Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Blog #12
I am going to examine the shaggy dog stories for my short analysis essay and I plan on asking and finding answers for the following questions: What types of violence are used in a "successful" shaggy dog story and why? I am going to do some examining for each shaggy dog story available on the blog that has some form of violence and take all the notes available from class and hopefully draw a conclusion. I will also consider the overall popularity of each story. Is the violence bloody? Or is it unrealistic, like a cartoon? And who is the victim here? What kind of character is the perpetrator? These are a few subquestions that will help me answer the main question.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Blog #10
I have yet to take out of the library or buy/rent most books for my topic but I am most definitely sticking with intersectional feminism and building a list of all of the sources that I'm planning on using. This is a long shot but my goal is to read the majority of the books but I'll probably end up just looking through them using the index to find what I need.
I was given even more sources after the meeting which is always a good thing, and then hopefully I can interview at least one woman in my family. The more I think about it the more I think that it's a good idea to pick someone from my family cus except for me, everyone was born and raised in a different country and so coming here, there's a good chance that they have a much more vivid recollection of the way they were treated and the behaviors of those around them. And being not only women but women of color I think I'll be able to get a lot of insight as to how this all relates back to intersectionality. Hopefully from that I'll be able to draw some conclusions about just how necessary the theory is in order for feminism to be a success. And I always have truckload of articles that I've already read through. All I need to do is take notes.
Fortunately for this project, my family is big and I have a number of subjects to choose from so hopefully I'll have at least one or two interviews for primary data and a whole load of secondary sources but I don't think more general collections of data like surveys would properly serve my purpose but I'm looking for very subjective answers and personal experiences that cannot be properly conveyed through questionnaires but I could be wrong. We'll see.
I was given even more sources after the meeting which is always a good thing, and then hopefully I can interview at least one woman in my family. The more I think about it the more I think that it's a good idea to pick someone from my family cus except for me, everyone was born and raised in a different country and so coming here, there's a good chance that they have a much more vivid recollection of the way they were treated and the behaviors of those around them. And being not only women but women of color I think I'll be able to get a lot of insight as to how this all relates back to intersectionality. Hopefully from that I'll be able to draw some conclusions about just how necessary the theory is in order for feminism to be a success. And I always have truckload of articles that I've already read through. All I need to do is take notes.
Fortunately for this project, my family is big and I have a number of subjects to choose from so hopefully I'll have at least one or two interviews for primary data and a whole load of secondary sources but I don't think more general collections of data like surveys would properly serve my purpose but I'm looking for very subjective answers and personal experiences that cannot be properly conveyed through questionnaires but I could be wrong. We'll see.
Blog #9 (incomplete)
Brian, Arlene, Jaylecia and I all took our time looking at the different drafts and their comments but when we discussed it we focused mostly on the narrative draft.
We agreed that a lot, if not most, of the comments were really lengthy and a lot of those comments were questions directed to the author as a way to give them direction for how they can improve their paper. For example, in comment LT3 the teacher is asking about how the author uses bullet points as a way to help them organize their writing. The teacher was asking if they used bullet points for the entire essay, what kind of information was in those bullet points, etc. But it didn't seem necessary to try to pull more information about the bullet points because the author had already gotten their point across: they use bullet points. Sometimes the comments try to ask questions too often and in my opinion if I were to keep getting comment after comment with like three questions in a single comment, I would just pick and choose which ones I would rather adhere to cus it's too much sometimes. It's great that the teacher is attempting to provide direction and that's what a lot of students want but maybe they need to cut back on asking soo many questions.
We also noted that in a lot of the comments, it starts off with the teacher pointing out what was good about the author's paper, followed by a criticism. This is likely a way to "soften the blow" so to speak. For example, in LT6, it says:
So there is one commenting pattern goes like this (in a nutshell): Good comment, the "but", and then the critique.
The teacher also left some standalone "good comments" as well, highlighting areas of the paper that they thought were interesting, cool, etc. This is a good thing. Students like to hear that from teachers so they know what they should put into their next papers and also what they should keep and it's good that the teacher didn't just go "good, BUT..." for every single comment, they also thought to add some simple positive feedback as well.
