African American woman solo travel to India?

by Sheila
(Arizona USA)

I am an Afro-Carribbean woman who would like to travel India solo.
I grew up in an Indian village. I was also married to an Indian Caribbean man for seventeen years (he is deceased). What are your thoughts?

Answer: I can't put myself in the shoes of an African-American woman because I'm not one, but I did a fair amount of surfing as a result of your question because I have plenty of black readers who might well be interested in the same destination.

I found that there is an overwhelming belief that you will be safe in India - but not necessarily comfortable. You'll get plenty of stares, but then, what foreign woman doesn't in India? The staring is endemic and you'll hopefully get used to it or at least learn to ignore it.

India is nor more or less racist than other countries. I found a great discussion on racism in India on the India Mike website, where opinions on comfort zone and outright racism in India are divided. The entire thread is a fascinating peek at Indian society, and many of the contributors are themselves African-Americans who have lived or traveled in the country.

This thread in Yahoo Questions is pretty straightforward but also exemplifies some of the more common attitudes towards African-Americans. Bottom line, you'll probably be perfectly safe, and in some parts of the country, especially the South, you may not encounter any racism at all - though you will generate a lot of curiosity.

From a different perspective, you may find Looking at India Through African Eyes an interesting read, especially the various resources at the bottom of the page. This is a more cultural approach but quite pertinent nonetheless.

Finally, I took a look at the travel warnings issued by the US government and of course, they tend to be alarmist - government warnings seem to be designed to scare you away from travel! Here's what they said about women's travel in India: "U.S. citizens, particularly women, are cautioned not to travel alone in India. Western women, especially those of African descent, continue to report incidents of verbal and physical harassment by groups of men. Known locally as “Eve-teasing,” these incidents can be quite frightening. While India is generally safe for foreign visitors, according to the latest figures by Indian authorities, rape is the fastest growing crime in India. Among large cities, Delhi experienced the highest number of crimes against women. Although most victims have been local residents, recent sexual attacks against female visitors in tourist areas underline the fact that foreign women are also at risk and should exercise vigilance."

I just had another thought. Beth Whitman has written extensively about India, a book on women's travel there, in fact. She also wrote an article entitled Mother India for Women Travelers, which nicely sums up what you can expect as a woman visiting India.

That said, and having read through what I did, it would seem the greatest factor affecting your trip to India may not be that you're African-American, but that you're a woman. I haven't found anything that would dissuade me from going if I were in your shoes, but only you can assess your own comfort level. Hope to hear from you after your trip!

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