Bring Down Stereotypes
“Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begin to fall apart.”
- Ed Kochi.
When you travel you have two choices: 1. Tell your friends and family a stereotypical story, confirming their assumptions about “Africa”, about poverty, or about the crucial role outsiders play in saving the children, endangered animals, or the “local community” you are staying in (bad option) or 2. Give them nuanced info, talk about complexities, and/or tell something different than the one-sided story about poverty and hopelessness. If you really want to share something on social media, use the opportunity to tell the stories that are yet to be told. Help your friends and stalkers on social media to understand the complex stories behind the context you are working in.
Get inspired by the winners of the Golden Radiator in the Radi-Aid Awards and portray people in a way that resonate with the audience: Situations, emotions and that can enhance the feeling of solidarity and connection with them, instead of feeling sorry and disconnected from their reality.
To ensure this, a good way forward is to ask the local experts what kind of story from their life, hometown or country they would like to share with the world. What do they want the world to know?