We agreed that a lot, if not most, of the comments were really lengthy and a lot of those comments were questions directed to the author as a way to give them direction for how they can improve their paper. For example, in comment LT3 the teacher is asking about how the author uses bullet points as a way to help them organize their writing. The teacher was asking if they used bullet points for the entire essay, what kind of information was in those bullet points, etc. But it didn't seem necessary to try to pull more information about the bullet points because the author had already gotten their point across: they use bullet points. Sometimes the comments try to ask questions too often and in my opinion if I were to keep getting comment after comment with like three questions in a single comment, I would just pick and choose which ones I would rather adhere to cus it's too much sometimes. It's great that the teacher is attempting to provide direction and that's what a lot of students want but maybe they need to cut back on asking soo many questions.
We also noted that in a lot of the comments, it starts off with the teacher pointing out what was good about the author's paper, followed by a criticism. This is likely a way to "soften the blow" so to speak. For example, in LT6, it says:
"Good - but again - discriminating among the different kinds of thinking you do would strengthen this."
So there is one commenting pattern goes like this (in a nutshell): Good comment, the "but", and then the critique.
The teacher also left some standalone "good comments" as well, highlighting areas of the paper that they thought were interesting, cool, etc. This is a good thing. Students like to hear that from teachers so they know what they should put into their next papers and also what they should keep and it's good that the teacher didn't just go "good, BUT..." for every single comment, they also thought to add some simple positive feedback as well.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Blog #8
1. Familiarize yourself with your topic
From Wikipedia:
Intersectionality is a sociological theory suggesting that—and seeking to examine how—various socially and culturally constructed categories of discrimination interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic social inequality. Intersectionality holds that the classical models of oppression within society, such as those based on race/ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, class, or disability do not act independently of one another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate creating a system of oppression that reflects the "intersection" of multiple forms of discrimination.
From Intersektionalitet:
The concept of intersectionality point to the importance of having a multidimensional analysis of power structures. That is to take into account all the dimensions of power. To Civis that means to take into consideration all the social categories that power and oppression rest upon. Among others, these categories are: gender, class, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation etc.
From African-American Policy Forum:
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Intersectionality is a feminist theory pertaining to a matrix of oppression. Each and every indivual is affected by varying forms, levels and degrees of oppression that come with their identity. Different forms of oppression do not necessarily stand alone from each other. Rather, they interact with each other on different levels. Sex, gender, ability, race, class, wealth and weight are all examples of the categories with which we identify ourselves. And our identity can define our advantages and disadvantages in society. Many feminists appear to ignore that.
2. Identify a research question
Why is intersectionality is crucial to the success of the feminist movement and why is it so often ignored?
Why is Intersectionality so important?
Why is it being ignored and forgotten?
How does this affect Feminism as a whole?
What will happen if we do not address the inclusion of Intersectionality?
3. Decide what you need to know to answer your research question
What is intersectionality?
What are its origins?
Demographic of those who adhere to this theory and why
Demographic of those who do not adhere to this theory and why
4. Formulate a research plan that includes:
Purpose: To understand intersectional feminism and why some people don't include it into their feminist ideologies.
Detailed Thesis Statement:
Necessary Information:
List of Preliminary Sources:
Method of Information Gathering:
From Wikipedia:
Intersectionality is a sociological theory suggesting that—and seeking to examine how—various socially and culturally constructed categories of discrimination interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic social inequality. Intersectionality holds that the classical models of oppression within society, such as those based on race/ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, class, or disability do not act independently of one another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate creating a system of oppression that reflects the "intersection" of multiple forms of discrimination.
From Intersektionalitet:
The concept of intersectionality point to the importance of having a multidimensional analysis of power structures. That is to take into account all the dimensions of power. To Civis that means to take into consideration all the social categories that power and oppression rest upon. Among others, these categories are: gender, class, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation etc.
From African-American Policy Forum:
Intersectionality is a concept that enables us to recognize the fact that perceived group membership can make people vulnerable to various forms of bias, yet because we are simultaneously members of many groups, our complex identities can shape the specific way we each experience that bias. For example, men and women can often experience racism differently, just as women of different races can experience sexism differently, and so on. As a result, an intersectional approach goes beyond conventional analysis in order to focus our attention on injuries that we otherwise might not recognize.
