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Aug 30 2007 - 15:00

Palazzo della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio

When the other is us

MARCO AIME

La pratica del turismo, in particolare quello nei paesi extraeuropei, è una delle più frequentate The practice of tourism, especially in non-European countries, is one of the most common forms of interaction between "us" and "the other." This encounter often leads to misunderstandings and reinforces stereotypes due to the chronic lack of time. Stereotypes are projected from one side to the other: just as we build the "other" based on more or less entrenched prejudices, the "other" often ends up imitating us, creating a kind of role-playing game that sometimes turns into a comedy of errors. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that even in the best practices of interaction, those marked by commendable sentiments towards the "other," we are still in control. The power dynamics between the West and the Global South are reproduced even with the best intentions, resulting once again in a Northern perspective for the North. The perspectives, views, and thoughts of the others are often ignored, as if only we are concerned with the issue of the "other" and the others do not consider us in the same way.

Marco Aime, born in Turin in 1956, teaches Cultural Anthropology at the University of Genoa. He has conducted research in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali, as well as in the Alps. In addition to numerous scientific articles, he has published: Diario Dogon (2000, Bollati Boringhieri), La casa di nessun. I mercati nell’Africa Occidentale (2002, Bollati Boringhieri), Eccessi di culture. I mercati nell’Africa Occidentale (2004, Einaudi), Gli specchi di Gulliver. In difesa del relativismo (2006, Bollati Boringhieri), and Gli stranieri portano fortuna (2007, Epoche).