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Going Abroad: Traveling Like an Anthropologist
Increasingly students from the affluent countries are going abroad as part of their "educational experience." Although students see these experiences as invaluable and believe that they have learned a lot, the anthropological literature suggests the opposite; that travel abroad has a greater impact on the hosts than on the visitors and that indeed travel abroad, far from leading to students becoming more open-minded or learning about the other, can reinforce their stereotypes. The standards in anthropology teach humility and the ability to learn from those in the host country. This short book can be read pre-departure and while abroad to provide the reader the practical and philosophical tools needed to create an enriched and mind-broadening experience.
232 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2010
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February 8, 2013
“Going Abroad” is a very valuable book that seems to have a bit of trouble with its own identity. It is billed as an application of academic knowledge to a practical field: wisdom from anthropology applied to travel. By its nature, however, it often seems more like the opposite, advice from an experienced traveler meant to help anthropologists cope with issues encountered during field work. It's clearly meant to be the former, since that's the book that would sell to a wider demographic.
Either way, Gordon has created an invaluable trove of ideas, suggestions, and reality-checks for the intelligent, intellectually-minded traveler. This was how our study abroad director used chapters 3 and 4 from the book.
Part 1 of the book tears down, deconstructs and ruthlessly critiques almost every trope, trouble, and trait of the common traveler. Gordon's chief insight is that there is a dichotomy of travelers. On one hand, there is the book's audience: the rich, who travel seeking ephemeral thrills and sensations to stave off boredom, as a status symbol, and seeking various visions (of which the white-sand beach is the most famous). On the other there are refugees and the migrant poor, vagabonds who travel not seeking excitement but mere sustenance, and ultimately hoping for some stability and security.
The first order of business is to examine why you event want to travel in the first place. Few motivations stand up to Gordon's scrutiny. Adventure travelers seek risk, but carefully and consistently hedge risk with insurance and safety nets. Unlike vagabonds, tourists have complete control: they can extract themselves from unpleasant situations whenever they like. Students seek cultural exposure and an intimate connection with local communities, but are insulated by their peers, the cocoon of luxury, their ephemerality, and most extremely, their own stereotypes. Study abroad programs advertise personal growth through travel as a rite-of-passage, but in many cases changes wear off quickly when the habits of home set in anew.
Per the norm for elites, travelers tend to display tremendous entitlement and little responsibility. This is essentially a consequence of privilege, only visible in one direction. It is exacerbated by the exit option: tourists have no investment in the place they visit, and feel none of the long-term consequences of their choices, because they will be gone soon anyway.
Considering that tourism ranks among the world's largest industries (perhaps 6th?) it is surprising there is so little noise being made about it in anti-capitalist and anti-corporatist circles. Many of the problems Gordon cites stem from the commodification of the travel experience. This idea didn't originate in the travel industry (it is a consequence of exoticization of the Other and colonialism) but it is certainly the industry's main product.
The tourism industry encourages the irresponsible privilege of elite travelers by selling travel as an escape from responsibility, and crafting images that portray locals as happy servants. In more extreme cases, travel is explicitly portrayed as a good deed – not only does the traveler get a great relaxing/adventurous experience, they get to feel great about it, too!
Incidentally, the commodification of experiences is most evident in photographs, which enact an endless cycle: a hip or idyllic photo ad inspires tourists to go there and be in/take that photo (e.g., a jumping photo in front of a famous landmark); a pack of tourists go to the place and take the same photo; they show it to their friends and the next wave is launched.
Needless to say, Gordon's book is meant to help us avoid such kitschy, oblivious, and destructive fates. The introduction implies that Part 1 will deconstruct the old, stupid traveler, and Part 2 will build in his place a new, considerate and wise traveler. Part 1 does its job admirably, and it really makes up the meat of the book. But Part 2 feels like it was just tacked on at the editor's behest. It seems to lack the content and depth of Part 1, and often feels bland and repetitive. Gordon repeats really obvious travel advice like “make a copy of your passport” and “don't drink the water.” He includes some less obvious things, but it occasionally feels like he's doing this to live up to the book jacket – “he talks about poop! And sex!”
