Assumptions Based on Nationality
Author: Mitchell Bradford, University of St Andrews DProf student
Review/editing: Aaron Rotsinger, University of St Andrews
Situation: Amy Huang works as the foreign teacher coordinator at a school in China. Part of her job is meeting new foreign teachers at the train station or airport. One day, she goes to pick up two new teachers, and all she knows is their names, nationalities, arrival time and the fact that they are both women. One is Sara from South Africa. The other is Mary, who is from the U.K. When the train arrives, Amy sees two foreign women together, clearly looking around for someone who should be meeting them. One woman has very dark skin, and the other one, very light skin. Amy quickly runs up to them to introduce herself. She looks at the dark-skinned woman and says, “Oh, you must be Sara”. Amy then quickly looks at the other woman and says, “Hi Mary, I’m Amy”. The two teachers look confused and a little upset. Amy checks her notes in confusion and looks up again, saying to the dark-skinned woman, “you’re Sara from Africa, right? And you’re Mary from England?” The two teachers shake their heads and look very disapprovingly at the woman. Amy realises that she’s made a big error and begins to turn red and apologise.
Question: Why did Amy assume the nationalities of the women? .What would have been a better way for Amy to greet the women?
Amy thinks that everyone in South Africa must be black
Amy thinks that everyone in the UK must be white
Amy just took a 50/50 chance
Amy should have introduced herself first
Amy should have asked if they were teachers looking for their contact
Amy could have said “are you Sara and Mary?”
Is it ever safe to assume someone’s nationality, gender, age, etc. by their physical characteristics?
Why do people get upset when others misidentify their nationality, gender, age, etc?
Would you get upset if someone assumed that you were from a different country? Why or why not?
Could Sara and Mary have reacted differently? If so, how?
What else might Mary have been upset about? (the UK is not just England)