I have been in the U.A.E for about 10 years, however, I am originally from Pakistan and was born from America. I consider myself more Pakistani than I do compare to the other countries and therefore know a lot about the culture in Pakistan and how people perceive us.
Cultural marker for me is important as it signifies what your true origins are, not to be confused with who you are because you can be born from one place and be raised to believe something else in another place.
With me being from Pakistan there are many misconceptions, for example, most people think we are very violent, however, that is just a stereotype agreed there are some parts that are not quite same but all in all we are actually very peaceful. Another stereotype is that we are a very unclean country this again is not really true as we are sometimes associated with India which is known for its pollution but we are very different such as religion wise, traditional dresses, and even politics.
I feel like promoting the right image of Pakistan would offer a lot more tourist and foreigners would be a lot more accepting of someone from my culture if it was shown in the correct image and not painted with stereotypes.
This is not just my culture that gets stereotyped there are many cultures nearly all of them have at least one misconception and is viewed through that misconception, which is wrong since it is not shown in the correct light this forces us to believe in these misconceptions and give a wrong understanding of the culture.
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