Exoticization and travel
“John Whitney Hall (September 13, 1916 - October 21, 1997)[1], the Tokyo-born son of missionaries in Japan, grew up to become a pioneer in the field of Japanese studies and one of the most respected historians of Japan of his generation.”
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“Harry Harootunian, a professor of history at New York University and a former student of Professor Hall's, summarizes this view succinctly: "What I think guys like Hall tried to do was de-exoticize the study of Japan. To de-exoticize anything is to bring it closer to us, to eliminate the distance that we imagine exists between ourselves and the object of our study.”
There are subtleties about traveling that are easy to gloss over, especially if you don't spend proper time in any given place. There are two types of subtleties: impressions and details. When you stay for such a short time, you weigh higher on impressions. However, there are universals that people tend to gloss over as well, when impressionistic subtleties are given attentive preference. Universals unite, subtleties and differences separate. Both are equally important. I think, when people go abroad, they tend to gain perspective on their own experiences back home---both the subtleties and the universals. Experience back home becomes enriched to an extent that experience abroad becomes less enriching, in a good way. For example, once you go to primary and secondary school, school becomes part of your life, it becomes closer to you, rather than this phenomenon that is so out of reach that contact with it becomes the most enriching experience of your life.
American tourists tend to greatly exoticize other cultures and locations, possibly due to our relative cultural and geographic isolation. European countries, however, find themselves within 300 miles reach of ten different countries and cultures. We're also isolated in that our media is the dominant media, whereas that is not the case in other countries.
If you’re from a European country, or if you’re an American who has traveled a lot, you become closer to “the other”, incorporate it into your being, internalize it, so that it’s not so exotic (how I define it above), not such a faraway phenomenon. You visit as often as you can, you become a global citizen instead of a locale-based citizen, you partake in something greater, and you bring that back home with you at the end of the day, no matter where home is at the moment. Possibly even more important: if you cease to exoticize so much, you don’t lose track or perspective of what or who is important, surrounding you on this globe that is called “home.” You don’t spend all your time and energy running around to find a home, because it’s everywhere. Places and destinations and unnamed faces will always be there for you, whenever you want. Friendship, stability, health, community, support, dedication, opportunity---all these universal, unexoticizable things---are not as easy to visit as a place, and require a little more time and effort, and won’t always be there for you if you treat them like travel destinations, objects, places.
[...]
“Harry Harootunian, a professor of history at New York University and a former student of Professor Hall's, summarizes this view succinctly: "What I think guys like Hall tried to do was de-exoticize the study of Japan. To de-exoticize anything is to bring it closer to us, to eliminate the distance that we imagine exists between ourselves and the object of our study.”
There are subtleties about traveling that are easy to gloss over, especially if you don't spend proper time in any given place. There are two types of subtleties: impressions and details. When you stay for such a short time, you weigh higher on impressions. However, there are universals that people tend to gloss over as well, when impressionistic subtleties are given attentive preference. Universals unite, subtleties and differences separate. Both are equally important. I think, when people go abroad, they tend to gain perspective on their own experiences back home---both the subtleties and the universals. Experience back home becomes enriched to an extent that experience abroad becomes less enriching, in a good way. For example, once you go to primary and secondary school, school becomes part of your life, it becomes closer to you, rather than this phenomenon that is so out of reach that contact with it becomes the most enriching experience of your life.
American tourists tend to greatly exoticize other cultures and locations, possibly due to our relative cultural and geographic isolation. European countries, however, find themselves within 300 miles reach of ten different countries and cultures. We're also isolated in that our media is the dominant media, whereas that is not the case in other countries.
If you’re from a European country, or if you’re an American who has traveled a lot, you become closer to “the other”, incorporate it into your being, internalize it, so that it’s not so exotic (how I define it above), not such a faraway phenomenon. You visit as often as you can, you become a global citizen instead of a locale-based citizen, you partake in something greater, and you bring that back home with you at the end of the day, no matter where home is at the moment. Possibly even more important: if you cease to exoticize so much, you don’t lose track or perspective of what or who is important, surrounding you on this globe that is called “home.” You don’t spend all your time and energy running around to find a home, because it’s everywhere. Places and destinations and unnamed faces will always be there for you, whenever you want. Friendship, stability, health, community, support, dedication, opportunity---all these universal, unexoticizable things---are not as easy to visit as a place, and require a little more time and effort, and won’t always be there for you if you treat them like travel destinations, objects, places.