--
Intersectionality is a feminist theory pertaining to a matrix of oppression. Each and every indivual is affected by varying forms, levels and degrees of oppression that come with their identity. Different forms of oppression do not necessarily stand alone from each other. Rather, they interact with each other on different levels. Sex, gender, ability, race, class, wealth and weight are all examples of the categories with which we identify ourselves. And our identity can define our advantages and disadvantages in society. Many feminists appear to ignore that.
2. Identify a research question
Why is intersectionality is crucial to the success of the feminist movement and why is it so often ignored?
Why is Intersectionality so important?
Why is it being ignored and forgotten?
How does this affect Feminism as a whole?
What will happen if we do not address the inclusion of Intersectionality?
3. Decide what you need to know to answer your research question
What is intersectionality?
What are its origins?
Demographic of those who adhere to this theory and why
Demographic of those who do not adhere to this theory and why
4. Formulate a research plan that includes:
Purpose: To understand intersectional feminism and why some people don't include it into their feminist ideologies.
Detailed Thesis Statement:
Necessary Information:
List of Preliminary Sources:
Method of Information Gathering:
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Blog #7
I have a lot of ideas of what it is I want to research. In my first blog post I mentioned that I had a growing interest with racism, intersectional feminism, ableism and so on. Growing up I was fortunate enough not to be exposed to as much racism as an Asian-American as other fellow Asian-Americans that I've come across. Either that or I was so ignorant that what they were doing was racist that I wasn't even phazed by it. So as much as I want my main focus to be about racism, I think I want to go for a topic that I have way more personal experience with, which is sexism, and to go with that, intersectional feminism. What it is, how it works, and why we need it in order for feminism to work and adhere to the issues of ALL women: White women, women of color, trans* women, cisgender women, able-bodied and disabled women.
Intersectionality is a sociological theory that some self-proclaimed feminists do not always incorporate into their ideologies. The idea is that different categories that people identify with- sex, gender, ethnicity, wealth, class, etc.- interact with each other on multiple levels simultaneously. Forms of privilege and oppression are not always independent of one another- rather, they interlap and affect individuals in different ways.
I'm thinking that the intersectionality theory is going to be my main focus but I also want to go into the absence of this theory and how it affects people. I mentioned in my first blog that I don't associate myself as a feminist and it's because of this very absence that I do so but I haven't stopped concerning myself with women's issues. One particular incident that stands out as the main reason for this is from a SlutWalk protest in 2011 where a White SlutWalk participant held up a sign featuring the "n" word. I don't know what was worse, the fact that she paraded around with this sign thinking it was okay and no one said anything until one black woman- an organizer of the protest I believe- told her to take it down, or the overwhelming responses that were DEFENDING this woman's use of a hateful racial slur. I want my research paper to observe and reflect the varying attitudes and beliefs of feminism and intersectionality more than anything.
--
My other option is to do a research paper on privilege. Male privilege, White privilege, thin privilege, able-bodied privilege, wealthy privilege, cisgender privilege, all of that.
Intersectionality is a sociological theory that some self-proclaimed feminists do not always incorporate into their ideologies. The idea is that different categories that people identify with- sex, gender, ethnicity, wealth, class, etc.- interact with each other on multiple levels simultaneously. Forms of privilege and oppression are not always independent of one another- rather, they interlap and affect individuals in different ways.
I'm thinking that the intersectionality theory is going to be my main focus but I also want to go into the absence of this theory and how it affects people. I mentioned in my first blog that I don't associate myself as a feminist and it's because of this very absence that I do so but I haven't stopped concerning myself with women's issues. One particular incident that stands out as the main reason for this is from a SlutWalk protest in 2011 where a White SlutWalk participant held up a sign featuring the "n" word. I don't know what was worse, the fact that she paraded around with this sign thinking it was okay and no one said anything until one black woman- an organizer of the protest I believe- told her to take it down, or the overwhelming responses that were DEFENDING this woman's use of a hateful racial slur. I want my research paper to observe and reflect the varying attitudes and beliefs of feminism and intersectionality more than anything.
--
My other option is to do a research paper on privilege. Male privilege, White privilege, thin privilege, able-bodied privilege, wealthy privilege, cisgender privilege, all of that.
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