When first opening up the quiz, I was prepared to answer questions that pertained to chapter 3's reading assignment. I was blown to bits when I realized that it was a drill on what I knew about the history of different historical figures from different races. I felt stupid. As an advocate for "non-butterfly" diversity action, I felt as though I had failed. I had gone out of my way to crunch jargon of sociological concepts and theories without carrying one of the core necessities of understanding what it means to be socially aware. I had skimped on the history, the history of my foreign humanity.
My boyfriend nervously watched as I swore under my breath. I was embarrassed. This assignment has taught me to look at the surface as well as the depth. I began a full blown spree of researching who's who. I first got a list for the white men, piece of cake. I went onto the white women, which posed some sort of challenge. The black men were known from my bringing up as a black female, easy as pie! It wasn't until I ended my spree with the black females did all the rest of the races become difficult. Not only were my panicky research abilities lacking but the internet was full of irrelevant information of the cultures.
Not only have my googling skills taken a shot, but so had my dignity. After this experience I thought a little bit. My knowledge of other people was lacking because I simply hadn't had any experiences that had exposed me to such knowledge. Coming from a more individualistic society, the history stuff taught to the "average" students primarily consisted of white men, successful battles, and the beginning of America's greatness.
Still, this is no excuse. I have a duty to be an ethical citizen. I now have the privilege and the access to a world of information and resources. This assignment worked as reminder of how much I actually know and need to find out. A new flame for history has indeed been discovered.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
What's a "Myself"?
My ethnicity predominantly consists of African, European, and Native American descents. It is funny to see blacks grouped together as one race when in fact, blacks are comprised of many ethnicities. The ridiculousness of categorizing people by their skin color proves to be anti-productive in assuming ones ethnicity. It seems to prove the race system being used as more of a class system. My own biological information has collected from across the globe so for someone to assume that I’m all African based on the color of my skin concludes stupidity onto the spectator. My appearance affects who I am.
When described in more detailed political terms, I only know of my European and Native American descents. My European ancestry comes from Ireland and France. My Native American ancestry comes from the Choctaw and Cherokee natives. But because of certain laws and policies put in place, I am not legally ,therefore not socially, part of any of those groups. The historical segregation of these groups has affected my linguistics or my communication. The way I Communicate makes up who I am.
These laws and policies follow both the benefits and costs of the class system. The amount of access that one has to certain privileges depends on their race with little to no relevance of one’s ethnic background. My privilege of going to college will affect my occupation which will then affect how much money I have which will then lead to more opportunity to where I move in the class system. Up to my almost 20 years of life experience, I feel I can confidently say, that race plays more of role of who you are in society than ethnicity. It is race not ethnicity that has influenced me in becoming the person I am. It is race because, like a board game, it is the card that keeps you in the game. Whether you like it or not, you play or you die.
It is my black race that I share with my black parents that has brought me to experiences and opportunities that have developed who I am. Everything from florescent wind suits of the 90s to 24 hour videogame stints with my 3 brothers. “Myself” comes from daydreaming on cold playground swing sets, watching my mother struggle over bills, losing a dog, talks about sex, parades, experiencing divorce, cold cream of wheat, the list is endless folks. I always promised myself that everything I absolutely loved in my experiences and opportunities, I would become. From my Grandmother’s warm kisses to my elementary wrestling matches at recess with the boys. These experiences exist in social variables, such as: race, ability, class, gender, religion, media environment, and institution.
These social variables effect communication, occupation, and appearance; all of what make the essentials for a person’s class. But there’s a catch, only a small portion of these variables may be controlled, race, ability, and gender may not be changed. The less you can assimilate the more difficulty for achievement. Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next billionaire.
With these experiences, opportunities, and variables has given me my play on the board. The board consists of figures that dispense, receive, and carryout information to other bodies, all for the movement of energy fueled by desires and survival. When someone encounters me they assume I’m black, which means nothing but African. No. Some get confused because “The way I talk is so proper.” Or they think I have some sort of accent. In today’s society the importance of ethnicity is as valuable as a fire place knick-knack. It won’t be until the importance of self relativism when all human effectively strategize to let our people truly prosper.
When described in more detailed political terms, I only know of my European and Native American descents. My European ancestry comes from Ireland and France. My Native American ancestry comes from the Choctaw and Cherokee natives. But because of certain laws and policies put in place, I am not legally ,therefore not socially, part of any of those groups. The historical segregation of these groups has affected my linguistics or my communication. The way I Communicate makes up who I am.
