Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Blog 4 Conversations about Race

Why do we need to have conversations about race?

We need to have conversations about race because it makes us behave in ways that effect how we function in society. From a biological factor such as skin color, we form these ideologies about people's languages and cultures. Racism becomes a mental illness we all suffer from, in the sense that it is desensitizing. We forget that we are a human race-- instead we are broken down to ethnic categories that allow us to be victims of discrimination, social exclusion, marginalization, genocide, cultural mistrust and colorism. Fear, hate, and schizophrenic ideologies of superiority separate us, when in fact we are all equal. Which means, if my neighbor lay on a operating table on the brink of death, I can give him my blood, or my organs to sustain his/her life. It doesn't matter what race, color or creed I am.
For 37 years, I have struggled with the pain of racism and how it has effected my journey through life. Being a victim can cause so much detriment to your soul and self-worth. Being in this class, having conversations about our experiences has allowed me to move forward with a lot of my issues. Talking about race can do the same for others. Reading about race relations, identifying issues that effect the community allowed me to learn why I have been a victim, as well as other cultures. Culturally, minority groups are underrepresented in ever aspect of American culture from sciences, the arts, media, literature, and popular culture. Our histories are ignored, and stereotype and ignorance are standing in place of our real identities.

To shift the tides we need to confront the stereotypes, microaggressions, and racial biases head on. Black bodies are only respected for entertainment on the basketball courts, and football fields, or as objects of sexuality. All Latinos are being identified as immigrants-- America's problem, yet the solution to economic development in the labor industry. Muslims are viewed as a threat to the security of our nations borders. While Asian American's seem to be synonymous with math and technology. Once we get past these assumptions, we can look to seek some form of justice and social change. 







Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Blog Group Project

I have been absent and out of the loop for a while, due to illness. I am still catching up on blogs, and readings from my group. Being absent on Tuesday was a bummer. I am sure there was an effort to come up with a solid plan in my group. But, we still need to hash out some ideas with everyone being present. What I propose to contribute to the group is to get the class thinking about code switching, or code meshing, by giving some examples and excerpts. Code switching and code meshing are two different language ideologies. We learned this from Andre's insightful articles and links. I would like to show the difference in that perception. Showing, how code switching being used to encourage those who write and speak with a vernacular to leave their own dialect to switch to standard English, opposed to code meshing which blends languages and dialects in one discourse. The best way to do this is through some sort of interactive exercise, that draws awareness in a visual way. Since, we all agreed we are visual learners, the goal is to educate the class, by making connections from cultural perspectives. 

Today, there is literature written that serves as a how to guide for educators and students, to help them bring code-switching and subtle ways to get rid of it, so to speak. There are lessons to encourage culturally and linguistically diverse students to use Standard English Grammar in the classroom. http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/e02610/csl_introduction.pdf.
I am curious to see if you all find biases and prejudice in the text and if you think it will serve as a useful tool.

Here is something else that I came across. A teacher using a stylized pedagogy to connect with her students. Although it would not be considered code switching, because she is using Standard English Grammar, she is still employing a cultural performance identity. Can this be considered code-meshing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Tp58UI8a8. What do you think?