Seeing beyond Spanish stereotypes

ARANJUEZ, Spain – This past weekend I experienced, for the first time, the Fiestas of Aranjuez. The party weekend, which consists of carnival games, dancing, drinking, eating and socializing, is one of the most exciting and busiest weekends for this small, tranquil town.

While enjoying the weekend with my host sister and brother, who are my age, there was one experience that surprised me most. Instead of pointing out the most unique food, a typical Spanish dance or a daring carnival ride, my host siblings made sure I took notice of immigrant workers selling goods to carnivalgoers.

When asked what the gravest problem Spain deals with today (other than the economic crisis), my host family did not answer drugs or violence; rather, it was immigration that created the most worries.

Like Americans, many Spaniards share the same worries of immigration, but why?

For my host brother, who has insistently given me his opinion about immigrants in Spain, his worries are not like you would expect. In the United States, a common belief is that migrant workers take jobs from citizens, but for him, he sees immigrants as unwilling to work and lacking the drive to become educated citizens and acculturate themselves into Spanish society.

As we walked throughout the fiestas, he hardly neglected to point out when he saw someone who appeared to be an immigrant of South American, Moroccan or Romanian descent. These three groups, he always tells me, are “malos,” or bad ones.

“Gitanos,” or Gypsies, the name used to describe these groups of people in Spain, are the same people whom I saw at the carnival selling anything from small gifts and flowers to cigarettes. They are stereotyped as thieves and drug dealers who have no desire to work or go to school and have a culture-driven harmful male domination and female subordination.

Through my study abroad program, which concentrates on Spain’s immigration issues, I had the opportunity to sit down with a group of about 10 immigrant women from Morocco. As I walked in the room of the community center for immigrants, having been told by my host brother day in and out of the harsh stereotypes of the “Gitano” men and women, I felt anxious.

As we sat in a circle of chairs facing one another, all experiencing something new – they meeting Americans and we being students in a foreign country – I was sure they would not open up to talk.

But I was wrong.

Many of the women came to Spain for work, and all were taking Spanish classes and were active participants in this community center. They were engaged in the Aranjuez community, doing what they could to adapt to a new language and culture much different from their own.

Two women stayed after to take a picture with the group, despite the religious difficulty in doing so. One woman even introduced her two young daughters; both of them are learning Spanish and English in their school.

These women were exciting and were involved in making more personal connections with us. They were open and willing to share their cultural and religious practices with us. One woman even showed us how to position and secure a hijab, the scarves worn around the head and neck of the women for religious purposes. 

As I told my host family members about my experiences meeting the kind women from Morocco, I knew they were not convinced.

Like those of many immigrants in the United States, stereotypes create pain and distress for many of the Moroccan immigrants. Having to adjust to life in a new country and being unwelcome by many Spaniards creates a division between them and the people of Aranjuez.

While I haven’t changed the opinion of my host brother, I am content, for now, knowing I will be able to find out for myself the intricate lives of these women from Morocco in the weeks to come.