These laws and policies follow both the benefits and costs of the class system. The amount of access that one has to certain privileges depends on their race with little to no relevance of one’s ethnic background. My privilege of going to college will affect my occupation which will then affect how much money I have which will then lead to more opportunity to where I move in the class system. Up to my almost 20 years of life experience, I feel I can confidently say, that race plays more of role of who you are in society than ethnicity. It is race not ethnicity that has influenced me in becoming the person I am. It is race because, like a board game, it is the card that keeps you in the game. Whether you like it or not, you play or you die.
It is my black race that I share with my black parents that has brought me to experiences and opportunities that have developed who I am. Everything from florescent wind suits of the 90s to 24 hour videogame stints with my 3 brothers. “Myself” comes from daydreaming on cold playground swing sets, watching my mother struggle over bills, losing a dog, talks about sex, parades, experiencing divorce, cold cream of wheat, the list is endless folks. I always promised myself that everything I absolutely loved in my experiences and opportunities, I would become. From my Grandmother’s warm kisses to my elementary wrestling matches at recess with the boys. These experiences exist in social variables, such as: race, ability, class, gender, religion, media environment, and institution.
These social variables effect communication, occupation, and appearance; all of what make the essentials for a person’s class. But there’s a catch, only a small portion of these variables may be controlled, race, ability, and gender may not be changed. The less you can assimilate the more difficulty for achievement. Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next billionaire.
With these experiences, opportunities, and variables has given me my play on the board. The board consists of figures that dispense, receive, and carryout information to other bodies, all for the movement of energy fueled by desires and survival. When someone encounters me they assume I’m black, which means nothing but African. No. Some get confused because “The way I talk is so proper.” Or they think I have some sort of accent. In today’s society the importance of ethnicity is as valuable as a fire place knick-knack. It won’t be until the importance of self relativism when all human effectively strategize to let our people truly prosper.
Holiday Graduation
It is to my understanding that this assignment is meant to be created from a situation that is filled with context where we, UWRF students, have little to no experience in communicating. Then we are to list social rules that can be described in the situation. I have chosen a place that I have been before because my current access to a “unique” situation is quite limited in River Falls, WI. As a minority, I believe that this situation is still appropriate because it is an experience that allowed me to be the predominant culture and analyze both myself and the other culture in that position.
Even though I've always enjoyed watching human communication, whether it was at the Mall of America or in my own mother's kitchen, it is funny to know that others have observed similar situations. They are the social linguists, the anthropologists, communication specialists, etc. In their power they have been able to gift me with actual words and concepts. The ability to articulate these interactions, however, brings to me the ethical concern of over simplifying the human condition. I realized this ethical dilemma by observing human communication through the lens of social science. I began the journey of what would be described in the context I was in, as a creeper, to observe human interactions at my little brother's graduation party.
I looked for signs of anxiety and uncertainty according to the anxiety uncertainty management theory of William Gudykunst. The theory is based on strategies people use when they encounter a situation that brings up uncertainty and therefore anxiety. When you’re in an environment that exposes your “minority” culture fully to the initial predominant culture, you best believe that there will be anxiety.The environment consisted of a boisterous family and close friends. The context is located in a small, cramped, suburban townhome. There is a dance floor that is directly in the middle of the living room. Generalized, there are two primary cultures: the “Afrocentric” culture and what could be described as the “Eurocentric” culture. The rules that exist in these cultures are both different, and therefore some interesting observations can be made.
The first group, the group that could be described as the “Eurocentric” culture, shared close distance zones with their peers. The bodies faced toward each other and away from the context that would bring them uncertainty, and therefore anxiety. The Eagan High School students formed a tight circle around the living room dance floor where the “Afrocentrics” predominantly resided in the context. For this day, in America, we were the context and someone else didn’t know what to do.
It was humorous to watch my auntie and my big brother’s stepmother try to involve all the partygoers and watch the non-participatory audience walk away shyly. There were rules in both cultures in the context of the party. The “Afrocentric” culture required participants to actively participate in actions that could be described as overly-enthusiastic or were perhaps too involved. This would include, close distance zones with others, loud talking and laughing, and affectionate touches. The “Eurocentric” culture had distance zones with more space, softer talking, and more conservative body movements.
