Mentor Advice
Question
6 Replies from Mentors
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Ana CamposAssociate Director, Office of Undergraduate Student HousingUniversity of ChicagoI did not have concerns about racism while studying abroad. In my life I have not experienced overt racism based only on my appearance. I believe one reason may be because I am fair-skinned (my father's heritage is European [Spanish and Italian] rather than indigenous Indian in Mexico), so my ethnicity and heritage are not immediately obvious to others who have pre-conceived notions about how a Hispanic person "should" look. I did not experience any racism while in France due to being a Hispanic woman. And, in Spain, I was considered more of a novelty because the Spanish I spoke was "Mexican" Spanish which the Spaniards considered to sound "sing-song" like.
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Emily LeDoctoral Student, previously International Programs CounselorUCLAI didn't have any concerns about racism while studying abroad. My concern was how a Vietnamese American would be treated in Vietnam. In some ways, the Vietnamese are more critical of Vietnamese Americans. Vietnamese Americans are expected to speak the language properly and understand everything about the culture and when they don't act accordingly, they are sometimes criticized for it. Vietnamese people don't always understand that Vietnamese Americans are different. They assume if you are ethnically Vietnamese then you should be able to speak the language and understand the cultural nuances. Vietnamese Americans returning to Vietnam should be aware of this and not take offense.