Journal Part One - January 26th

Race: The Power of an Illusion (Video - 2003) 

This video suggests that race is something that has manifested itself in our minds and that challenges my own knowledge because I have grown up seeing “race” all around me. After watching this video a line that really resonated with me went something like “race isn’t how you look, it’s how you assign meaning to how you look.” This really made me rethink a lot of what I know about race as a whole. Supposedly we have four major racial categories that are assigned as colors (white, black, red, and yellow). What that really means is open to debate. This line suggests, as does the American constitution, that all men are created equal BUT whether or not we are all treated equal remains to be seen. Examples explained in this video were the Native Americans getting displaced from their land and the African American people being treated as slaves. Because others didn’t look the same as the settlers, the settler’s assigned meaning to how they looked and treated them according to their preconceived notions, thus creating racism. If someone, back when America was settled had treated them just as any other “white” settler, things would of course be a lot different and the way that we think about race today would be drastically different.

This idea that race is a created concept is definitely a challenge for me to comprehend because race has been engrained in my brain for such a long time. Throughout my educational career we have learned how different races and different culture do things differently – not that these differences are bad per say – but I have definitely been taught that they exist. I have also seen throughout our schooling, be it through teachers or otherwise (media), that there is usually a prominent race in our correctional system or a breakdown of the races (or in some cases, ethnicity) that make up the city that we live in. There are always certain groups fighting for rights and these groups can be primarily guided by their race. I think that the statement has resonated with me because it gives me a new perspective on the notion of race. It challenges my opinion because I have never thought about it in that sense – the sense that race is just an assigned meaning. I don’t purposefully assign meaning to race but it probably happens subconsciously. These assignments are not negative but they are not positive either – assuming anything based on race whether it is on purpose or not is not okay. If, by accident, as a teacher you pass these thoughts on to your students – you are creating a cycle of race as a contributing factor for people’s traits or worth.

I think that this video made me think harder about what I am passing onto students in my classroom. It is almost impossible to think that I can be “blind” to race but I can make a conscience effort to not perpetuate any stereotypes of others. I also don't think that I should be striving to be blind to race because that can sometimes turn into blind to culture. I don’t think that I do this in my day to day life but I will think about if I am. This video really made me feel confused about what I thought I knew about race. I feel that I need to learn more about the history of race, where it came from and why it came to be. It is a really interesting concept to me because I have never thought of race in that great of detail – or thought about why race is a socially constructed concept. I would like to build my background knowledge of this subject in order to better inform my students as to why concepts are the way they are. 

"We Must Farm to Enable Us to Live": The Plains Cree and Agriculture to 1900 (Sarah Carter - 1986)

This reading invites me to rethink what I know about the treaties because it explained another aspect of them that I was not aware of. I knew that aboriginal people were shorted what they were promised in the treaties but I was not aware of the extent in regards to them pursuing agriculture. This article introduced me to one of the many examples of structural determinism, the language that people were using about aboriginal people shaped policies made by the government which in turn lead them to failure, which eventually reinforced the stereotypes that people had about them. The agricultural policies that the aboriginal people were subject to causes a vicious cycle – making it near impossible for the aboriginals to be successful farmers. This article discusses some of the policies that the government put in place for the aboriginal farmers – such as the home farm experiment and the peasant farming policy. Policies like this inadvertently caused farming to be extremely difficult for aboriginal people, eventually leading many of them to quit because they were not given the proper resources.

These key points from the article guide the observations that I have made throughout my experiences with agriculture in Saskatchewan. I know that I have not met or seen many aboriginal farmers so this supports what the article was saying. I think that this guides what I think about incorporating aboriginal content into my classroom. I have always thought that there should be more aboriginal content incorporated into all grades because this is where I believe my education lacked. With this new information about the challenges that aboriginal people faced, it gives ideas for incorporating it into a lesson. These points also challenge what I previously thought about the challenges of aboriginal people, in education and otherwise. I knew that the aboriginal people faced challenges because of the treaties but I didn’t know many specifics. This gave me insight into why some aboriginal people live the way they do, for example in poverty. I now know because of government policy and lack of resources it was nearly impossible for aboriginal people to succeed at farming – and that this caused major implications that we can still see today for their descendants. Due to the lack of resources of their ancestors, some aboriginal people today still face issues with rights to their land, self-governance, education, and the justice system. Some of the discourse that went on back in the 1900’s and before is still enforced today because the cycle has not been broken yet.

I think that this article has definitely expanded what I know and given me more information to pass onto my students. Because of my experiences and opinions I would like my student to be given all the facts before they start to form their opinions – I want my students to have informed opinions as opposed to just continuing the cycle of the discourse “informing” their thoughts. Growing up I never had this information and I think if I had it my opinions may have formed differently. I have been given a whole other area of knowledge to look into when I am thinking of incorporating aboriginal perspectives and knowledge. For example, when the topic of government comes up we could look at aboriginal self-governance and what could have been different if they were able to do so back in the 1900’s. After reading this article I have different feelings about the extent to which the aboriginal people were deprived of resources and it makes me sad. I feel I need to learn more about other areas where they were deprived of resources and the consequences that they still face today as a result.

On Orientalism (David Said Video - 1998)

This reading suggests that society depicts the Middle East (and along with that, Arab people) in a negative way and this supports my own knowledge because I see this depiction in the media on a regular basis. As the video points out, the media is one of the major contributors to these negative images. There are different forms of media that depict these negative images in different ways – the news and movies were examples that were discussed. Said says that Orientalism is a way a seeing that emphasizes and exaggerates the differences of Arab people and cultures compared to the western world.

I definitely think that the points in this video guide what I already know about media depiction of the Arab world and it also extends it. These images are what children are being exposed to and now that I know a deeper meaning of what they represent. One of the examples from the video really hit home for me because I had never thought about it in the way that it was described – it was just entertainment value and that is the example of the movie Aladdin. This children’s cartoon was my favorite growing up but now that I think of the background as distorting the image of the Middle East, it is a whole new movie to me. As a citizen of the western world I saw this movie as entertainment, depicting a far off magical place that was very different from where I am from. As they said, this depiction is not correct and it gives everyone a false perception of the Middle East – I myself was probably guilty of this as a child. Looking at media images now I realize that they do have a common theme and they show a false image of the Arab world. Through news outlets I constantly see protests and conflicts in the Middle East where the only images are people being angry and pumping their fists in the air – which is of course not how all Arab cultures handle their conflicts and problems. This is socially inaccurate, this is not how all Arab people are but the media generalizes so that the news story is more flashy.

This video’s information will definitely influence my teaching practice and I will make sure that I inform the students of all the facts – not just what the media is showing them. I will teach to look for the deeper meaning and the truth within all the media images. Again, like the other articles this video just ingrains in my mind how important it is to think critically when viewing or reading anything. Another example in this video that goes along with this critical thinking component is the Oklahoma City bombing. The media just jumped to the conclusion that of course this was an Arab terrorist – when in reality there was no evidence of this. This is a good lesson to teach in not jumping to conclusions without all the facts. This video made me feel bad – I mean, if someone was using a false image of my culture and area of the world as entertainment I would be offended. We shouldn’t take someone’s culture or area of the world and distort it for entertainment value. I think there is still more to be learned from this video and it has inspired me to learn more about the topic. I am trying to get my hands on the book “Covering Islam” by Edward Said so that I can find out more about his thoughts on depictions of the Arab world and Orientalism.