Ethnography Presentation

http://prezi.com/wwstsjuuwr_g/ethnography-presentation/

Film: Race

Race is a social-political structure that has shaped America since its founding. America in its early days seemed like a place where people could immigrate to achieve their greatest hopes and dreams. But this was only possible if you were defined as white by the government and society. Immigrants felt pressure to fit in in order to be accepted into society to achieve their greatest dreams. But without being white this was impossible. Immigrants lived in neighborhoods that were made of people from their home countries and shared the same values, cultures, and language. In order to gain citizenship and reap the benefits that citizenship offered whiteness was the key. As time continued American became a melting pot of European immigrants because they were considered white those who were not like Asians, Africans Americans, and Latinos could not melt into the pot and be true citizens. Those who thought citizenship on the basis of the color of ones skin should not be the determining factor but the beliefs of the person should be. The court system decided that although science could determine who was white the social understanding for who was white created the definition. To be white was an exclusive class that embodied the definition of being a "true" American. After World War II many feared the integration of neighborhoods that had so long been segregated but the government created things like the Federal Housing Administration to stop this. While whites were moving into the suburbs that offered lower priced housing and special financing, blacks were forced to live in the cities largely in public housing because they could not get approved for the mortgages. Whites were told to believe by real estate companies that if their neighborhoods were integrated the housing values would severely drop. This caused whites to move out as the blacks moved in, transforming the neighborhoods. This caused great structural suffering for all those who were not considered "white" they were left out of receiving all the benefits that the government and society set up to achieve the American Dream. They became second class citizens with little access to the opportunities that were available to whites. Today although we may not have racism in the way we used to the government and society has created a system that makes it nearly impossible for minorities to move out of the grasps of poverty and struggles of the social system to move up and create a better life for their families. 

Official Statement of Race

I found it interesting that the AAA stated that  race is defined as of now as an unscientific judgement of someone's culture and society. Biological factors and evolution have proven to be the source of the color variation of people and how the cultures interact with each other. For years I have heard that race was a man made construct. In fact race has nothing to do with how genetically similar one person is to another. Just last semester I remember watching a documentary in which a mixed high school science class took DNA samples from one another, and guessed who they would be similar to. The African-American students felt as though they would be closer related to one another, and the Caucasian students felt the same. However, what the students uncovered was that their physical appearance had nothing to do with how alike they were.  

White Privilege

I found the article on White Privilege to actually be one of my favorite articles of the semester. Like the previous article that we read for today, I had heard of a similar article to this one however, what set this article apart was that it was written by a white woman. Peggy McIntosh, first went out to research male privilege in our society, but then realized that there was an addition secret privilege, and that was white privilege. In the article she wrote a list of conditions that she has come across in her life that had to ultimately deal with race, and racial representation. Although I found all of them to be very explicit and detailed, the one that I found the most interesting would be number 16,  "I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion". Although I can not sympathize with any of her realizations at all...I found this one to be interesting because not only is it true, but in America it seems to be a standard for everyone. I'm sure by now everyone has heard the phrase "This is America and we speak American" (or some variation of that), but yet no one criticizes us. Its almost like we are expected to live in a country where cultural ignorance is bliss, but we are not afraid to state that we are among the world's most diverse nations. This article (although it was focused on race) made me think deeper, and apple what McIntosh was saying more into this new idea of the American vs Hispanics (or rather illegal immigrant) sentiment, and how it has really changed many laws that exist in our country today.  

mixed blood

The mixed blood article was really interesting. I've read similar articles and books that have uncovered the same findings as Fish. Reading articles such as this one though make me realize that society has come a long way (about the topic of race) from previous generations up to today. For example, in the 19th century people who were of mixed races (particularly African-American and Caucasians) they were called mulatto. However, what most people are unaware of is the fact that the term mulatto actually means mule (which is a hybrid between a horse and a donkey and is infertile). For the most part, I would like to believe that our society has evolved, and changed since then. There has been an increase in the number of interracial relationships, as well as biracial offspring. However, critics of these new practices say due to the mixing of races, eventually there will be no "pure" race. While that may be true, I do not think that this may be a bad thing. By all means if this happens then perhaps we could get rid of some diseases that plague certain ethnic groups, and maybe even put an end to prejudice and racism.

Extra Credit: Linguistics Presentation

I found the entire topic to be very interesting. The topic of the presentation focused on the differing lingo of African-Americans in the United States. Personally, I thought that this was a really cool discussion seeing as though vernaculars change in every region of the country. However, this discussion connected with me personally because I am from the south and my boyfriend is from Philadelphia, PA. As expected, our words (and their meanings) often to don't match all of the time, and if often leads to one saying "What does that mean?:. But moreover, Dr. Blake's discussion focused on the language variations that are just found in New York City. What the discussion really made me think about was a movement in the 1980s (I believe) in which some colleges (and high schools) offered courses in ebonics. Within these courses students of other races could formally learn the meanings of African-American vernaculars. Although the movement didn't really last, I do think that there should be more of a focus on the varying speech patterns of African-Americans. I have traveled a bit in my life, and I sincerely can not remember a single place in which other black people have spoken like me. (Which was one of the points of Dr. Blake's session) No matter where I traveled speech patterns were never the same. In Dr. Blake's presentation, she focused on African-American Hispanics, African immigrants, and Caribbean Americans. However, I believe that there are some many other sub-groups to be studied. For example, the gullah people of the Sea Islands have a very unique speech pattern, as well as the Creole people who are African-American and French (found mostly in Louisiana). Overall though, I found the presentation very interesting and relevant, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The other side of immigration

I found this film to be very interesting. In fact I found Germano's entire journey to be very intriguing. Coming form a very conservative state, usually the only thing that is heard on the news are those who are opposed to immigration. I consider myself to be a pretty liberal person, so I personally don't have a problem with it. I know that they are just trying to help their families back in Mexico. However, I think most people down here are just more concerned about the changing faces of America. Personally, I believe that if America is supposed to be this vast melting pot then how could we not expect the "face" of America to be a little darker than in previous decades. However, I just believe that it shows the diversity and progression of our culture. In regards to the film though, I think that there should be somethings implemented so that those small rural towns in Mexico have the opportunity to prosper, and give their people opportunities. I do think that Germano's non profit organization however, is a great idea and an amazing opportunity for children who will need that assistance.