HOW TO NOT “TOUR” YOUR WORLD BUILDING
HOW TO NOT “TOUR” YOUR WORLD BUILDING
by: Captain Andrews
Introduction to this post:
When writing your story, it can be so much fun to create a fictional world or mock a factual world. However, it is important to be mindful when you are world building to do so in a realistic way that respects the place and land it’s inspired by. This means to be mindful of the Western lens we can often have of other places around the world. Of course this does apply more to using real places around the world and less so to fantastical places such as Middle Earth. To further explain this idea, I’d like to take the time to explain what I mean by a western lens, tourism: the place vs. The hype, and how to research.
Note: This blog is written through the analyzation of what was learned from: Stranger in the Eco-Village: Race, Tourism and Environmental Time Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor by Rob Nixon.
Enjoy!
Source: myself.
The western lens:
Whether we like it or not, colonialism is still a very real and thriving problem in our day and age. Of course, it is easy to associate this lens to when the colonies first began to take over places, but unfortunately, colonialization is very present in tourism. Because of this, our perception of places around the world can become unrealistic and distorted. A good example of this, is this whole notion of stereotypes. Stereotypes are in place because they are shared around like a storm of gossip against a certain group. Specifically, from groups of privilege towards minorities. This can also be seen in history books, where one side (normally whichever side the book is written by) seems to be glorified and painted with a gold lens. For example, American history often glorifies their stories about the war, making them seem heroic, brave, and so on while ignoring the true traumas of the situation. You can think of this as sort of a “white” lens, where it is often the white colonies that seem to be the omni-potent and omni- benevolence.
If you’re still a bit confused, look back in your story/writing--which ethnicity seems to be the most prominent? For your non-white characters, do you see any places where their character seems to have some stereotyping influence? Or, do your non-white characters seem to have aspects of white-washing?
If so, don’t worry too much, now that you’re aware of these issues, you can better write with these problems in mind. The beautiful thing about character development is your characters change over time. Unfortunately, does not just happen with characters but also with places and places are a tad harder to change than characters. Often, the places within a book are built with western society in mind, and when they don’t have western society in mind, these places are built with a western lens. This is much like tourism.
Source:
Tourism: the place vs. The hype.
Picture this, it’s covid times but you and your best friend want a vacation. Lucky for you, the price of cruise ships are at an all time low! So, packing your favorite swimming suit, and your laptop, you head off on a beautiful cruise. It’s perfect, you can gather inspiration from the places you pass, and allow your world building to be inspired by this source of research.
Unfortunately, cruise ships are horrible (not to mention you should not be on a cruise ship during a pandemic) and promote the rise of the worst parts of tourism. Tourism was founded on the works of colonialism, modeled by the western lens. This means, these places often cater to unknowledgeable white people who expect stereotypes. Often, because western civilization is associated with the ideal of “modernism” these places of tourism build the illusion of a primitive, “exotic” place. For example, the game industry in Africa. Those touring in Africa expect the Safari farce, which paints an unrealistic lens of Africa and damages the locals.
For example, take these two pictures:
(source: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20201004-harambee-the-kenyan-word-that-birthed-a-nation)
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofzQqJNEYBk)
Would it surprise you that they’re both Kenya?
In an ideal world, it shouldn’t, and yet it most likely does because the top picture is what tourism has pumped into our minds about Africa. That it is an exotic place where tribes live without any modern influence. But that’s simply not true. I would highly recommend the piece by Rob Nixon (as sourced above) as he really goes into much more depth about these issues in a way I cannot. Nixon also discusses this notion that people go to Africa to connect with the nature. In which they stay in a retreat that exhibits the locals and the environment as something out of a videogame.
It is important to know the difference between the hype of the place and reality. This will heavily help your writing as it will allow your writing to be more realistic, while being respectful to those places that go to inspire your writing. This will also help not only to improve your writing but also improve your reader’s own views. Drawing them away from this colonial mindset and helping them become more aware to social issues that exist in our world and in the scope of your story.
So, how do we research these places in a way that does not add to this tourism trend?
Researching before writing:
I’m sure this is expected but the best way to learn about these places is through research. During the covid times I would plead to do all this research from home, but also I would warn about researching a place through their history. Of course, it is important to know the history of a place, you should be aware that we do write from our knowledge and if we only know about a place's history, we get stuck in that time. This can lead to writing with a western lens by reducing a place to their past. Instead, have an equal balance of a place’s history and their current day affairs. Another tip, is research from more than one source, more importantly, sources from individuals who have lived in that place all their life.
Stay away from tourist experiences!
Lastly, research with caution when using media forms to research. Honestly, the media caters to western views and western society, so their information will often reflect this. Try not to fall down their rabbit holes just because they’re a popular source.
I hope this helped your writing, or at least made you a tad more mindful, let me know in the comments down below what you think. Thank you for reading!
~ Captain Andrews
Other Sources:
Rob Nixon, “Stranger in the Eco-Village: Race, Tourism and Environmental Time,” from Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2011)
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