Why study Whiteness...
When I first heard about courses in whiteness studies I scoffed at the idea. We already
study white people. Our textbooks are full of historically notable white people. We read literature written by white people. Whiteness is everywhere. It is in our faces everyday. Why on earth would we need to "study" it? I've come to understand that whiteness needs to be studied precisely because it is in our faces everyday and no one questions it.
Unfortunately, what does get questioned is why "others" feel the need to be different, to define themselves, to create a separate space for their identity. One question I've heard more than once is "Why do they need BET?" as if the very notion of having one channel amongst hundreds that is devoted solely to Black Entertainment is somehow a form of reverse racism. Nevermind the racist conditions that led to the creation of BET, or the lowered standards it seems to now have, just the mere fact that there is still something that is "Black only" is what the problem is.
To me, this is what hooks was talking in her article about the rage that white students had when they listened to the Black students talk about whiteness. The belief that "all ways of looking that highlight difference subvert the liberal belief in a universal subjectivity (we are all just people) that they think will make racism disappear" conflicts with the reality of what nonwhite people have to deal with when it comes to race (21). There were hardly any shows on TV that had Black people in them, and there was no place for Black music videos on MTV (except for Michael Jackson who was the first). BET was created as a space to focus on Black issues, show programs featuring Black actors, and feature music of Black artists. That's why "they" need(ed) BET.
The other thing that caught my attention was the idea of being socialized in the fantasy of Whiteness that hooks and Dyer were talking about. More specifically, the idea that white people believe that black people believe that "whiteness represents goodness and all that is benign and non-threatening" (22). It made me wonder if this and the need to "'civilize and Christianize' the heathen, the savages, the less fortunate" is the view that inner city police take when they enter into poor Black and Latino/a neighborhoods (35). While there is evidence of racism in police brutality, I am wondering if the police truly believe that they are protecting and serving the "other" because they have bought into the fantasy of Whiteness? They are unable to see the reality that their very presence islikened to terrorism (22). I also think that class makes this hard to see as well. Middle class "others" would be more socialized into the fantasy than the working class because their interaction with white people is slightly different and they don't learn to fear them so quickly.
Monday, January 30, 2012
From Computers and Writing Blog (Writing Space)
eBooks are eVil
Just reading the introduction to Bolter's book made me realize just how much of a dinosaur I really am. Bolter's explanation that the "late age of print" is the "transformation of our social and cultural attitudes toward, and uses of, this familiar technology" had me thinking about how much I have really transformed my attitude towards print and digital media. While I have used digital media, and I can appreciate it in it's various forms I am still an old school, book printing
advocate.
For some reason, I just can't agree with digitizing books. I have always preferred to read a book I can hold, write in, smell, and even get a papercut from. The few times I have found a book online I ended up printing it out because I just couldn't sit and read it on the screen. Which is rather curious because I printed the exact same thing that was on the computer screen, but I preferred the printed version anyway. It's not the material that is on the screen, or the way that it is presented that is an issue for me. Apparently, it is just the fact that it is digital that really bothers me (though I'm not too fond of books on tape either). Not to mention that I can't highlight or write notes in the margins of an eBook...at least as far as I know, but I'm sure that will eventually change one of these days.
Quite frankly, eBooks scare me. They just don't make any sense to me. What is the fascination with print needing to be changeable and fluid, or text being linked to other works? So a few trees
are saved. They can be recycled. So what if students won't have to lug around heavy backpacks loaded down with textbooks? They make backpacks with wheels. That curvature of my spine to the left from carrying book laden bags on one shoulder? I can just switch to the right shoulder for balance. What's the big deal? I don't think that eBooks should replace print. Then again, I also prefer handwritten letters to email, and writing in a journal to blogging. Maybe I belong in another time...
Actually, this whole post reminds me of Erykah Badu and how she calls herself an analog girl in a digital world. I was going to post a link to one of her songs, but as I was looking them I up I come to find out there is a country song by Guy Clark called "Analog Girl" as well. A short clip is on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/BAmDlmrAIiY. The lyrics are as follows:
You got to call her when she’s home
All of her clocks have got hands
Now don’t try to e-mail her,
you’ve got to snail mail her
You got to take pen in hand
Ones and zeros, zeros and ones
She’ll have none of that virtual fun
She’s a real deal ol’ fashioned analog girl
In a digital world
Now she gets online out in the backyard
Hangin’ up her ol’ blue jeans
She’s got all of the memory she can live with
She really hates drum machines
Ones and zeros, zeros and ones
She’ll have none of that virtual fun
She’s a real deal ol’ fashioned analog girl
In a digital world
Out in the garden she’s got a website
It sparkles in the mornin’ dew
Got a mouse in her pocket,
she’s got spam in a can
What’s an analog girl to do
Ones and zeros, zeros and ones
She’ll have none of that virtual fun
She’s a real deal ol’ fashioned analog girl
In a digital world
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