That said, there were plenty of nice prompts throughout the second part that are worth coming back to. His discussions of journaling and story-telling were particularly salient. He detailed his extensive pre-trip reading and immersion, and his tactics for cultural immersion while abroad; principally, discussing serious topics with a wide range of people. He gave a lot of advice about recording, certainly an ideal that no one ever lives up to in practice, but rich with possibility for adaptation and personalization. Learn to describe people and places, using sensory data (esp. smells) that will trigger your memory. Detail your ideas, revelations, and observations, paying particular attention to what prompted them and precisely who said what to lead you to your conclusions and connections.
Gordon's anthropological tone and point of view is valuable for challenging harmful ideas and images about travel and power. However, the overall impression one gets is that Gordon simply disapproves of travel, romance, and adventure as culturally created concepts. You might leave the book thinking that he doesn't even think it's a good thing to do. Gordon travels extensively himself, so he must find it valuable, and he does occasionally reassure the reader that he does advise you to travel. One gets the idea this might also be an editorial emphasis – in this interview, http://chronicle.com/article/An-Alter..., Gordon goes further and encourages students to take “staycations,” exploring their own communities first. It's possible this dichotomy exists because of the digestibility differential. The images and ideas sold by the tourist industry are designed to be intuitive and obvious. The lessons Gordon encourages us to seek are somewhat inarticulable and can only be learned through long and often arduous experience.
I found that every interesting travel politics thought I had in Tanzania was covered here except one strange oversight. While it is mentioned in passing, Gordon never takes up the themes in Ivan Illich's “To Hell with Good Intentions,” in discussing, critiquing, and perhaps guiding international volunteering. I would expect Gordon to have an interesting set of thoughts on this issue and was disappointed it wasn't developed further.
Gordon's understanding of insurance is rather bizarre. He dismisses it as a useless ritual, a superstition in which people believe it will ward off disaster. This is all the more striking when you learn (from the article cited above) that he's had three laptops stolen in his travels – filing claims on these would easily recoup the cost of insurance and demonstrate its practical worth.
The writing style is a perfect balance of density and jargon with approachable ideas and narrative pull.
Either way, Gordon has created an invaluable trove of ideas, suggestions, and reality-checks for the intelligent, intellectually-minded traveler. This was how our study abroad director used chapters 3 and 4 from the book.
Part 1 of the book tears down, deconstructs and ruthlessly critiques almost every trope, trouble, and trait of the common traveler. Gordon's chief insight is that there is a dichotomy of travelers. On one hand, there is the book's audience: the rich, who travel seeking ephemeral thrills and sensations to stave off boredom, as a status symbol, and seeking various visions (of which the white-sand beach is the most famous). On the other there are refugees and the migrant poor, vagabonds who travel not seeking excitement but mere sustenance, and ultimately hoping for some stability and security.
The first order of business is to examine why you event want to travel in the first place. Few motivations stand up to Gordon's scrutiny. Adventure travelers seek risk, but carefully and consistently hedge risk with insurance and safety nets. Unlike vagabonds, tourists have complete control: they can extract themselves from unpleasant situations whenever they like. Students seek cultural exposure and an intimate connection with local communities, but are insulated by their peers, the cocoon of luxury, their ephemerality, and most extremely, their own stereotypes. Study abroad programs advertise personal growth through travel as a rite-of-passage, but in many cases changes wear off quickly when the habits of home set in anew.
Per the norm for elites, travelers tend to display tremendous entitlement and little responsibility. This is essentially a consequence of privilege, only visible in one direction. It is exacerbated by the exit option: tourists have no investment in the place they visit, and feel none of the long-term consequences of their choices, because they will be gone soon anyway.
Considering that tourism ranks among the world's largest industries (perhaps 6th?) it is surprising there is so little noise being made about it in anti-capitalist and anti-corporatist circles. Many of the problems Gordon cites stem from the commodification of the travel experience. This idea didn't originate in the travel industry (it is a consequence of exoticization of the Other and colonialism) but it is certainly the industry's main product.
The tourism industry encourages the irresponsible privilege of elite travelers by selling travel as an escape from responsibility, and crafting images that portray locals as happy servants. In more extreme cases, travel is explicitly portrayed as a good deed – not only does the traveler get a great relaxing/adventurous experience, they get to feel great about it, too!
