Anu Taranath - Beyond Guilt Trips

Beyond Guilt Trips is a fantastic guide to encountering cultural difference in productive ways.

Timothy Longman, associate professor of Political Science and International Relations, Boston University

Though there are many books and guides that discuss the importance of being good eco-travelers, there are few that help us to be good anthro-travelers. Beyond Guilt Trips takes us deep into that world, providing tools for deeper awareness and engagement during our interactions with unfamiliar cultures and individuals. Taranath helps us to navigate our inner and outer journeys, and to return home with a profoundly enriched view of our world.

Jeff Greenwald, author of The Size of the World, director of EthicalTraveler.org

Over the past twenty years Ive led groups on tours and explored the globe on my own, travelling to over fifty countries. The search for deeper meaning is consistent through it all. Taranath is an expert at recognizing deeply felt issues and providing an approach that is inclusive and fulfilling. Let her be your guide through whatever travels you have ahead!

Ben Cameron, Rick Steves Europe tour guide

This is the guide I wished Id had when first starting to travel the world as a young person. Packed with wisdom and useful tips, Beyond Guilt Trips should be in all campus libraries, youth hostels, and community organizations.

Faith Adiele, author of Meeting Faith and founder of VONA Travel Writing

Taranath skillfully blends storytelling with a guidebook approach to how we can all travel bettergo beyond good intentions and become intentional travelers. A much-needed book to transform the travelscape.

Amy Gigi Alexander, editor-in-chief, Panorama: the Journal of Intelligent Travel

Taranath illuminates perspectives that many of us seldom consider but are vital to our understanding of our neighbors and ourselves, both at home and abroad.

Larry Habegger, executive editor, Travelers Tales Books

I am so grateful for this book, for it left me reflecting on the one trip we are all on, traveling through this life! Taranath is an excellent and humble storyteller who teaches us through stories. Readers will find nuggets here that will help us all to be our best selves.

Michele E. Storms, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union, Washington State

Anus writing never sugarcoats, but helps us speak about unequal structures, uncomfortable facts, and our own positions as we travel five or five thousand miles from whats familiar. This isnt just a book to read; its a way to walk in the world.

Dr. Peter Moran, former director, University of Washington Study Abroad Office

At a time when it has become radical to ask ourselves what it means to be who we are, where we are, Beyond Guilt Trips holds space for these conversations where there wasnt any before.

Bani Amor, queer travel writer

Beyond Guilt Trips offers a consciousness-raising for travelers, even as it shows us ways to stay present and compassionate amidst a sea of potential confusion, doubt, and guilt.

Laurie Hovell McMillin, editor of Away Journal

Taranath offers the reader sympathetic understanding while firmly naming the realities and complexities of the unjust societies we inhabit and create. While she does not let us off the hook, she consistently brings us back to our shared humanity. I wish this book had been available when I first began to travel abroad.

Tina Lopes, co-author of Dancing On Live Embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations

Taranath unflinchingly confronts the awkward feelings of guilt, shame, and privilege that inevitably arise from international (and even inter-neighborhood) travel, and somehow manages to stare them down, deconstruct them, and take away their power. Beyond Guilt Trips is an essential companion to all those leading, engaging in, or contemplating travel, to ensure they will embark on an inward journey that mirrors the outward one.

Claire Bennett, co-author of Learning Service: The Essential Guide to Volunteer Travel

Beyond Guilt Trips is part reflective memoir, part ethnographic deep-dive, and part user manual for navigating our increasingly unequal world... This book is certainly the most teachableand instructive book on global travel I have read yet.

David Citrin, Global Health and Anthropology, University of Washington

Beyond Guilt Trips unpacks some of the biggest racial and cultural issues facing Westerners traveling abroad. In straightforward language, Taranath addresses white privilege, micro-aggressions, inequality, and the unspoken rules of race and economics that travelers face when visiting foreign cultures. Simple, necessary, and razor-sharp, this book is an accessible and friendly guide for anyone interested in learning how to sit with discomfort.

Adriana Paramo, author of Looking for Esperanza and My Mothers Funeral

When Mark Twain observed that travel was fatal to bigotry and narrow-mindedness, he somehow predicted we would have this wise and timely book in hand. Taranath shows us how to build a toolbox of keen observation, respectful engagement, and honest examination as we move among our neighborhoods as well as through our world.

David Fenner, Peace Corps volunteer 197982, founding director, World Learning Oman Center, former assistant vice provost for international education, University of Washington

This book takes us into the heart of where we need to go if we truly aim to do away with injustice and transform the world.

Michael Westerhaus MD, MA and Amy Finnegan PhD, co-directors, SocMed

Instead of guilting or shaming people when they become more aware of their privilege or wealth, Beyond Guilt Trips brings everyone along without erasing histories of oppression. With a generous spirit, Taranath holds space for both the learning of travelers and the dignity of the people they encounter, offering the possibility of meaningful mutual exchange.

Frances Lee, writer and cultural activist

Beyond Guilt Trips

Mindful Travel in an Unequal World

2019 Anu Taranath

First published in 2019 by Between the Lines

401 Richmond Street West

Studio 281

Toronto, Ontario M5V 3A8

Canada

1-800-718-7201

www.btlbooks.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of Between the Lines, or (for photocopying in Canada only) Access Copyright, 69 Yonge Street, Suite 1100, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1K3.

Every reasonable effort has been made to identify copyright holders. Between the Lines would be pleased to have any errors or omissions brought to its attention.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Taranath, Anu, author

Beyond guilt trips : mindful travel in an unequal world / by Anu Taranath.

Includes index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77113-432-3 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-77113-433-0
(EPUB).--ISBN 978-1-77113-434-7 (PDF)

1. Developing countries--Description and travel.
2. Travel--Social aspects. 3. Travel--Moral and ethical aspects.
4. Taranath, Anu--Travel. I. Title.

G151.T37 2019 910.91724 C2018-906064-6
C2018-906065-4

Text and cover design by Maggie Earle

Cover and interior illustrations by Ronald Otts Bolisay, https://otts.carbonmade.com

We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing activities: the Government of Canada; the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country; and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and Ontario Creates.