Why we should think twice before guessing somebody’s nationality
I had a particular experience in Peniche, Portugal last summer and recently I’ve been reflecting a lot about it. One idea led me to another, and I was curious about what my community in Instagram thought. So I made a survey where I asked my followers to answer yes/no to the following statements:
It seems that a fair amount of people in my community (41%) have confidence that they could guess somebody’s nationality by how they look. I can definitely relate to that: many times I have been amazed that somebody guessed my nationality, while in other occasions, I’ve been dying to ask somebody if they were from a particular country hoping that my guess was correct. All of this by just the looks. From past experiences, we can drive certain conclusions, and that is what can give birth to bias. We all have biases. The issue is not whether we have them or not, but rather, how are those biases influencing our lives?
The percentage of people believing that it’d be strange for somebody to be white and say they are from Africa is higher than those who think it’d be strange for somebody to have dark-skin and say they are from Europe. From a fundamental point of view, regardless of the color of the skin and continent, one would say that the same percentage of people that think one way, would think the other way — but the numbers show different. Perhaps this can be explained by the personal experience that each individual has and their perception that can be influenced by the media, our education, what our close circle thinks, life events, etc. And all of that constructs our bias.
In the following lines, I intend to share a story and give a deeper reflection on this. What sometimes can seem very innocent as just guessing somebody’s nationality, can have underlying assumptions that might have a greater influence than we think. I wish to shed some light on this greater influence.
It was Peniche, Portugal August 2020.
“São Tomé and Príncipe, do you know it?” she said with a smile.
“Of course!” I replied.
“Wow, because usually, people don’t know where it is.” she added with a spark in her eyes while I nodded. We both knew that while we might not be in the same boat, we definitely navigated similar waters.
“And you guys? Where are you from?” I asked two men that were sitting at the same table.
One of them, very shy or perhaps reluctant to join a typical scene and conversation for all backpackers, answered while lifting his gaze from the table.
“From Peniche” he said with a Portuguese accent emphasizing the city.
“Cool, a local!” I replied — “how about you?” I asked the other man.
Nationality and looks?
“From Mozambique” he answered.
“Wow, that’s nice!” I replied, simultaneously thinking that there had been an earthquake in Tanzania that same day and wondering if Mozambique was affected.Then suddenly, I sensed a strange atmosphere.
“I’m not from Mozambique” he added, pointing his thumb at himself, smiling sarcastically, as if it should be obvious that he was not Mozambican.
“I’m from <<insert European country here>>*,” he finally revealed with a nervous laugh, while checking if the others were laughing too. They were not.
“Ah, you were joking!” I commented, confused. He waved his hand in a gesture so as to dismiss the conversation (or his attempt at a joke).
Yes, he thought that by his looks he couldn’t possibly be from Mozambique. By this time, I concluded that he was probably not well-traveled, or at least, had a naive perception of the world. He did not know (or was willfully ignorant) people born in Africa can have white skin, green eyes, and blonde hair. He seemed to have completely forgotten about colonialism, the massive migration flows of the last two centuries, and the millions of humans involved (1). All of this, resulting in the world’s great diversity.
He was associating a stereotype of skin color with a location so ignorantly, that he couldn’t understand that I would genuinely believe he could be from Mozambique. I’ve met people with these attitudes before. He was being sarcastic, I guess. And he actually thought it was funny. Not in 2021.
The senseless conversation
By then, they all knew I was from Peru.
“Where in Porto do you live?” the European guy asked.
“I live in Boavista, near Casa da Musica” I replied. I was too tired to try to explain that I wasn’t living there anymore. This seemed to be an acceptable answer for an already downhill conversation.
I judged by his lack of response that either he did not know what I was talking about and simply asked a question to fill the silence, or he was just being apathetic.
“And what do you study?” he inquired. I was not surprised to see someone arrive at the conclusion that I’m studying. It would seem that, for him, the possibility of a Peruvian working in Portugal was less likely than the aforementioned. Or maybe I just look younger than I actually am.
“I don’t study. I work. With startups and innovation” I said, already giving him the answer to the follow-up question I knew was coming. I was speeding up.
I thought to myself I would love to press the Netflix “Skip Intro” button. Unfortunately, no such button can exist in real life.
“And what do you do there, with startups? What’s your role?” he continued, in a very skeptical tone.
“We support entrepreneurs by offering them training and programs, mentoring them, and investing. Only startups from Emerging Markets” I answered.
“What are emerging markets?” — I saw this one coming, to be honest.
“Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Asia”. I answered.
“Ah makes sense, of course, you invest there because it’s cheaper,” he said, like he owned the truth.
