- Racialization in cyberspace can been seen in such websites as Dixienet.org or other Neo-Confederate websites. These websites push for preserving the South and its heritage, and they want to do so by only having the white race be a part of it. None of these sites acknowledge blacks.
From Tara McPherson’s ““White Guys, the South, and Cyberspace”:
- The work of neo-Confederates in cyberspace reveals a sincere attempt to make “self” in the world, and articulate a particular (and racially naturalized) presence.
- Reconstructing Dixie is all about a serious battle over the demands of place, race, and identity.
- With most of these sites prohibiting an explicit expression of racist ways, it does not simply forget or overlook the matter, but instead it enables the evasion of the race question under the whiteness of cyberspace.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
CYBERSPACE
- The electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place (Dictionary.com).
From Tara McPherson’s ““White Guys, the South, and Cyberspace”:
- Stone: cyberspace functions as a kind of public theater, “a base for [the] cyborg” suggesting that in their play these cyborgs are rewriting the standard of the bounded, embodied individual” (118).
- According to Sherry Turkle, cyberspace allows people to create any identity or multiple identities, and be able to cycle through them as they choose (118).
- Rheingold: celebrated the Internet’s ability to overcome geographical boundaries, envisioning it as a kind of yellow brick road (118).
From Tara McPherson’s ““White Guys, the South, and Cyberspace”:
- Stone: cyberspace functions as a kind of public theater, “a base for [the] cyborg” suggesting that in their play these cyborgs are rewriting the standard of the bounded, embodied individual” (118).
- According to Sherry Turkle, cyberspace allows people to create any identity or multiple identities, and be able to cycle through them as they choose (118).
- Rheingold: celebrated the Internet’s ability to overcome geographical boundaries, envisioning it as a kind of yellow brick road (118).
HERITAGE
- Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition (Dictionary.com).
- Many Neo-Confederates in cyberspace want to preserve the Southern heritage, meaning whites being the dominant race, and others being inferior.
- Southern heritage is a tradition of preserving white privilege.
- Many Neo-Confederates in cyberspace want to preserve the Southern heritage, meaning whites being the dominant race, and others being inferior.
- Southern heritage is a tradition of preserving white privilege.
@RACE
(From Beth Kolko’s “Erasing @race”)
- Race tends to be missing from signifying one’s virtual identity, even though information like gender and age are available.
- Some people think that race should be left behind in the real world because marking race online can bring undesired responses from other people.
- The lack of @race makes race irrelevant or assumes that everyone is of one race.
- “Technology interfaces carry the power to prescribe representative norms and patters, constructing a self-replicating and exclusionary category of ‘ideal’ user, one that in some very particular instances of cyberspace, is a definitively white user” (218).
- Race tends to be missing from signifying one’s virtual identity, even though information like gender and age are available.
- Some people think that race should be left behind in the real world because marking race online can bring undesired responses from other people.
- The lack of @race makes race irrelevant or assumes that everyone is of one race.
- “Technology interfaces carry the power to prescribe representative norms and patters, constructing a self-replicating and exclusionary category of ‘ideal’ user, one that in some very particular instances of cyberspace, is a definitively white user” (218).
IDENTITY TOURISM
(from Lisa Nakamura’s “Where Do You Want to Go Today?” Cybernetic Tourism, the Internet, and Transnationality”)
- Certain ads have an “international” flavor that seems to celebrate national and ethnic identities.
- “This world without limits is represented by vivid and often sublime images of displayed ethnic and racial difference in order to bracket them off as exotic and irremediably ‘other’ (page 89)”.
- Travel and tourism go hand in hand with networking technology because they are commodities that define a privileged society.
- Always having “others” in telecommunications advertisements secures a Westerner’s thought that he is always going to be privileged wherever he goes.
- Demonstrates the needs of corporate companies to always have images of “others” to depict their products as technological utopias of difference.
- Certain ads have an “international” flavor that seems to celebrate national and ethnic identities.
- “This world without limits is represented by vivid and often sublime images of displayed ethnic and racial difference in order to bracket them off as exotic and irremediably ‘other’ (page 89)”.
- Travel and tourism go hand in hand with networking technology because they are commodities that define a privileged society.
- Always having “others” in telecommunications advertisements secures a Westerner’s thought that he is always going to be privileged wherever he goes.
- Demonstrates the needs of corporate companies to always have images of “others” to depict their products as technological utopias of difference.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Race vs. Ethnicity
- Ethnicity- the Japanese shared a common cultural background even in the relocation camps through trying to remember their culture at home.
- Race- whites though of the Japanese as model minorities and placed them into a group that was based on what they heard and what other Asians were thought to be like, true or not.
- Race- whites though of the Japanese as model minorities and placed them into a group that was based on what they heard and what other Asians were thought to be like, true or not.
Resistance
- The Japanese and Filipinos going on strike because they wanted fairer wages, which the planters raised.
- The Jews didn’t succumb to the theories of “upper-whites” and didn’t let the idea of eugenics or scientific racism affect their lifestyles.
- The Jews didn’t succumb to the theories of “upper-whites” and didn’t let the idea of eugenics or scientific racism affect their lifestyles.
Model Minority
- Asians were seen as passive, but when the Japanese protested exploitation on the plantations, they went against the myth of “model minority” (from Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror: Chapter 10: “Pacific Crossings: Seeking the Land of Money Trees”).
- Comes from racial stereotyping in that certain races are associated with certain characteristics.
- Comes from racial stereotyping in that certain races are associated with certain characteristics.
The American Dream
- People come to America thinking that they are going to live the “America Dream” because the country has so many opportunities for them. People find that these opportunities are sometimes limited, and the American Dream can be deceptive.
- “The idea held by many in the United States that through hard work, courage and determination one could achieve prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. What the American dream has become is a question under constant discussion” (Wikipedia).
- “The idea held by many in the United States that through hard work, courage and determination one could achieve prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. What the American dream has become is a question under constant discussion” (Wikipedia).
The GI Bill
(Karen Brodkin: “How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America” page, 44)
- Also known as the 1944 Serviceman’s Readjustment Act
- Arguably the most massive affirmative action program in America history
- Created to develop needed labor force skills and to provide those who had them with a lifestyle that reflected their value to the economy
- Benefits extended to 16 million GIs (of the Korean War as well) included priority in jobs, financial support during the job search, small loans to start businesses, low-interest home loans, and educational benefits (tuition an living expenses).
- Rightly regarded as one of the most revolutionary postwar programs
- Also known as the 1944 Serviceman’s Readjustment Act
- Arguably the most massive affirmative action program in America history
- Created to develop needed labor force skills and to provide those who had them with a lifestyle that reflected their value to the economy
- Benefits extended to 16 million GIs (of the Korean War as well) included priority in jobs, financial support during the job search, small loans to start businesses, low-interest home loans, and educational benefits (tuition an living expenses).
- Rightly regarded as one of the most revolutionary postwar programs
Affirmative action
- A policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination through active measures to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment. (Dictionary.com)
- Brodkin says that the GI Bill was affirmative action because it was aimed at and disproportionately helped male, Euro-origin GIs (“How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America”, page 45).
- Brodkin also says that the GI benefits were not extended to African Americans or to women of any race (“How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America”, page 45).
- Brodkin says that the GI Bill was affirmative action because it was aimed at and disproportionately helped male, Euro-origin GIs (“How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America”, page 45).
- Brodkin also says that the GI benefits were not extended to African Americans or to women of any race (“How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America”, page 45).
War Relocation Authority
(from Challenge video)
- A civilian agency created by the President on March 18, 1942.
- It carried out the largest controlled migration in history with the movement of 110,000 people of Japanese descent from their homes in an area bordering the Pacific coast into 10 wartime communities.
- Their job was to assist in the relocation of any persons who may be required by the Army to move from their homes in the interest of military security.
- “The primary purpose of this program is to restore as many of the evacuees as possible to productive life in normal American communities” (The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/relocbook.html)
- A civilian agency created by the President on March 18, 1942.
- It carried out the largest controlled migration in history with the movement of 110,000 people of Japanese descent from their homes in an area bordering the Pacific coast into 10 wartime communities.
- Their job was to assist in the relocation of any persons who may be required by the Army to move from their homes in the interest of military security.
- “The primary purpose of this program is to restore as many of the evacuees as possible to productive life in normal American communities” (The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/relocbook.html)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Philosophy of Free Labor
(from “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom”)
- Northerners believed in the philosophy of free labor
- Slaves should not be forced to work on plantations. They should work where they want to.
- Northerners believed in the philosophy of free labor
- Slaves should not be forced to work on plantations. They should work where they want to.
Slavery without Submission
(from “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom”)
- Slaves went through a lot before the abolition (beatings, hangings, killings, family separation, etc.), but never gave into slavery and the whites. They fought hard, whether it was through escapes and revolts, and they definitely tried to encourage everyone to fight against the whites.
- Zinn wrote, “The following year, in Syracuse, a runaway slave named Jerry was captured and put on trial. A crowd used crowbars and a battering ram to break into the courthouse, defying marshals with drawn guns, and set Jerry free.” This example shows that the blacks were willing to do anything in order to gain their freedom.
- From Kindred, Dana and the other slaves stood up for themselves (as much as they could), and tried to live life even if they were slaves.
- Slaves went through a lot before the abolition (beatings, hangings, killings, family separation, etc.), but never gave into slavery and the whites. They fought hard, whether it was through escapes and revolts, and they definitely tried to encourage everyone to fight against the whites.
- Zinn wrote, “The following year, in Syracuse, a runaway slave named Jerry was captured and put on trial. A crowd used crowbars and a battering ram to break into the courthouse, defying marshals with drawn guns, and set Jerry free.” This example shows that the blacks were willing to do anything in order to gain their freedom.
- From Kindred, Dana and the other slaves stood up for themselves (as much as they could), and tried to live life even if they were slaves.
Emancipation Proclamation
(from “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom”)
- Issued in January 1863, declaring slaves free in those areas still fighting against the Union, and said nothing about slaves behind Union lines
- Limited because even after it was passed, blacks were not 100% free, and they were still not seen as equal to whites.
- Zinn writes: “What happened to blacks in the Union army… gave some hint of how limited the emancipation would be…Off-duty black solders were attacked in northern cities… where cries were heard to ‘kill the nigger’”.
- While victory over the Confederacy was said and done, there were still people against the idea of blacks being free. Blacks were not seen an equal to whites.
- “Emancipation without Freedom”
- Issued in January 1863, declaring slaves free in those areas still fighting against the Union, and said nothing about slaves behind Union lines
- Limited because even after it was passed, blacks were not 100% free, and they were still not seen as equal to whites.
- Zinn writes: “What happened to blacks in the Union army… gave some hint of how limited the emancipation would be…Off-duty black solders were attacked in northern cities… where cries were heard to ‘kill the nigger’”.
- While victory over the Confederacy was said and done, there were still people against the idea of blacks being free. Blacks were not seen an equal to whites.
- “Emancipation without Freedom”
Abolitionist
(from “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom”)
- Someone who wanted to end slavery and the slave trade
- Racism of white abolitionists revealed itself because white abolitionists talked about ending slavery, but they never actually took action to end it. White abolitionists were also considered racist because they still viewed blacks as inferior to whites. Blacks couldn’t have the same privileges as whites, and that’s how they wanted to keep it.
- Racists would be abolitionists because they wanted to get some sort of personal gain out of saying that they tried to end slavery. Deep down they don’t care about blacks, just their own reputations.
- Someone who wanted to end slavery and the slave trade
- Racism of white abolitionists revealed itself because white abolitionists talked about ending slavery, but they never actually took action to end it. White abolitionists were also considered racist because they still viewed blacks as inferior to whites. Blacks couldn’t have the same privileges as whites, and that’s how they wanted to keep it.
- Racists would be abolitionists because they wanted to get some sort of personal gain out of saying that they tried to end slavery. Deep down they don’t care about blacks, just their own reputations.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The “white man’s burden”
(from Race: The Power of an Illusion: The Story We Tell)
- “The White Man’s Burden” is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling. It was a rallying cry for empire and racial justification to send American troops across the pacific to put down the Filipino rebels fighting for independence from the US.
- Americans seized on this phrase because it embodied the country’s new role as a world power.
- “TAKE UP THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN, SEND FORTH THE BEST YE BREED, GO, BIND YOUR SONS TO EXILE, TO SERVE YOUR CAPTIVES' NEED. TO WAIT IN HEAVY HARNESS, ON FLUTTERED FOLK AND WILD YOUR NEW-CAUGHT SULLEN PEOPLES, HALF-DEVIL AND HALF-CHILD. “
- Kipling wrote the poem to try and encourage the US to annex the Philippines. Fredrickson said that “clearly it probably provided more support for those who wanted to take on the white man’s burden. Because of some of the imperialists said, ‘Oh, we can bring them along, maybe not to equality, but our brown little brothers, we can advance them in civilization’”.
- “The White Man’s Burden” is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling. It was a rallying cry for empire and racial justification to send American troops across the pacific to put down the Filipino rebels fighting for independence from the US.
- Americans seized on this phrase because it embodied the country’s new role as a world power.
- “TAKE UP THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN, SEND FORTH THE BEST YE BREED, GO, BIND YOUR SONS TO EXILE, TO SERVE YOUR CAPTIVES' NEED. TO WAIT IN HEAVY HARNESS, ON FLUTTERED FOLK AND WILD YOUR NEW-CAUGHT SULLEN PEOPLES, HALF-DEVIL AND HALF-CHILD. “
- Kipling wrote the poem to try and encourage the US to annex the Philippines. Fredrickson said that “clearly it probably provided more support for those who wanted to take on the white man’s burden. Because of some of the imperialists said, ‘Oh, we can bring them along, maybe not to equality, but our brown little brothers, we can advance them in civilization’”.
Scientific racism
(from Race: The Power of an Illusion: The Story We Tell)
- Jefferson truly believed that science was the only way to explain the difference between blacks and whites.
- Finkelman said that Jefferson “sets American science on the path of trying to figure out what it is scientifically that makes blacks inferior to whites. And of course, if that’s the question the scientist asks, then that’s the question that the scientist will answer.”
- “In the next century, as the nation expanded, so would ideas about human difference. Science and slavery would help focus the nation’s attention on the nature of black people.”
- Jefferson truly believed that science was the only way to explain the difference between blacks and whites.
- Finkelman said that Jefferson “sets American science on the path of trying to figure out what it is scientifically that makes blacks inferior to whites. And of course, if that’s the question the scientist asks, then that’s the question that the scientist will answer.”
- “In the next century, as the nation expanded, so would ideas about human difference. Science and slavery would help focus the nation’s attention on the nature of black people.”
Assimilation
(from Race: The Power of an Illusion: The Story We Tell)
- Whites wanted Indians to be assimilated into America, and to make them farmers and live like the colonists. “They wanted to make us brown, white men.”
- Assimilating the Indians gave them more privilege because they were starting to become more like the whites, which was the preferred race. This then made them a more favorable group of people as compared to the whites.
- In Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia” he implied that Indians could be assimilated into American society. However, he did not support the assimilation of blacks in to American society. He wrote of deep-rooted prejudices entertained by the whites and of physical and moral differences separating the groups.
- Whites wanted Indians to be assimilated into America, and to make them farmers and live like the colonists. “They wanted to make us brown, white men.”
- Assimilating the Indians gave them more privilege because they were starting to become more like the whites, which was the preferred race. This then made them a more favorable group of people as compared to the whites.
- In Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia” he implied that Indians could be assimilated into American society. However, he did not support the assimilation of blacks in to American society. He wrote of deep-rooted prejudices entertained by the whites and of physical and moral differences separating the groups.
“Giddy Multitude”
(from Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror)
- "In Virginia, they became an even greater threat to social order, forming what the planter elite fearfully called a "giddy multitude" — a discontented class of indentured servants, slaves, and landless freemen, both white and black…”
- If united, created a threat to the established power and economic structure of the time.
- Title of the chapter because of the fear and threat of miscegenation, but more importantly the danger of race war. There was a fear that whites would continue to face danger of servile insurrection.
- "In Virginia, they became an even greater threat to social order, forming what the planter elite fearfully called a "giddy multitude" — a discontented class of indentured servants, slaves, and landless freemen, both white and black…”
- If united, created a threat to the established power and economic structure of the time.
- Title of the chapter because of the fear and threat of miscegenation, but more importantly the danger of race war. There was a fear that whites would continue to face danger of servile insurrection.
Manifest Destiny
(from Race: The Power of an Illusion: The Story We Tell)
- Ngai said that most white Americans believed that the west wad them, and for them alone.
- Manifest destiny is the philosophy the impelled the expansion into the west in the mid 19th-century.
- The 1904 World’s Fair showed a direct link between manifest destiny here in the US, and the country’s increasing drive to expand overseas.
- Ngai said that most white Americans believed that the west wad them, and for them alone.
- Manifest destiny is the philosophy the impelled the expansion into the west in the mid 19th-century.
- The 1904 World’s Fair showed a direct link between manifest destiny here in the US, and the country’s increasing drive to expand overseas.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
"GETTING OFF THE HOOK"
(from Johnson’s “Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance”, pg. 124)
- “I’m like a piece of wood floating with the current” (Johnson 124).
- To live in illusion and denial; to choose whether to be involved in the life of our society and the consequences it produces.
- To fully live in the world as it really is.
- Puts privileged groups in a tight little circle and cuts them off from everyone else; can't get close to others without causing trouble that surrounds privilege and oppression
- “I’m like a piece of wood floating with the current” (Johnson 124).
- To live in illusion and denial; to choose whether to be involved in the life of our society and the consequences it produces.
- To fully live in the world as it really is.
- Puts privileged groups in a tight little circle and cuts them off from everyone else; can't get close to others without causing trouble that surrounds privilege and oppression
INDIVIDUALISM
(from Johnson’s “What It All Has to Do with Us”, pg. 77-78)
- Misleading to think individualistically because it boxes us in and narrows our views of reality.
- Keeps us stuck in trouble by making it so hard to talk about it.
- Example: encourages women to blame and distrust men
- Makes us blind to the very existence of privilege, because privilege has nothing to do with individuals, only with the social categories we wind up in.
- Assumes that everything has only to do with individuals and nothing to do with social categories, leaving no room to see, much less consider, the role of privilege.
- Results in a kind of paralysis; to get rid of this paralysis we have to realize that the individualistic model is wrong, and the social world consists of more than individuals.
- Misleading to think individualistically because it boxes us in and narrows our views of reality.
- Keeps us stuck in trouble by making it so hard to talk about it.
- Example: encourages women to blame and distrust men
- Makes us blind to the very existence of privilege, because privilege has nothing to do with individuals, only with the social categories we wind up in.
- Assumes that everything has only to do with individuals and nothing to do with social categories, leaving no room to see, much less consider, the role of privilege.
- Results in a kind of paralysis; to get rid of this paralysis we have to realize that the individualistic model is wrong, and the social world consists of more than individuals.
MATRIX OF DOMINATION
(from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination”, pg. 51-52)
- the dynamics of gender and race that are so bound up with each other that it’s hard, if not impossible, to tell where one ends and one begins.
- It reveals how the different dimensions of privilege and domination are connected to one another: 1- to defend or reinforce another, 2- access to one form of privilege can affect access to others, 3- to serve as compensation for having access to another, and 4- subordinate groups often pitted against one another in ways that draws attention away from the system of privilege hurting them all.
- If someone scores a 4 then that must mean that they are white, male, disabled, and heterosexual. In a sense, 4 is the magic number and anything else that isn’t white, male, disabled, and heterosexual, won't receive a point.
- the dynamics of gender and race that are so bound up with each other that it’s hard, if not impossible, to tell where one ends and one begins.
- It reveals how the different dimensions of privilege and domination are connected to one another: 1- to defend or reinforce another, 2- access to one form of privilege can affect access to others, 3- to serve as compensation for having access to another, and 4- subordinate groups often pitted against one another in ways that draws attention away from the system of privilege hurting them all.
- If someone scores a 4 then that must mean that they are white, male, disabled, and heterosexual. In a sense, 4 is the magic number and anything else that isn’t white, male, disabled, and heterosexual, won't receive a point.
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
* ADDITIONS IN BOLD *
- Johnson believes that socially constructed reality so powerful is that people rarely if ever experience it as that (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”, pg. 20).
- Social construction makes people think that our culture defines a concept like race as if it were really how things are; in an objective sense (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”, pg. 20).
- A part of social construction is when human beings give something a name, or importance, which then gives that concept a significance it wouldn’t have had previously.
- Let’s people believe that things like race or gender have clear-cut definitions, and cannot be changed.
- Social norms are a part of social construction. People are more likely to go with the norm (path of least resistance) because it’s the choice everyone else goes with. Going against the norm can produce encouraging or discouraging results, but people are afraid of the result. Social construction gives these norms an importance that they didn’t have previously, so that is why people choose the choices over others (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination”).
- Johnson believes that socially constructed reality so powerful is that people rarely if ever experience it as that (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”, pg. 20).
- Social construction makes people think that our culture defines a concept like race as if it were really how things are; in an objective sense (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”, pg. 20).
- A part of social construction is when human beings give something a name, or importance, which then gives that concept a significance it wouldn’t have had previously.
- Let’s people believe that things like race or gender have clear-cut definitions, and cannot be changed.
- Social norms are a part of social construction. People are more likely to go with the norm (path of least resistance) because it’s the choice everyone else goes with. Going against the norm can produce encouraging or discouraging results, but people are afraid of the result. Social construction gives these norms an importance that they didn’t have previously, so that is why people choose the choices over others (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination”).
OPPRESSION
* ADDITIONS IN BOLD *
- A social force that holds people back and keeps them down, blocking their pursuit of living
a good life.
- Shares a relationship with privilege in that with every social group that is privileged one or more groups are oppressed. It is this relationship that allows for the variance in personal experiences of being oppressed.
- Patterns of oppression are rooted in system that we all participate in and make happen; built into paths of least resistance that people feel drawn to follow everyday, regardless of whether they think about where they lead or the consequences they produce (from Johnson’s “What It All Has to Do with Us”, pg. 85)
- “The oppressed condition of blacks and other racial minorities encourages them to work for wages that are lower than what most whites will accept” (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination” pg. 47).
- A social force that holds people back and keeps them down, blocking their pursuit of living
a good life.
- Shares a relationship with privilege in that with every social group that is privileged one or more groups are oppressed. It is this relationship that allows for the variance in personal experiences of being oppressed.
- Patterns of oppression are rooted in system that we all participate in and make happen; built into paths of least resistance that people feel drawn to follow everyday, regardless of whether they think about where they lead or the consequences they produce (from Johnson’s “What It All Has to Do with Us”, pg. 85)
- “The oppressed condition of blacks and other racial minorities encourages them to work for wages that are lower than what most whites will accept” (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination” pg. 47).
PRIVILEGE
* ADDITIONS IN BOLD *
- According to Peggy McIntosh, “the idea that one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do” (Johnson 35).
- One’s access to privilege doesn’t determine their outcome, but it’s an asset that makes it more likely for someone to receive a beneficial result.
- It’s easy to not be aware of privilege (“the luxury of obliviousness”) because awareness requires effort and commitment, and to get the attention of people with lower status without giving it in return is one key aspect of privilege.
- There are two types: unearned entitlements (things of value all people should have, and gives dominant groups an edge) and unearned advantages (unearned entitlements restricted to certain groups).
- Conferred privilege then gives one group power over another.
- Privilege is seen in everyday life with all different groups, whether it is with sports, work, or school. Privilege allows certain people to move through life without being identified as an outsider, and increases one’s chances to have things go their way.
- Individuals get privilege because others see them as belonging to a group that is privileged.
- Capitalism played a major role in the development of white privilege and still plays a major role in its perpetuation (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination” pg. 41).
- Whites developed the idea of whiteness and defined a privileged social category where they were above everyone else who wasn’t like them (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination” pg. 46-47).
- The “paradox of privilege” means that since there is more than one set of categories, a person can belong to a privileged category in one set, and an unprivileged category in another. In relation to individuals and systems of privilege and oppression, this paradox tells us that it is not a matter of either/or, but that privilege and oppression happen simultaneously. For example if a man is white and male, then he can feel privileged. But if that same white male is a member of the working class, then he is probably pushed around, so he doesn’t feel privileged. People are always going to be presented with certain barriers that they can't just feel privileged or oppressed. It’s always a combination of both (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination” pg. 49-52).
- According to Peggy McIntosh, “the idea that one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do” (Johnson 35).
- One’s access to privilege doesn’t determine their outcome, but it’s an asset that makes it more likely for someone to receive a beneficial result.
- It’s easy to not be aware of privilege (“the luxury of obliviousness”) because awareness requires effort and commitment, and to get the attention of people with lower status without giving it in return is one key aspect of privilege.
- There are two types: unearned entitlements (things of value all people should have, and gives dominant groups an edge) and unearned advantages (unearned entitlements restricted to certain groups).
- Conferred privilege then gives one group power over another.
- Privilege is seen in everyday life with all different groups, whether it is with sports, work, or school. Privilege allows certain people to move through life without being identified as an outsider, and increases one’s chances to have things go their way.
- Individuals get privilege because others see them as belonging to a group that is privileged.
- Capitalism played a major role in the development of white privilege and still plays a major role in its perpetuation (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination” pg. 41).
- Whites developed the idea of whiteness and defined a privileged social category where they were above everyone else who wasn’t like them (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination” pg. 46-47).
- The “paradox of privilege” means that since there is more than one set of categories, a person can belong to a privileged category in one set, and an unprivileged category in another. In relation to individuals and systems of privilege and oppression, this paradox tells us that it is not a matter of either/or, but that privilege and oppression happen simultaneously. For example if a man is white and male, then he can feel privileged. But if that same white male is a member of the working class, then he is probably pushed around, so he doesn’t feel privileged. People are always going to be presented with certain barriers that they can't just feel privileged or oppressed. It’s always a combination of both (from Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination” pg. 49-52).
RACE (AND BIOLOGY)
* ADDITIONS IN BOLD *
- A cultural creation over time.
- Race is a concept that puts people into certain groups because of certain characteristics. The grouping of people is merely a creation of humans over time, and is not necessarily true or set in stone.
- In the Coronet film race was linked to biology because people assumed that race was a product of biology, and people are born with traits that fit them into a certain group. There is so genetic evidence whatsoever to support this claim.
- Hammonds said in the movie, humans created race and used it in so many negative ways, that we are the only ones who can unmake it.
- We classify people into races according to their physical attributes.
- (From Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination”):
- White racism hasn’t been around very long
- The appearance of white racism in Europe and the Americas occurred right along with the expansion of capitalism as an economic system
- Plays a role in capitalism, privilege, and gender
- A cultural creation over time.
- Race is a concept that puts people into certain groups because of certain characteristics. The grouping of people is merely a creation of humans over time, and is not necessarily true or set in stone.
- In the Coronet film race was linked to biology because people assumed that race was a product of biology, and people are born with traits that fit them into a certain group. There is so genetic evidence whatsoever to support this claim.
- Hammonds said in the movie, humans created race and used it in so many negative ways, that we are the only ones who can unmake it.
- We classify people into races according to their physical attributes.
- (From Johnson’s “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination”):
- White racism hasn’t been around very long
- The appearance of white racism in Europe and the Americas occurred right along with the expansion of capitalism as an economic system
- Plays a role in capitalism, privilege, and gender
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Week 1 Vocab
1. Race (and biology)
- A cultural creation over time.
- Race is a concept that puts people into certain groups because of certain characteristics. The grouping of people is merely a creation of humans over time, and is not necessarily true or set in stone.
- In the Coronet film race was linked to biology because people assumed that race was a product of biology, and people are born with traits that fit them into a certain group. There is so genetic evidence whatsoever to support this claim.
- Hammonds said in the movie, humans created race and used it in so many negative ways, that we are the only ones who can unmake it.
- We classify people into races according to their physical attributes.
2. Ethnicity
- Refers to the representation of social groups who share a history, sense of identity, geography, and culture.
- Culture is a big part of ethnicity in that it defines it. How one culture acts and carries out their actions contributes to their ethnicity.
- Compared to race, it isn’t about the physical aspect of a person.
3. Ethnic Studies
- The study of many social and cultural issues that include social categories, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexuality, nationality.
- A field that compares these issues to answer questions about how and why people in history evolved the way that they did.
- Provides alternative explanations to history and provides new ways of approaching a subject.
- Deals with many theories and research that are ongoing for many years.
4. History ((from Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States, pgs. 8-10)
- According to Zinn, history can be about omitting facts that can lead to unacceptable conclusions.
- History can also be about stating facts, but incorporating it into a mass of other information so that it gives the reader a calm reaction. Example: writing about how Rodrigo was the one that discovered land, but Columbus took credit for it. This information was mentioned, but not it great detail as all others.
5. Progress
- Development or growth
- Something like social construction is always progressing because each and every day people create significance for many things, and that then gives it some sort of importance.
- Definition of various races is always growing as the times change, and people’s ideas change.
6. Social Construction
- Johnson believes that socially constructed reality so powerful is that people rarely if ever experience it as that (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”, pg. 20).
- Social construction makes people think that our culture defines a concept like race as if it were really how things are; in an objective sense (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”, pg. 20).
- A part of social construction is when human beings give something a name, or importance, which then gives that concept a significance it wouldn’t have had previously.
- Let’s people believe that things like race or gender have clear-cut definitions, and cannot be changed.
7. Genocide (from Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States, pgs. 8-10)
- The term used by Samuel Eliot Morison when he wrote about Christopher Columbus and the mass murders he and his people committed.
- Zinn looks at this and says that Morison didn’t lie about the past or didn’t omit facts which might lead to unacceptable conclusions. He instead refused to lie about Columbus. He used the harshest word to describe these mass murders: genocide.
8. Ideological (as used by Zinn page 9)
- The telling of history is ideological because people choose what information to emphasize.
- The emphasized information that gives readers a common interest which serves to the best of their ability.
- Johnson says that when Morison chose to emphasize Columbus’ heroism, he made an ideological choice to justify what was done.
9. Privilege (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”)
- According to Peggy McIntosh, “the idea that one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do” (Johnson 35).
- One’s access to privilege doesn’t determine their outcome, but it’s an asset that makes it more likely for someone to receive a beneficial result.
- It’s easy to not be aware of privilege (“the luxury of obliviousness”) because awareness requires effort and commitment, and to get the attention of people with lower status without giving it in return is one key aspect of privilege.
- There are two types: unearned entitlements (things of value all people should have, and gives dominant groups an edge) and unearned advantages (unearned entitlements restricted to certain groups).
- Conferred privilege then gives one group power over another.
- Privilege is seen in everyday life with all different groups, whether it is with sports, work, or school. Privilege allows certain people to move through life without being identified as an outsider, and increases one’s chances to have things go their way.
- Individuals get privilege because others see them as belonging to a group that is privileged.
10. Oppression (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”)
- A social force that holds people back and keeps them down, blocking their pursuit of living a good life.
- Shares a relationship with privilege in that with every social group that is privileged one or more groups are oppressed. It is this relationship that allows for the variance in personal experiences of being oppressed.
- If a person has an experience of being oppressed, he or she has to belong to an oppressed group. So whites can’t be oppressed as whites and blacks can’t be oppressed as blacks because there needs to be another group that has more power to oppress them.
