Race and Ethnicity

Paper Summary:

This paper examines two different travelogues: Karen Connolly's "Touch the Dragon-a Thai journal" and Caryl Phillips' "The European Tribe". The paper discusses how both authors have different kinds of self-consciousness rooted in their own racial and ethnic differences vis-a-vis the societies they visit. The paper looks at how they are regarded in these societies as well as their own impressions of unfamiliar peoples and cultures.

Outline:
Introduction
Karen Connelly - Falang
Caryl Phillips - on Being a Black Briton
Connelly - Impressions of Thai Culture
Phillips - Impressions of the European Tribe
Race and Ethnicity
Concluding Remarks

From the Paper:

"From the beginning of her stay in Thailand in 1986, Connolly is warned that people will call her falang in the street, till they know her name, that she will be the only 'white' person in the town to which she is traveling and thus, will be popular. (p.3) As a novelty or perhaps due to Thai familiarity with occasional Western backpackers, she can expect to be the subject of some interest. She grows used to people staring, a group of children coming to visit on her first morning in the town just to have a look. (p.7) Connolly notes as others arrive and enjoy seeing her photographs of Canada and her family that she feels "like a new acquisition in a famous zoo." (p.7) It is up to the head of the English department of the school that Connolly attends to tell her the basics of Thai custom in which Connolly appears to have taken little interest when preparing to go abroad."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Axtell, Roger and John Healy. Do's and Taboos around the World - a Guide to International Behaviour. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1993.
• Blake, S. "A Woman's Trek - What Difference does Gender Make?" Women's Studies International. 13. (1990): 347-355.
• Connolly, Karen. Touch the Dragon - a Thai Journal. Winnipeg: Turnstone, 1992.
• Domesh, M. "Towards a Feminist Historiography of Geography." Transactions of the British Institute of Geographers. 16. (1991): 95-104.
• Phillips, Caryl. The European Tribe. New York: Vintage, 1987.

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• Essay # 137924 : "The Suppression of Crime Statistics on Race and Ethnicity: Is Canada Dealing with the Issue Appropriately – or Hiding its Head in the Sand?"
• Argumentative Essay # 96719 : "Theories of Race and Ethnicity"

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