Big Idea #1

For the first big idea I want to relate it back to Orientalism. I studied Orientalism this year in my Writing About Travel class, and it really opened my eyes to what it was and how it affects people from the Eastern part of the world. Orientalism as defined by Edward Said is Western cultures looking at Eastern cultures as inferior, exotic, and sometimes primitive. The word Orientalism comes from the term the orient which is pretty much all asian/eastern countries. This also poses a problem because it lumps together a lot of cultures that don't even really go together. For example, India and Korea, these countries are far away from each other and also very different yet they are both part of the orient so therefor the people from them are oriental.

Orientalism ties into travel and race because it is a stereotype that westerns have about people from the east. This can then turn into it being not as safe for them to travel to western countries. This is very sad because it means that because of steryotypes and things people have assumed about these people, there is now a fear of travel.

Fear or travel is an issue that I think people from all different walks of life face in different ways. People's fears stop them from traveling for a variety of reasons, wether that be race, gender, sexuality, or disability. I have done some reading on transgender travelers and what traveling is like for them, what things they have to consider and think about and it is honestly very similar to people of color traveling. They have to research where they are going to see if it is friendly to them, they have to always be on alert and look out for their safety, and they have to think about how they are being judged based on how they look.

In conclusion, travel and race is related to orientalism which ties into stereotypes and how people are perceived. This then alludes to the fear of travel, which can be experienced by anyone for a number of reasons. I hope that in the future people will be able to travel without fear because every place will be accepting of them no matter what.