I might be a considerable way along from the first time I thought about xenophobia, or contemplated it on its different levels, but the more I think about it, the more alien it seems to me, the more shallow it seems to me, and funnily enough, the more predictable it appears.
To start things off, I think it’s quite safe to say that most Arabs come in contact with xenophobia, the fear of foreigners (or anything foreign), on a nearly constant basis, from family members, friends, peers, and often strangers; on its many levels, and with different intensities. I’m willing to bet that 99% of the readers will admit that they’ve heard the term “those foreigners”, “those expats”, or my more hated one, “damn foreigners”.
Its quite easy to explain why xenophobic feelings rise to the surface, and they usually manifest through common feelings of fear, uncertainty, and defensiveness; maybe the individuals are afraid afraid they might lose their traditions, something that was passed on to them by their parents and forefathers, something they hold dear to their hearts; maybe they feel financially threatened because someone, not of their own kind, has come to take up a job that they -for one reason or the other- feel entitled to. Whatever the reason, most xenophobic feelings can be attributed to ‘Uncertainty Avoidance’ and “Reluctance to Change’.
Now, I’m from Dubai, a hotbed of cultures, I am from the recently reported 13.3% indigenous minority – in my circles, the topic of the influx of expatriates always sparks up an interesting debate, and I can always see the different degrees and the different levels that people are thinking on when it comes to this topic.
One thing that I’d like to start off by pointing to is this very common tendency to label things, and in this case, to label people: Those foreigners, those westerners, those Asians (and believe me, it has nothing to do with the race, its about anything that isn’t “us”); here’s a newsflash, the expatriates coming into your country aren’t a malicious, manipulating, calculating group, all they are are people, like you and me, trying to have a good life, trying to do what they can to feed themselves, feed their children (where applicable), have a few smiles, and try a few new things. The only reason they are seen as a group is because fear of the unknown, and the feeling of being threatened makes it easy to label things, to draw lines between “us” and “them”.
I’m not going to be here and paint a beautiful, idealistic picture of how this influx should be treated, but I would like to point to a lesson that we were all probably taught as children: take the good, and leave out the bad – in anything, and in everything.
Now let’s imagine we lived in a small village with a handful of people, from similar pasts, similar traditions, similar values, similar, similar, and similar; how many lessons can you possibly derive from a, more or less, stagnant environment? Now compare that with living in a place that is home to more than 180 nationalities, how many things can you learn now? All the different cultures, backgrounds, customs, etc. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store, with so much to choose, not knowing where to start, and what to pick, I start weighing out my options based on my likes and dislikes, what should I choose first? What should I end my candy-eating with? Now don’t get me wrong, I did have quite a good array of candy to start with, my culture has provided me with invaluable lessons, some of which I feel stands out against most other cultures, making me happy to call them my own; but do I think that my culture is perfect? that there’s no real need for me to learn from others? Absolutely not!
In my opinion, being in a hotbed of cultures that is characterized by stability, opportunity, and positivity is the single most powerful stepping stone for any person to elevate oneself. And here’s the beautiful part of, you don’t have to sacrifice your own culture to do it, not at all actually. Things aren’t black and white, its not your culture or their culture, there actually lies a combination in between. Take what you feel is right, what can benefit you and your surroundings, and weed out what you feel is detrimental.
Change is inevitable, but change doesn’t need to be negative. Cultures, traditions, values, and principles are created and adopted in different eras to suit the times, to help cope with the environment and the surroundings – and much like everything else, they evolve.