“No, we invest there because of the potential of the impact they can have in society and finding solutions to their challenges” I replied seriously.
And suddenly, the Netflix “Skip Intro” button came into realization. I gave a smile, said “Bon appetit!” and left. In this case, I was not just skipping the Intro, I was quitting the show.
The relevance
I’ve learned over time that when I’ve stumbled upon people with such stereotypical beliefs and poorly-contributing-social constructions, that my energy is totally drained. I think I’ve exhausted all of the possible responses:
- laugh nervously in compliance with the social circle, let it go, and stay put
- speak up and say what you think
- leave the conversation in a subtle and diplomatic way
- stop the interaction
I realized that even though the reaction of leaving the situation / stopping the interaction, might be my human nature, I kept having the thought: “How can his beliefs be challenged?”
If nobody tells him that his views do nothing but build upon more stereotypes and his jokes were not funny, how could he learn? We all know that at the end of the day…
… stereotypes are just the tip of the iceberg of deeper problems in our society related to discrimination and segregation.
People die for the color of their skin while innocently jogging outside because they are mistaken for criminals.
Actually, if you are born in the US and are considered to be an African American man, you have a 36% chance of going to jail at some point in your life. (2) Several studies have analyzed the role skin tone plays in society, exposing the unequal opportunities experienced by darker-skinned people in education, health, employment, and of course, likelihood to be stopped by the police, treatment in judiciary systems, and severity of the penalty in comparison to white people.
It seems that the skin color you are born with also has a relationship with your chances of getting fair treatment in a hospital or even chances of getting infected with COVID-19. A Harvard University open platform for data visualization on COVID-19 shows us that Coronavirus Cases are more prevalent in Zip Codes with higher minority populations. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between the number of African Americans in a hospital ward and the number of Coronavirus deaths. (3)
As it is known, minorities have lower access to quality education and healthcare systems, which also carries a possibility to develop bad health habits and therefore, increases the chances of being a population at risk.
Recently, we’ve seen a lot around AAPI Hate (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders). It turns out that between March 19, 2020, to February 28, 2021, the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center in the US received 3795 incidents (4). These incidents go from being banned from transportation/establishment to be spat upon and be physically assaulted.
How do these shocking figures relate to attributing stereotypes based on looks? Particularly in a racial conversation, they reinforce the negative assumptions we have of a person based on skin color. Believing we have the power to attribute characteristics (and even nationalities) to people, based on the color of their skin or how they look physically, is extremely dangerous. It can play a huge bias in the cognitive process of a nurse in a ward room, a judge in a court, or a recruiter in a job interview. Nurses, judges, and recruiters are also social beings like everybody else, and their social circles and the discourse they are exposed to, play a big role in how they perceive reality and the biases they can have.
My questions:
- Is it our job, for those who look to challenge the status quo for a more inclusive world, to actually listen to these people, understand what’s behind their logic and challenge certain thoughts to trigger positive change?
- Is it our responsibility to educate these people in their views, instead of pointing them out, but rather guide them through the process?
I think somehow it is. Remaining silent doesn’t get us anywhere. It doesn’t take him anywhere. It doesn’t push the conversation forward as a society. Individually and personally, I understand how it might be more comfortable to protect oneself and spare one’s energy from this emotional labour. Nevertheless, from a broader perspective, I do think it is better to raise awareness. Either by talking to the person, sharing a post on social media, or writing a small anecdote. Like this one.
P.S. it’s possible to be a fun person and make jokes without entering the terrain of stereotypes and discrimination.
❤ Special thanks to Maya Levin Schtulberg, Berat Kjamili, Bianca Bonetti, Maria Camila Albornoz, Pierina Venturo and Vannia Flores for helping me in the writing of this article. And to all my followers in my Instagram for sharing your thoughts that allow me to build insights. ❤
References
(1) Joseph P. Ferrie, Timothy J. Hatton (2013) “Two Centuries of International Migration” Here
(2) Ellis P. Monk (2019) “The color of punishment: African Americans, skin tone, and the criminal justice system, Ethnic and Racial Studies”, 42:10, 1593–1612 Here
(3) Harvard University (2021) “COVID-19 Racial Disparities” Here
(4) STOP AAPI Hate (2021) “Stop AAPI Hate National Report” Here
Disclaimer
The story in this blog post happened in Peniche, Portugal in summer 2020 when restrictions were lifted and staying in a Hostel with the right measures of compliance with COVID-19 was a possibility. The author uses his own personal experience to exemplify and better explain the concepts and means by no way to disrespect or offend any person from the personal experience.
*<<Insert European country here>> was intentionally written to not give away the specific country in the matter.
