Etnocentrism
Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Wed 10 Jul 2013 06:43
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We are still anchored in Manihi and expect do be so
over the weekend...
Today I took the kayak and paddled off to the
village, as I was paddling along the modern concrete houses the word
Etnocentrism came to my mind.
I think the meaning of the word is that I value
what I see from my own cultur and expectations.
Coming to Tuamutos there is an expectation that
people live like in old Gaugin paintings, huts made from palm leafs, they should
move around in outriggers and everybody should smile at us and work with
coconuts. Maybe fishing some too.
So I bring these values and if I cannot rethink my
inner expectations the whole journey is going to be a disappointment.
Actually even pilotbooks and Lonely planet will
give us values like genuine, real, what you look for etc. Thus meaning there you
will find what you expect.
The strange part about travelling is that you will
always travel with yourselfe so in a sense you can never escape the biggest
world of all, your own. If you travel as a family you bring along all relations,
16 of them in our case. Exponent of four. That can keep you busy all day.
Especially a five year old that talks from when he wakes up til he falls
asleep.So here we sail around in the world, changing back drop and expectations.
When dolphins show up at our bow we feel priviledged, as if the god of Neptune
showed us that we are special. The kids even ask, -how come they came to us? Do
they like us? They are truly etnocentristic.
So today as I was fighting my way back to the boat,
14 knots wind on the nose and water splashing over the kayak, I decided to TRY
to be more openminded. Why would I expect people here to stay put with open
fires and huts of coral and palm leafs when we have a fridge on board, electric
light at night, musik in our speakers and fresh water on tap? The world is
changing fast, maybe not for the better, but who is going to give up comfort
first?
People here are still curious at us, a young man
stopped his outboard just next to my kayak to find out where we where from and
how we liked it here. Everybody that passes waves and give us big smiles. How
generous to share this atholl with strangers!
And if my picture os the Pacific is not right, well
then I should be happy to be surprised!
Shouldn't I?
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