A traveler’s view on cultural appropriation

Cultural appropriation – taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else’s culture without permission. Let me tell you a story… Sitting at a cafe in Medellin, Colombia, I was eating the classic Italian dish of Lasagna, accompanied by salad and a croissant, typically French but actually Austrian in origin, although in all likelihood copied from an Egyptian pastry dating back to ancient times. A French cultural organisation was promoting a day of free music so I…

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Jamaica and why I’m never going back

Failing to understand Jamaica and why I’m never going back.   Originally this was going to be a story of my regret at failing to gain a real understanding of Jamaican life but by the time came to leave, regret had descended into really not giving a fuck at all. So here’s my new story of trying to understand Jamaica. The first hurdle in trying to understand Jamaica is language. If you only looked around you this would seem like a…

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Why travellers should give to beggars

The question of whether travellers should give to beggars often crops up on travel blogs but it often amounts to little more than a bunch of reasons why you shouldn’t give money, or anything even, to beggars. In fact, I’m surprised that some of them even manage to raise some basic notions of charity in their writing. What many of the discussions fail to do is take into account is an understanding of the specific contexts of different locations, implying…

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Bacchanalian delights of Carnival, Trinidad

Celebrating Carnival in Trinidad    In much of the English-speaking world, the term Bacchanalia has been largely abandoned to the classics and literary references. However in Trinidad the spirit of the Roman cult’s frenzied celebration of Bacchus, the god of wine, freedom, intoxication and ecstasy, has been embraced in popular culture. Although modern carnivals in general are Christian in origin, a final indulgence before the abstinence of Lent, the pagan roots are brought to the fore in Trinidad. Bacchanale is a…

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The Beauty of Bolivian Buses

The city of Cochabamba in Bolivia decided to make public transport a lot more visually stimulating for its people by splashing a load of colourful paintwork all over its buses. You have to wonder why more places don’t try something similar as its a great advert for the place and helps liven up the daily commute.   Using some traditional design ideas brought up to date with modern stylings, the buses are highly distinctive but each driver has added their…

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Cholitas and Bolivia’s colonial hangover

Think of an image of Bolivia. Would it be those women with the bowler hats by any chance? How about its famous, sweater wearing president Evo Morales? The bowler hats make for an iconic image, because of course we recognise them as our own culture implanted into an alien environment. The president’s sweater, proudly worn as a testament to his indigenous heritage, is however, only marginally less of an import: it may be made from local alpaca wool but needles…

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Carry on up the Amazon, slowly

The appeal of taking slow boats up the Amazon While still young children we must all have learnt that the Amazon is the biggest river in the world, along with Everest being the highest mountain and that bears shit in the woods. But once you’re on a boat in the middle of it, you soon realise that big is too small a word to do justice to its awesomeness: at times you struggle to even see the other side, that’s…

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Musings on the mañana mentality, how different cultures think about time

In Britain we have borrowed mañana, the Spanish word for tomorrow, to describe that relaxed approach to timekeeping that becomes more apparent as you travel south in Europe, a characteristic that some would say only strengthens as you continue in the direction of the tropics. Once you cross the Mediterranean it mutates into the Arabic, “boukra in sha Allah” (tomorrow God willing), that delightful method of politely declining all future commitment by outsourcing the occurence of all events to the…

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Under the mango trees in Manaus

The nightlife of Manaus, Brazil.      Saturday night and it was party time outside the Manguieras bar, cockroaches from near and far had congregated in an erratic, scuttling dance formation around the warm stench of the drain to soak up the vibes and the bounty of decaying matter on offer. Grinning senior citizens strutted carefree to the four-piece band, the singer enthusiastically demonstrating an equally carefree attitude to harmony; the musicians expressing one of those Brazilian styles that demands only a…

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Village of Witches

Traditional religion and accusations of witchcraft in West Africa. Centuries after the introduction of Islam and Christianity to Sub-Saharan Africa, traditional religions may have been relegated to the margins in much of the continent but they still have a powerful hold over the culture of many Africans. Traditional religions, or at least elements of them, are often practiced alongside peoples’ professed faith, despite the best efforts of Imams and priests to paint the acts as haram or heretical. However, the…

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