Experience With Xenophobia ...

[Frida]

What is your experience (if any) with xenophobia since you started living in Canada as an immigrant?
Sometimes I'm thinking about this, mostly ignorance... I come from Slovenia and even though it's a "normal" and non third-world country, when visiting there I still got the questions like if we have washing machines, high speed internet... I'm not bothered with that, just wondering...

 

[Isometry]

I'm curious about this as well.

I'm American but look vaguely foreign, and even while living in the States I get comments like, "You speak really good English. Where are you from?" It's more amusing than offensive, but I'm still wondering how much of it will carry over when I move.

 

[CharlieD10]

Ignorance is different from Xenophobia, don't confuse the two. Xenophobia denotes "A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples". Someone who doesn't know anything about your country or your part of the world isn't contemptuous or fearful of you, they're either ignorant or trying to be funny (and failing badly). You can even find this kind of ignorance expressed by people who live in different regions of the same country!

Years ago, a friend of mine (we are from the most westerly part of Jamaica, about 280km from the capital) was attending a summer camp at the University of the West Indies in Kingston. As the campers shared their experiences, one Kingston-born camper asked him in astonishment if we have TVs in the 'country' (how Kingstonians refer to any part of Jamaica outside the city limits). He answered with a bright smile, "Why, yes, we do have TVs in the 'country' but it can be so hard to watch them by lamplight!"

Don't be quick to take offense when asked seemingly silly questions. Instead, try to discern whether the person is merely ignorant or trying to be funny. If they are ignorant, answer the question and educate them. If they are trying to be funny, just smile and nod. If it is that they really are mocking, then just look at them for a few seconds, shake your head and walk away. That ought to drive home their idiocy.

 

[CharlieD10]

I'm curious about this as well.

I'm American but look vaguely foreign, and even while living in the States I get comments like, "You speak really good English. Where are you from?" It's more amusing than offensive, but I'm still wondering how much of it will carry over when I move.

I got that all the time from American tourists when I worked in the tourism industry. I used to smile and nod and try to get them from out of my face as quickly as possible.

 

[Frida]

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Ignorance is different from Xenophobia, don't confuse the two.

I know the difference between those two words...
I was just wondering about that, what you're going through sometimes in that aspect.

 

[canadianwoman]

I'm guessing the average Canadian knows nothing about Slovenia, so I would hope in most cases any questions are just curiosity. Not meant to be insulting, even if they are! I've lived abroad for years, and get similar questions about Canada. Just tell them what Slovenia is like, and maybe mention where it is.

 

[Kaycee1]

Ignorance is different from Xenophobia, don't confuse the two. Xenophobia denotes "A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples". Someone who doesn't know anything about your country or your part of the world isn't contemptuous or fearful of you, they're either ignorant or trying to be funny (and failing badly). You can even find this kind of ignorance expressed by people who live in different regions of the same country!

Years ago, a friend of mine (we are from the most westerly part of Jamaica, about 280km from the capital) was attending a summer camp at the University of the West Indies in Kingston. As the campers shared their experiences, one Kingston-born camper asked him in astonishment if we have TVs in the 'country' (how Kingstonians refer to any part of Jamaica outside the city limits). He answered with a bright smile, "Why, yes, we do have TVs in the 'country' but it can be so hard to watch them by lamplight!"

Don't be quick to take offense when asked seemingly silly questions. Instead, try to discern whether the person is merely ignorant or trying to be funny. If they are ignorant, answer the question and educate them. If they are trying to be funny, just smile and nod. If it is that they really are mocking, then just look at them for a few seconds, shake your head and walk away. That ought to drive home their idiocy.

Well said - I was going to write the same type of thing. Sometimes people are just trying to show an interest in your country, and don't really know what to ask!! As a Canadian (born and raised) I think most Canadians don't have any xenophobia, at least I haven't seen it!!! We're probably one of the most welcoming people you could ever meet. It's probably just lack of knowledge!

 

[scylla]

I'm guessing the average Canadian knows nothing about Slovenia, so I would hope in most cases any questions are just curiosity. Not meant to be insulting, even if they are! I've lived abroad for years, and get similar questions about Canada. Just tell them what Slovenia is like, and maybe mention where it is.

I agree. I've lost track of the number of times people have reacted in shock when I tell them it actually gets warm enough in Toronto during the summer to wear shorts. I've even met a handful of people who thought that outside of a few big cities, everyone here lives in igloos and gets around using sleds & sled dogs.

On the flip side, I was shocked to discover that most of the houses in a small village in Ukraine (where some of my very distant relatives live) don't have indoor plumbing. I had honestly assumed they would have that at a minimum. So sometimes the assumptions go the other way too.

I don't think the movie industry and TV do us any favours. My husband and I spent several wonderful weeks in Morocco a few years ago. It was great. We spent time both in the cities and out in the country-side. We also spent almost a week hiking the High Atlas Mountain area (didn't see other tourists for days - just shepherds and local villagers). When the movie Babel (with Brad Pitt) came out about six months later - my first thought was, "wow - they took all of the satellite dishes off the roofs of the houses in the villages". Because no matter how far away we were from civilization during our trip or how basic the houses, there were always satellite dishes.

 

[IndianOcean]

I'm guessing the average Canadian knows nothing about Slovenia, so I would hope in most cases any questions are just curiosity. Not meant to be insulting, even if they are! I've lived abroad for years, and get similar questions about Canada. Just tell them what Slovenia is like, and maybe mention where it is.