Incidentally, the commodification of experiences is most evident in photographs, which enact an endless cycle: a hip or idyllic photo ad inspires tourists to go there and be in/take that photo (e.g., a jumping photo in front of a famous landmark); a pack of tourists go to the place and take the same photo; they show it to their friends and the next wave is launched.
Needless to say, Gordon's book is meant to help us avoid such kitschy, oblivious, and destructive fates. The introduction implies that Part 1 will deconstruct the old, stupid traveler, and Part 2 will build in his place a new, considerate and wise traveler. Part 1 does its job admirably, and it really makes up the meat of the book. But Part 2 feels like it was just tacked on at the editor's behest. It seems to lack the content and depth of Part 1, and often feels bland and repetitive. Gordon repeats really obvious travel advice like “make a copy of your passport” and “don't drink the water.” He includes some less obvious things, but it occasionally feels like he's doing this to live up to the book jacket – “he talks about poop! And sex!”
That said, there were plenty of nice prompts throughout the second part that are worth coming back to. His discussions of journaling and story-telling were particularly salient. He detailed his extensive pre-trip reading and immersion, and his tactics for cultural immersion while abroad; principally, discussing serious topics with a wide range of people. He gave a lot of advice about recording, certainly an ideal that no one ever lives up to in practice, but rich with possibility for adaptation and personalization. Learn to describe people and places, using sensory data (esp. smells) that will trigger your memory. Detail your ideas, revelations, and observations, paying particular attention to what prompted them and precisely who said what to lead you to your conclusions and connections.
Gordon's anthropological tone and point of view is valuable for challenging harmful ideas and images about travel and power. However, the overall impression one gets is that Gordon simply disapproves of travel, romance, and adventure as culturally created concepts. You might leave the book thinking that he doesn't even think it's a good thing to do. Gordon travels extensively himself, so he must find it valuable, and he does occasionally reassure the reader that he does advise you to travel. One gets the idea this might also be an editorial emphasis – in this interview, http://chronicle.com/article/An-Alter..., Gordon goes further and encourages students to take “staycations,” exploring their own communities first. It's possible this dichotomy exists because of the digestibility differential. The images and ideas sold by the tourist industry are designed to be intuitive and obvious. The lessons Gordon encourages us to seek are somewhat inarticulable and can only be learned through long and often arduous experience.
I found that every interesting travel politics thought I had in Tanzania was covered here except one strange oversight. While it is mentioned in passing, Gordon never takes up the themes in Ivan Illich's “To Hell with Good Intentions,” in discussing, critiquing, and perhaps guiding international volunteering. I would expect Gordon to have an interesting set of thoughts on this issue and was disappointed it wasn't developed further.
Gordon's understanding of insurance is rather bizarre. He dismisses it as a useless ritual, a superstition in which people believe it will ward off disaster. This is all the more striking when you learn (from the article cited above) that he's had three laptops stolen in his travels – filing claims on these would easily recoup the cost of insurance and demonstrate its practical worth.
The writing style is a perfect balance of density and jargon with approachable ideas and narrative pull.
August 9, 2015
The central premise of this book is that going abroad does NOT expand the mind and make one more sensitive to other cultures unless one is prepared. The parts of the book that make this argument were my favorite. Otherwise, I enjoyed reading it but didn't find what I was looking for. I'm ready and willing to offer better preparation to my travel course students, but the first part of the book (entitled Disorientation) was too academic, while the second part (The Nitty-Gritty of Travel) was a bit scatter-shot and directed more toward researchers than your average undergrad. All the same, the author's informal tone and personal stories made it a quick and interesting read for me. I would recommend this book to faculty and staff who supervise undergrads going abroad, and I would recommend it to budding anthropologists or development project researchers heading out to do fieldwork in another culture for the first (or second) time, but I'm afraid it would not be an effective guide for most of my students.
June 22, 2015
This is one of the best guides for students, grad students, the average traveler and the not your typical traveler that I have ever read. While Gordon focuses on techniques for fieldwork, he also covers important topics for safety, health, and getting the local perspective while traveling. He offers great perspective on how to squeeze every ounce of your trip and live it to the fullest. A short concise read for any traveler, neophyte or ruggedly experienced.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews