Reflection #3

(From Maximum Rocknroll magazine):
Shenkin Punx -CD
Lot's of things really bother me about this band/CD. They are from Tel Aviv. That's in Israel. That's a religious state doing it's best to commit genocide against the indigenous population they have displaced/ are currently doing their best to crush. I spose on can't help where one is born. But then again, one has a duty, as a human, as a citizen of the world, to rise above such fate, right? I guess it's cool when a band sings in their "native" language. Even when that "native" language is a dead language, resuscitated to facilitate a colonial/settler state? If this was a white South African band, during the apartheid years, that did/said nothing about the situation they found themselves in, we'd be suspicious/critical et al, right? You benefit from apartheid; the onus is on

Reflection #2

Critical Whiteness Studies in Relation to “Second Skin”

            Through watching Race is a Four Letter Word, and reading both Twine & Gallagher’s (2007) “The Future of whiteness: a map of the ‘third wave’” and McIntosh’s (1989) “White Privilege, Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” I began reflecting on my own position as both a white male and a member of an aesthetically visual subculture. By “second skin,” I am referring to the clothing and other accessories that identify me as a member of a subculture, so much so that I am markedly different than many people around me. I contrasted and compared in my head the difference between my experiences and those of the people in the film, sort of filtering it through the two articles. I asked myself how my experience differs as a white man, how I could possibly empathize (as I do most definitely sympathize) with someone who is black, and finally whether or not my experiences of othering as a member of a visible subculture (a choice as it may be) could give me a glimpse into the experiences of someone who is racially othered.

A young black man talks about the most racist field trip ever... (funny and relevant)

 

I like this video for two reasons. The first reason is that it is hilarious This guy really knows how to tell a story. The second reason is that while being funny he also makes some great social commentary about whiteness and racialization in the U.S. I see two good points that can be made on those topics. First, the simple fact that the teacher thought it was a good idea to bring a class of black kids to a cotton filed for a filed trip speaks to the white idea that racism doesn't exist. Second, in this colourblindness the teacher forgets that there are places and actions that might seem benign can be offensive and have racializing effects on the children by having a cotton filed remind them about the racist history of the country they live in and that their history as black people is very different than those of white people.

Reflection #1

I will  briefly explore two issues from the class readings in this reflection: the idea of the United States being a “state of denial” (2008, p. 52) from Mills’ “Racial Liberalism” paper and how this idea functions well in analysis combined with Mile’s (1989) concept of appeals to race and nation in the process of Othering and racialization. I want to suggest, briefly, that the processes that facilitate the state of denial and allow signification in the U.S., steeped in and bolstered by notions of race and nation, predicated on denial of fundamental racial injustice, are not just central to racial injustice but to social injustice and how it is used in general in the United States and other Western “democracies”.

          

A little relevant comic relief to get things started...

 Our historical memory is what could be referred to as chronic amnesia.

In case it was difficult to pick up on, this is a hilarious comic about colonialism. The debate is still raging in America about illegal immigrants and who is illegal. I know I bring this up a lot in the blog, but the idea of the floating signifier is one of the best tools the course literature has, in my opinion, offered us all year. This is because it is a powerful yet non-specific tool.