning their day around the local schedule. Offering on demand services to cater to the travelers’ whims loses a sense of importance in respecting the local routines. The single story of the American traveler dictates that they will expect constant convenience, guest services anticipating their needs, supplies available every day and around the clock, and excursions available on their schedule. Their rooms, beds, and cars should be immaculate, large, and plush. They will want informative tours, always in English, glossing over any violent histories, and never confronting any wrongdoing by their American forefathers. Excursions include a predictable list of options, with few places offering unique activities indigenous to the area. If a tourist never steps outside the norms, they’re missing out on a wealth of adventures. Always renting a full size sedan means they’ll never know the excitement of riding in the back of a rickshaw, or driving a tiny foreign car. Not delving into the local history or native arts means they’ll not know much more than a glossy encyclopedic summary. So much can be missed if they don’t take the time to embrace the regional way of life and recognize that the locals are people living similar lives, albeit in different styles. They may trust staff within the resort, but assume local people outside the grounds are suspicious characters plotting to take advantage of or even kidnap them. Brent Staples shared his experience through the perceived threat of being an urban black man ‘“Where some see mere panhandlers, Hoagland sees “a mugger who is clearly screwing up his nerve to do more than just ask for money.”’ Maintaining a safe distance from people presumed to be risky means they’ll never meet strangers who may be equally yet benevolently interested in them. Novotny Page 5 of 6 The resort abroad will feel out of the ordinary, yet familiar at the same time. “If you’re an American traveler fascinated by the foreign and exotic, understand this: Your tour guide probably finds you equally strange and otherworldly.” (Weed) Resorts are modeled after American hospitality trends and their staff are trained to cater to the single story of the American traveler. They are taught that Americans try to make friends with the people taking care of them and want to be treated like a valued family member, so it’s common for them to ask personal questions that wouldn’t be expected until a deeper level of familiarity has been developed over time. They learn that it’s taboo to compliment Americans on their large sizes, even if height and a rotund body is a symbol of success and wealth. Interacting with American children is a careful balance of acknowledgment without being inappropriate. Maya Angelou noticed the same watering down of cultural exchanges, “If we were a people much given to revealing secrets, we might raise monuments and sacrifice to the memories of our poets, but slavery cured us of that weakness.” (86) In this case, many hosts put aside their own natural cultural norms to adopt superficial niceties for the tourists, who never realize they’re missing out on another way of thinking. For the rare traveler who reaches beyond the tourist paradigm, or for their curious hosts, an experience rich in cultural adventures is always within arm’s reach. And “…when we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.” (Adichie) Novotny Page 6 of 6 Works Cited: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story” TED: Global, July 2009, www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story Boyd, Danah. “Why America is Self-Segregating.” Points: Data & Society. January 5, 2017, points.datasociety.net/why-america-is-self-segregating-d881a39273ab?gi=def8767bf737 Lahiri, Jhumpa. “My Two Lives” Newsweek, March 5th, 2006. Weed, Julie. “How Tour Guides Abroad Learn to Cater to Exotic Americans” The New York Times. November 28, 2016. www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/business/how-tour-guides-abroad-learnto-cater-to-exotic-americans.html Staples, Brian. “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” Ms. Magazine, 1986. Angelou, Maya. “Graduation” Book Title Unknown, Chapter 2 – Education and Learning, 1970, p. 86.
