Traveling to Multiply Stories

This article will not discuss what you imagined upon arriving here. No, I am not going to (re)tell you how traveling allows you to have endless experiences and gather countless stories, to live multiple lives in one. No. Today, I will talk to you about those unique stories that govern the way we think. These unique stories shape our view and approach to the world, to a country, to a people...

What is a unique story? It is the fact of only hearing one version of a story. The story of a continent, a country, a people, a person. This single story becomes a stereotype: our perception and representation of reality regarding that country, that people, that person.

When I discovered this video by Chimamanda Adichie, I immediately knew I wanted to share my discovery with you. My fingers tingle, ideas flow: the article writes itself! But before going further, here is that famous video from TED.

For those who don't know TED TED talks are presented by experts in education, business, science, technology, or creativity, with the goal of sharing ideas. (>).

I have already talked about TED and presented one of its videos in this article: >

Video recorded in July 2009 in Oxford - duration: 18 min 49 - On the TED site

Here are some excerpts from Chimamanda Adichie's talk that I particularly enjoyed and invite you to read slowly, to absorb and reflect on.

The single story creates stereotypes. And the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make the single story the only story.

I have always felt that it is impossible to adequately address a place or a person without considering all the stories of that place or person. The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of their dignity. It prevents us from seeing ourselves as equals as human beings. It emphasizes our differences rather than our similarities.

Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But they can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.

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.

Unique stories are everywhere! Spread through the media, conversations by the coffee machine, and > and >.

All Africans are this. All Americans are that. All French people are this...

All women are like this. All Muslims are like that. All backpackers are like this...

Europe is a cultural continent. South America is a dangerous continent, Asia is a cheap continent...

We all have these unique stories on everything. The biggest problem is that they seep into our minds to become absolute truths. Generalization becomes truth. Individuality is forgotten, drowned in the mass. A perfect ground for growing fear of the unknown and fear of the other. A relevant issue...

What emerges from this talk by Chimamanda Adichie is that multiplying stories and versions of stories, through cultural exchanges such as books, films, encounters, allows us to break the vicious cycle of unique stories and enter into the virtuous one of multiple stories. Multiplicity calls for variety, openness, nuance, and recognition of each person's uniqueness.

Meeting, exchanging... two fundamental pillars of travel!

I like to think that the traveler, discovering the world with an open heart and mind, is part of this movement breaking the unique stories and multiplying stories.

What if traveling could reverse the trend?

While traveling, we confront generalizations with experiences. The people become individuals, then another. Each with their own temperament. Their own story.

I remember that Salvadoran family, so courageous and generous, in a country known only for insecurity and repeated homicides.

I remember that German woman, small in stature but big at heart, willing to stand up to sexists from around the world.

I remember that Ecuadorian from the Galapagos Islands, convinced that evolution was a joke (while living 20 meters from the monument dedicated to Charles Darwin) and that a white woman could never fall in love with a black man.

I remember that Swedish man, from a family of Salvadoran immigrants, and his identity questions, his desire to discover El Salvador where he had never set foot, and his fears of not being considered belonging to the countries of his parents.

I remember that Patagonian father, so warm and emotional, in a region known for its tough and cold men.

At least that is what a Peruvian from the mountains thought before meeting us. He had in mind a unique story. The story of the perfect, perfectly happy white person.

While travel opens the mind, travel blogs also help break the unique story. By presenting narratives stemming from personal experience, the blogger invites the reader to discover the country through their lens. We are far from the classic tourist guides or encyclopedias delivering a dehumanized truth.

That's why, on my blog, I enjoy sharing the encounters that have touched me, the first impressions that have surprised me, the astonishing discoveries, and the haunting conversations. That's also why I take pleasure in sharing my cultural discoveries (cinematic, literary) around travel or a particular destination.

Because learning about interesting places to see to create one's itinerary is often an important step in preparing for a trip. But other paths exist to immerse oneself in the journey beforehand: discovering the country through its works, its films, its books... is to open the door to a new culture rich in stories... and avoid the unique story!

Traveling to multiply stories: this is also one of the main focuses of our big project that will start in 2017! > that will take us across the roads of the Americas from North to South for 3 years... and to discover many new stories!

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