Talk about slovenia, people back in Canada used to ask me where I was from, I'd say Mozambique, and they would assume that it was a country deep in Asia
I don't get offended at all when they start asking if we have electricity,tv's or internet.

I remember once when I was in Montreal, they were showing on the tv a documentary about Mozambique,travelling etc.. And trust me, they didn't show 00000.1% of it. They filmed deep in the savanna, they were traveling with those huge off-roads, they got to a small village ( no water,no electricity,etc.), houses made of mud.. and the documentary guys were like "Welcome to Mozambique" I laughed so hard!!!!!!

 

[TGR]

I grew up in Dubai in the UAE and I always get people asking if I am rich and if I had ever been on those ridiculous islands shaped like a palm tree or a map of the world. Presumably all their preconceptions come from a careful marketing campaign (on the part of the UAE) and their idea that everyone who was born there or lived there has had a privileged life. People sure are surprised when I paint a completely different, but more accurate picture of what life there really is like. People are also really surprised that I speak excellent English, to which I usually respond "Well, it's the only language I speak, so I'd better be good at it!" Mostly, their comments come from a genuine ignorance and are not meant to be hateful in any way.

 

[aerogurl87]

I keep getting asked if I'm Nigerian or from Africa, it just blows my mind since I was born and raised in the US, have a Southern US accent, and use the word "ya'll" alot. At first it really bothered me but now I hate to say it, but I've boiled it all down to the fact that it just must be the ignorance that permeates the area we live in. Like the other day at work this lady was talking to me and she asked me where I was from and I said the US. She then asked me "no, where are you originally from" and it took all of my self control to stop myself from calling her out on being an ignorant dumba** because she couldn't believe that someone who was black could actually be an American and not African. I was also tempted to ask her where she was originally from since she was very obviously born and raised in Canada, just to let her see how ignorant she sounded. But I stopped myself.

As for xenophobia, well I don't see people who are xenophobic when it comes to immigrants that much. Ironically I find most of the Canadians I've met despise Natives here and paint the picture of them all being lazy, resource sucking, fat people who do nothing but complain and try to get as much free money out of the government as possible all while being alcoholics and/or drug addicts.

 

[scylla]

Talk about slovenia, people back in Canada used to ask me where I was from, I'd say Mozambique, and they would assume that it was a country deep in Asia
I don't get offended at all when they start asking if we have electricity,tv's or internet.

I remember once when I was in Montreal, they were showing on the tv a documentary about Mozambique,travelling etc.. And trust me, they didn't show 00000.1% of it. They filmed deep in the savanna, they were traveling with those huge off-roads, they got to a small village ( no water,no electricity,etc.), houses made of mud.. and the documentary guys were like "Welcome to Mozambique" I laughed so hard!!!!!!

I just had to respond and tell you that Mozambique is lovely. I was only there for only a couple of days (mostly in Maputo). Wish I had planned my trip differently and been able to stay longer. Lovely country and lovely people.

 

[CharlieD10]

I keep getting asked if I'm Nigerian or from Africa, it just blows my mind since I was born and raised in the US, have a Southern US accent, and use the word "ya'll" alot. At first it really bothered me but now I hate to say it, but I've boiled it all down to the fact that it just must be the ignorance that permeates the area we live in.

LOL. When I lived in NY, lots of people assumed I was Hispanic, and would try to speak to me in Spanish, or would ask me how long I'd been in the States and comment on my lack of an accent. Mind you, as soon as I said I was Jamaican, they would then have another dilemma on their hands!

A couple years ago I worked with an African couple from Nigeria, who came to Jamaica by way of England. The wife asked me whether I had been born and raised in Jamaica, apparently because I didn't much sound like a Jamaican to her!

Having gone through all of this, I cannot wait to interact with people from my husband's small northern ON city! It's going to be interesting, is all I can say. My husband, by way of trying to reassure me that I would like living there, proudly told me, "Honey, it's not like we'll be the first inter-racial couple they've ever seen, there's three others there already!" All of three!

 

[aerogurl87]

LOL. When I lived in NY, lots of people assumed I was Hispanic, and would try to speak to me in Spanish, or would ask me how long I'd been in the States and comment on my lack of an accent. Mind you, as soon as I said I was Jamaican, they would then have another dilemma on their hands!

A couple years ago I worked with an African couple from Nigeria, who came to Jamaica by way of England. The wife asked me whether I had been born and raised in Jamaica, apparently because I didn't much sound like a Jamaican to her!

Having gone through all of this, I cannot wait to interact with people from my husband's small northern ON city! It's going to be interesting, is all I can say. My husband, by way of trying to reassure me that I would like living there, proudly told me, "Honey, it's not like we'll be the first inter-racial couple they've ever seen, there's three others there already!" All of three!

Haha, I've seen one other interracial couple in our small area of Northern Alberta so far and I've been here 8 months. I will say that it's nice that people don't stare at my boyfriend and I when we're out together. That's one thing that bothered me about when he came to visit me in the US and we went out in public. Everywhere we went people would do a double take at us like it was so strange to see two people of different ethnicities in a romantic relationship. :

 

[IndianOcean]

I just had to respond and tell you that Mozambique is lovely. I was only there for only a couple of days (mostly in Maputo). Wish I had planned my trip differently and been able to stay longer. Lovely country and lovely people.

Next time make sure to plan a longer stay in Mozambique Maputo it's nice, you should check out the beaches and lakes up in the north next time, you won't regret it!