The Handbook- Coping with Racism Abroad

By Jenny Abamu Akbas

This eye-opening guide book is for anyone who loves to travel or is even thinking about traveling abroad. A must have part of your packing list!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483527147

Book preview

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Table of Contents

Forward

Part 1:Research

Part 2:Understand How Bad Things Can Get

Part 3:Have an Active list of Reactions

Part 4:The Role of Socioeconomic Status

Part 5:Have a Support Group

Part 6:Channel the negative feelings

Part 7.The Conclusion

References

Forward

Nothing will prepare you for the day when you realize that the fight against racism has not ended. I mean nothing. However, I will directly contradict what I have just written with this little handbook trying to prepare you for this day.

I made this handbook because I wanted to help others who were like me. I am an African-American woman. I love to travel, and I have visited and lived in many parts of the Earth. My love and passion for diverse cultures and beliefs have driven me to discover them first hand. This journey has brought me many joys and many disappointments. My experience might be different from the experiences that others have and will face in these countries, however, I would like to open the discussion on encountering discrimination abroad with this book. Where the discussion goes from there is up to you.

Please note that this book is not meant to offend any of the people groups mentioned. Its purpose is to prepare others for what I was not prepared for. Every account given in this book is true, but it should never be used as an excuse to not see the world, or to blanket any other people group with an unjust stereotype. On the contrary, I would like to encourage the people who read this book to experience life for themselves, to ask questions without assumptions and to never get scared or intimated because of the possible hardship. I would like this book to encourage others to be bold, recognize that hardship builds character, and to open a discussion that seems swept under the rug by many people.

Though this book mainly focuses on the experiences of darker-skinned American minorities abroad, I believe it can be helpful to all people who are seeking to gain an international experience and want to understand the possible challenges that await them.

Part 1:

Research

Research

The first step is to know where you are going. For example, you are a Russian studies major and you are familiar with all the European written history of Russia, but now it is time to ask yourself, Am I familiar with the story that minorities have to share on their life in Russia? How is the minorities’ story of migration different from the Russian story? How has that history affected the current condition of minorities in the country? Understanding the answers to these questions in detail will significantly prepare you for what you are going to experience as a minority in the country.

Let’s take the United States and answer these questions. We have all heard the European story of migration to the Americas. People sailing from Spain and England imagining

Reviews for The Handbook- Coping with Racism Abroad

[Sibusiso Barnabas Nqindi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it. Brilliant Book. Will recommend it to others

[JennyAbamuAkbaş · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Review from scholar Bryan Gillin, "Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful. It's a wonderful piece, insightful, personal, well-written and engaging. That Thomas Paine quote at the end fit magnificently."