11. Racialization
- Racialization is the process by which race comes to have meaning as a category. It is also the process each one of us goes through in order to have a racial identity. In other words, we are not just born “white” or born “black” – what it means to us to be “white” or “black” changes in our social interactions with others throughout our lives. This means that race develops meaning through social interaction, instead of merely existing as concrete, independently verifiable fact.
- A cultural creation over time.
- Race is a concept that puts people into certain groups because of certain characteristics. The grouping of people is merely a creation of humans over time, and is not necessarily true or set in stone.
- In the Coronet film race was linked to biology because people assumed that race was a product of biology, and people are born with traits that fit them into a certain group. There is so genetic evidence whatsoever to support this claim.
- Hammonds said in the movie, humans created race and used it in so many negative ways, that we are the only ones who can unmake it.
- We classify people into races according to their physical attributes.
2. Ethnicity
- Refers to the representation of social groups who share a history, sense of identity, geography, and culture.
- Culture is a big part of ethnicity in that it defines it. How one culture acts and carries out their actions contributes to their ethnicity.
- Compared to race, it isn’t about the physical aspect of a person.
3. Ethnic Studies
- The study of many social and cultural issues that include social categories, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexuality, nationality.
- A field that compares these issues to answer questions about how and why people in history evolved the way that they did.
- Provides alternative explanations to history and provides new ways of approaching a subject.
- Deals with many theories and research that are ongoing for many years.
4. History ((from Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States, pgs. 8-10)
- According to Zinn, history can be about omitting facts that can lead to unacceptable conclusions.
- History can also be about stating facts, but incorporating it into a mass of other information so that it gives the reader a calm reaction. Example: writing about how Rodrigo was the one that discovered land, but Columbus took credit for it. This information was mentioned, but not it great detail as all others.
5. Progress
- Development or growth
- Something like social construction is always progressing because each and every day people create significance for many things, and that then gives it some sort of importance.
- Definition of various races is always growing as the times change, and people’s ideas change.
6. Social Construction
- Johnson believes that socially constructed reality so powerful is that people rarely if ever experience it as that (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”, pg. 20).
- Social construction makes people think that our culture defines a concept like race as if it were really how things are; in an objective sense (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”, pg. 20).
- A part of social construction is when human beings give something a name, or importance, which then gives that concept a significance it wouldn’t have had previously.
- Let’s people believe that things like race or gender have clear-cut definitions, and cannot be changed.
7. Genocide (from Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States, pgs. 8-10)
- The term used by Samuel Eliot Morison when he wrote about Christopher Columbus and the mass murders he and his people committed.
- Zinn looks at this and says that Morison didn’t lie about the past or didn’t omit facts which might lead to unacceptable conclusions. He instead refused to lie about Columbus. He used the harshest word to describe these mass murders: genocide.
8. Ideological (as used by Zinn page 9)
- The telling of history is ideological because people choose what information to emphasize.
- The emphasized information that gives readers a common interest which serves to the best of their ability.
- Johnson says that when Morison chose to emphasize Columbus’ heroism, he made an ideological choice to justify what was done.
9. Privilege (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”)
- According to Peggy McIntosh, “the idea that one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do” (Johnson 35).
- One’s access to privilege doesn’t determine their outcome, but it’s an asset that makes it more likely for someone to receive a beneficial result.
- It’s easy to not be aware of privilege (“the luxury of obliviousness”) because awareness requires effort and commitment, and to get the attention of people with lower status without giving it in return is one key aspect of privilege.
- There are two types: unearned entitlements (things of value all people should have, and gives dominant groups an edge) and unearned advantages (unearned entitlements restricted to certain groups).
- Conferred privilege then gives one group power over another.
- Privilege is seen in everyday life with all different groups, whether it is with sports, work, or school. Privilege allows certain people to move through life without being identified as an outsider, and increases one’s chances to have things go their way.
- Individuals get privilege because others see them as belonging to a group that is privileged.
10. Oppression (from Johnson’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference”)
- A social force that holds people back and keeps them down, blocking their pursuit of living a good life.
- Shares a relationship with privilege in that with every social group that is privileged one or more groups are oppressed. It is this relationship that allows for the variance in personal experiences of being oppressed.
- If a person has an experience of being oppressed, he or she has to belong to an oppressed group. So whites can’t be oppressed as whites and blacks can’t be oppressed as blacks because there needs to be another group that has more power to oppress them.
11. Racialization
- Racialization is the process by which race comes to have meaning as a category. It is also the process each one of us goes through in order to have a racial identity. In other words, we are not just born “white” or born “black” – what it means to us to be “white” or “black” changes in our social interactions with others throughout our lives. This means that race develops meaning through social interaction, instead of merely existing as concrete, independently verifiable fact.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)