New York Travel Festival 2015

Who gets to tell the world's stories?

This workshop will lead to a better understanding of how white cultural supremacy dictates the prism through which we view places, experiences, and people. We will discuss how to more accurately and respectfully represent different communities and cultures, rather than reinforcing existing paradigms of cultural supremacy and power. This is an extension of a recent discussion on Outbounding about diversity and cultural representation in travel writing. The topic affects all areas of travel media, from media outlets and publishers to writers, editors, public relations, and marketing, and advertising professionals. All industry trailblazers are invited to take part.

Some of the takeaways from this workshop are:  ​
-- the problem of the ubiquitous whiteness in travel writing and blogging as a genre; ​
--​ ​examples and some common arguments debunked of defending the status quo;
-- an exploration of class as an economic and racial divider and its role in reinforcing the system;
-- ways of effectively diversifying the genre;
-- how to tell better stories by dismantling embedded white cultural value systems.