At the bookstore that I work at we sell these pins called "Traveller Dolls." They are small little hand-crafted dolls of a black child that you can pin to your jacket. We sell them emphasizing their authenticity (personally hand-crafted by an "African"), and the place your $5 will go once you've bought one (to an AIDS nonprofit). The emphasis of authenticity translates into subsequent appropriation in the light of the fact that the only people who have ever bought one of these dolls (and they buy them in truckloads), are White, middle-aged women from the affluent Tuxedo and River Heights areas.
Upon buying one, or two, or three, they would instantly display their conscientiousness and charity on their lapel as a sign of pride. It occured to me that these customers might be using these dolls like they use Oprah -- to cleanse themselves. Or, (and this example is not my own, but I forget where I recently heard it), like Dorian Gray used his picture to unload his moral and physical ugliness to once again return to the world pure.
Analogously, my boss was recently invited by her friend to visit the Republic of Ghana. When she returned she was asked by many of her employees about her trip. Her answer? "It was an experience. It sure made you glad to come home. Sure made you appreciate your bed." Chinua Achebe, in "An Image of Africa," his seminal essay on Conrad's Heart of Darkness, writes that "Marlow (the protagonist of Heart of Darkness) comes through to us not only as a witness of truth, but one holding those advanced and humane views appropriate to the English liberal tradition which required all Englishmen of decency to be deeply shocked by the atrocities in Bulgaria or the congo of King Leopold of the Belgians or whererever." He goes on to describe the far-reaching spread of this kind of liberalism that had the power to make almost every Englishman horrified and sad. Empathy and understanding were replaced by pity (which, in this case, tends to make the pitiable 'pitiful'). And despite this English sadness, rarely was the question of equality raised.
So, it was an "experience," was it? Virilio writes, in The Information Bomb, that in America (and I'm sure he'd include Canada, but possibly to a lesser extent) the true hero is "neither the cowboy or the soldier, but the pioneer, the pathfinder... who takes his body where his eyes have been." The excellent TV series Deadwood captures this spirit of "No going back... the land of the one-way ticket - the fateful amalgam of endless racing & the ideas of freedom, progress and modernity." The American War in Iraq captures it in a similar way. A lustful, covetous experience. The "trompe-l'eoil frontier." The result of my boss's voyage is in the comment that Ghana is a place to go to get an "experience," one which cleans and makes you feel good about your own "generosity." This experience is twofold: she feels good about submitting herself to the conditions of Ghana, blessing Ghana with her presence, and she feels better about her own living conditions upon her return.
It has been said many times that it is harder to travel ethically than unethically. For those who cannot afford to travel to Ghana, you can drop by our store and buy a "Traveller doll" for $5.