I felt bilingual in the "unique" situation of outgoing, overly enthusiastic, blacks in a room with awkward, white, suburban, teens because of my close experience in both worlds. I felt a sense of ethnocentrism when I came across the lost audience. They don’t know how to have fun, I thought. I stopped immediately and realized what I had done. I had just stumbled over what could be the beginning of my own irrational hate. To assume that my cultures way of doing things was better over another’s is part that beginning. I had forgotten where I came from. I forgotten my own “Eurocentric” characteristics of going to college, speaking “articulately”, and the unique qualities that my person possesses. I embraced my “afrocentricity” and used it for my own glorification. I began to feel biracial in the situation and immediately began to help my brother’s overly affectionate stepmother and crazy auntie unite the two groups. I wanted to bring people together. It is not wrong to have pride in your culture, but it is wrong to assume that one’s culture is superior to another’s.
Question for assgn #2: Could it be true that the conversational constraints theory could be described as being more appropriate for large scale cultural differences where the anxiety uncertainty Management theory would be more for analyzing enclaves that existed for more than 200 years (ex: black and whites)?
Even though I've always enjoyed watching human communication, whether it was at the Mall of America or in my own mother's kitchen, it is funny to know that others have observed similar situations. They are the social linguists, the anthropologists, communication specialists, etc. In their power they have been able to gift me with actual words and concepts. The ability to articulate these interactions, however, brings to me the ethical concern of over simplifying the human condition. I realized this ethical dilemma by observing human communication through the lens of social science. I began the journey of what would be described in the context I was in, as a creeper, to observe human interactions at my little brother's graduation party.
I looked for signs of anxiety and uncertainty according to the anxiety uncertainty management theory of William Gudykunst. The theory is based on strategies people use when they encounter a situation that brings up uncertainty and therefore anxiety. When you’re in an environment that exposes your “minority” culture fully to the initial predominant culture, you best believe that there will be anxiety.The environment consisted of a boisterous family and close friends. The context is located in a small, cramped, suburban townhome. There is a dance floor that is directly in the middle of the living room. Generalized, there are two primary cultures: the “Afrocentric” culture and what could be described as the “Eurocentric” culture. The rules that exist in these cultures are both different, and therefore some interesting observations can be made.
The first group, the group that could be described as the “Eurocentric” culture, shared close distance zones with their peers. The bodies faced toward each other and away from the context that would bring them uncertainty, and therefore anxiety. The Eagan High School students formed a tight circle around the living room dance floor where the “Afrocentrics” predominantly resided in the context. For this day, in America, we were the context and someone else didn’t know what to do.
It was humorous to watch my auntie and my big brother’s stepmother try to involve all the partygoers and watch the non-participatory audience walk away shyly. There were rules in both cultures in the context of the party. The “Afrocentric” culture required participants to actively participate in actions that could be described as overly-enthusiastic or were perhaps too involved. This would include, close distance zones with others, loud talking and laughing, and affectionate touches. The “Eurocentric” culture had distance zones with more space, softer talking, and more conservative body movements.
I felt bilingual in the "unique" situation of outgoing, overly enthusiastic, blacks in a room with awkward, white, suburban, teens because of my close experience in both worlds. I felt a sense of ethnocentrism when I came across the lost audience. They don’t know how to have fun, I thought. I stopped immediately and realized what I had done. I had just stumbled over what could be the beginning of my own irrational hate. To assume that my cultures way of doing things was better over another’s is part that beginning. I had forgotten where I came from. I forgotten my own “Eurocentric” characteristics of going to college, speaking “articulately”, and the unique qualities that my person possesses. I embraced my “afrocentricity” and used it for my own glorification. I began to feel biracial in the situation and immediately began to help my brother’s overly affectionate stepmother and crazy auntie unite the two groups. I wanted to bring people together. It is not wrong to have pride in your culture, but it is wrong to assume that one’s culture is superior to another’s.
Question for assgn #2: Could it be true that the conversational constraints theory could be described as being more appropriate for large scale cultural differences where the anxiety uncertainty Management theory would be more for analyzing enclaves that existed for more than 200 years (ex: black and whites)?
Monday, May 24, 2010
Lauren Evans: Two Truths One Lie
Hello Everyone!
My name is Lauren Evans. I am a marketing communications major here at UW-River Falls. I am living in River Falls for the summer and looking for a chance to keep my mind stimulated. Here is a contribution to today's game "Two Truths and a Lie": I was born in Minneapolis, I grew up with a dog in my house and I graduated from Eagan Highschool. Haha Enjoy!
My name is Lauren Evans. I am a marketing communications major here at UW-River Falls. I am living in River Falls for the summer and looking for a chance to keep my mind stimulated. Here is a contribution to today's game "Two Truths and a Lie": I was born in Minneapolis, I grew up with a dog in my house and I graduated from Eagan Highschool. Haha Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
