Hey peeples. I have SO MUCH GOING ON so don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned you and will fill you in on all the new good shit going down in my lil’ decolonial travel world, but right now I’d just like to share my recent article for Bitch Magazine, an intersectional summer travel checklist! Someone called it ‘how to avoid eatprayloving your way through the world’ so I just stole that. Here’s a bite:
Peep the history. Remember: Wherever you are, you’re on native land. Do some research on the historical relationship between your place of origin and your place of visitation. As an American of color, I don’t take the power of my blue passport and the heavy imperialist history it weighs over others, a history which enables me to be a tourist today, lightly.
The Nice White Lady tears began a-dripping mere moments after the Publish button was hit but I’d like to thank them for keeping me hydrated in this swampy Florida heat. Just goes to show you how the real racist is me! Just kidding; it goes to show just how much work has to be done in the travel writing genre and blogging world, where even the POC are copy-and-pasting the colonial narrative and wrapping it up with an Identity bow or are simply opportunists who give negative zero fux about their complicity in this hierarchy of oppression. And that’s cool, just let me do my thing and remember to -ask questions -when you engage with the work/me, not demand solutions for world peace or write me a raging sonnet I will delete in .2 seconds. This might be uncomfortable subject matter (to you) but it’s not a personal attack. I promise you, I don’t bite. Here’s another excerpt:
Mi casa NO es su casa. You’re a guest in someone else’s home. Do you take pride in your raggedy clothes when locals have no other choice but to wear theirs? Are you soaking in some resort Jacuzzi surrounded by people struggling for access to clean, drinkable water? Is the way you dress respectful of the local culture? You can also ameliorate the harm of tourism by adhering to local customs on tipping and following immigration laws if they favor your placement on the power spectrum. Don’t overstay your visa in a poorer country even though you’re white and can afford it. Learn as much of the local language as you’re able and don’t openly mock signs misspelled in English. You’re being gross. Finally, you ain’t no rock star—a poor woman of color is most likely cleaning up after your hotel mess. (Who raised you?)
Read the article in its entirety.
