"Since I was an individual, also the things around me separated. Confrontations on an equal footing: the crossing and me, the kiosk and me. The wall of the junk yard and me."
("Wann wird es so, wie es nie war", Joachim Meyerhoff)
What can be exotic to a stranger in a foreign country?
Maria Fellner - 03.01.2020 @ 19:18
What can be exotic to a stranger in a foreign country?
by Alma Gréen, VKS Växjö/Sweden
Have you ever visited another country? When you first enter a new place, you are greeted by new impressions and a different environment compared to what you are used to. For sure you already had an idea of what it was going to be like, still, was it really like the travel brochure when you stepped into the new country?
I have read the book Hästpojkarna or The horse boys (Johan Ehn, 2019). So far, this book has only been published in Swedish, but I hope it will soon be translated into other languages. It is about two youths named Alexander and Janek. They work as acrobats at a circus, in which they travel all over Europe to show the world what they have learned. Janek and Alexander grew up together in the nineteen-twenties in Czechoslovakia and as the time passes, they start getting feelings for each other.
Homosexuality was not accepted at this time. When the circus arrives in Berlin, Alexander and Janek decide to go to a bar and they end up at the gay bar Moulin Rouge. For the first time in a very long time, they feel like they fit in and are accepted for who they are. It was extremely exotic for them, to feel free for once, since they did not have to hide anything. Later, when they are on their way home, one of their friends is beaten up by a man of the National Socialist Party. The boys just had two totally different experiences as strangers in a foreign country, both very exotic for them. The freedom in the bar and the nationalist sentiments on the street.
Is this something that could happen today? The rights for LGBTQ people are not the same everywhere. It is even illegal in many countries. Is it not weird that it is strange and exotic to feel free for once? When I participated in the Erasmus+ project, some students from other countries reacted to the LGBTQ rights in Sweden, the students thought that Sweden was more accepting towards LGBTQ rights than they were in their countries, something that was normal for us Swedes was exotic for our friends from outside Sweden. The same way people treat Janek and Alexander, LGBTQ people are sometimes treated in today’s society. Since all countries have developed at a different speed when it comes to LGBTQ rights, the acceptance is furthermore at different levels.
When something is exotic, it is something that you are not used to. It can be anything from culture to nature and much more. Almost everything we do is based on norms that are obvious to us, but perhaps not at all to someone who is just visiting our country. Norms are perfect in some cases, for example, when they make it easier for the society to work as it should. For example, in most European countries we know that we are supposed to stand in line in the grocery store and that we are supposed to shake hands with the right hand. When norms affect the individual person and how that person should be, this can, however, become problematic. Whereas we need norms in some cases, they can also cause difficulties. One obvious example of this is when people are discriminated against just because their sexual orientation doesn’t conform with the norms.
Alma Gréen 18.03.2020 @ 19:19
Hey Alma,
I really enjoyed your article. Your argumentation was really interesting to read and I can only support your point of view.
My family and I travel a lot and therefore often come into touch with different cultures and ethnicities. Every time when we visit a new country, I am surprised anew when I learn about the country's habits or rituals that seem so natural to them, but are so strange to me. (And of course there are also shocking norms that seem so absurd and impossible in my own country.)
It really is very strange to know that people can have so drastically different views on the same question, even if the answer seems so obvious to oneself.
Anastasia Sobol - 28.10.2020 @ 16:38
Yasmin Ben Touhami - 04.11.2020 @ 16:12
Hej Alma!
I really enjoyed your article and find it really interesting how you defined the word "exotic" in a new way. Also, I believe you are very right and differences between social groups cause conflicts sometimes, which is a natural effect of diversity.
I really would like to address the topic to a different one than you. People with different heritages are "exotic" to many others. I myself am not German, for example. And being from a different country than the one you’re living in, is a very controversial thing, isn't it? People who would not describe themselves as racists show it in a weird way. Once, I was standing in a line waiting in a grocerystore and an old lady weirdly touched my hair and said "What beautiful African hair you have." I'm neither African nor is my hair African. I'm an Arab with Arabic hair. This right there was indirect racism people have to face daily, which cannot refer to real racism. It's a very paradox thing and important to point out.
So, being "exotic" or experiencing "exotic" things really depends on a certain situation referring to religion, sexual orientation, skin color etc.
Yasmin Ben Touhami - 04.11.2020 @ 16:12