One of the articles I would like to talk about is “Global Woman” written by Barbara Enrenreich and Arlie Dussell Hochschild. This article stood out to me because my mother was also an immigrant from mainland China to Hong Kong. Her reason that moving from China to Hong Kong was not raising children or support family, but it was for her own future. Working in Hong Kong earned much more than working in China. Similar to those immigrants mentioned in the article, working in rich countries could earn much more in poor countries. There is an example mentioned in the article, “In Hong Kong, for instance, the wages of a Filipina domestic are about fifteen times the amount she could make as a schoolteacher back in the Philippines.” It is true that even though women have good education in their own countries, they would choose to work as nannies or maids in other countries because of better pay. As my mother worked outside, my family hired a Filipino as a maid to help doing housework and raising children. This is what Enrenreich and Hochschild point out in the article that as women work outside not only want to do the fulltime job, but also keep thriving children and managing the home well; therefore, domestic workers and nannies are needed to help women doing all the things at home. The article could be applied to what Professor Messner talked in class about the knowledge grounded in male-female gendered division of labor. Women work outside and are the breadwinners of the families become more and more common in today’s world. In the past, people generally thought that male were the breadwinner, but in recently research, “women were the sole, primary, or coequal earners in more than half of American families (Gallinsky and Friedman 1995).” This trend changes the knowledge of the world grounded male-female gendered division of labor.
The second article I would like to talk about is “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” written by Audre Lorde. This article stood out to me because of the writer’s background. Lorde is a “forty-nine-year-old Black lesbian feminist socialist mother of two, including one boy, and a member of an interracial couple.” As being a minority, I do think that her point of view gives me new point of view in understanding the differences of age, race, class and sex. She points out, “Certainly there are very real differences between us of race, age, and sex. But it is not those differences between us that are separating us. It is rather our refusal to recognize those differences, and to examine the distortions which result from our misnaming them and their effects upon human behavior and expectation.” I think this could be applied to Professor Messner mentioned in class about the knowledge grounder in intersectional division of labor. Lorde points out because of the different races, white women defines women “in term of their own experience alone, then women of Color become “other.” Lorde gives an example of only Colored women teaches the literature of women of Color. White women thought that Colored women are hard to understand because they are too different. In my point of view, the experiences grounded in “intersectional” social locations could explain why the white women have those “outsider” feelings.
I do think that "situated knowledge" is an impediment to seeing the world clearly. Professor Messner mentioned in class about the standpoint theory of knowledge that people’s knowledge is based on their own experiences, and also their experiences are grounded in their social locations. Thus, “situated knowledge” affects people’s point of view because people’s experiences will affect their opinions, and that is why they understand the world subjectively. Therefore, I do think that "situated knowledge" is an impediment to seeing the world clearly.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Arielle Mojica
The article that stood out most to me was the one written by Yen Le Espiritu, titled, " 'Americans Have a Different Attitude': Family, Sexuality, and Gender in Filipina American Lives". Being Filipina, I had personal connections with a lot of what the interviewed people were speaking about but at the same time, I realized that there were also a lot of things that they tried to generalize onto Filipinos that I just did not agree with at all. For instance, a lot of the interviewees tried to claim that Filipinos tend to see White girls or women as sexually promiscuous and they learned this from their parents. However, my parents never made such comparisons or attempted to instill these kinds of ideas in me. Nor did they try to divide our household chores amongst gendered lines--and it's only my brother and me. However, I can identify with the double-standard issue of parents being way more strict on girls than on boys; although I think this is somewhat more universal than they are making out to be because girls "have more to lose"--speaking loosely, in engaging in unprotected sex or going out by themselves too cavalier all over the world--not just in Filipino culture.
Another article we read this week that stood out to me was the To Veil or Not to Veil article by Ghazal and Batkowski. This was a really interesting article because it showed the viewpoints of all self-proclaimed devout Muslim women who either chose to engage or not to engage in a highly debated form of demonstrating one's devoutness in the muslim world--wearing the hijab. It was interesting that all of the women interviewed were able to recognize its origins as being a form of male control over females but that they took this differently. The veiling group took it was their duty to exercise their control over sexual encounters with men and thus, it made them feel more empowered while their opposing practicers of non-veiling took this to be a mere manifestation of the continued control men try to hold over women even in a modernizing world. I also found it interesting that neither group opposed the other as I would have thought, but rather they accepted each other as members of the same group just with different ideologies but this was not an impediment to their commonalities. Tying this in with the lecture, one can see the intersectionality of this dilemma as the women interviewed were that of a college town and so probably more liberal than if they were to be in a more conservative area. Also, they were all of different age and class backgrounds so it is hard to tell where their differing ideologies really stem from.
Lastly, in response to the question about whether or not situated knowledge is an impediment to seeing the world clearly, I think it is because experience builds up biases or opinions in general that tend to either develop more strongly over time unless they are disproved. It is difficult to not account for any subjectivity at all in analyzing an incident because we are all going to interpret in a different way depending on our past experiences.
Another article we read this week that stood out to me was the To Veil or Not to Veil article by Ghazal and Batkowski. This was a really interesting article because it showed the viewpoints of all self-proclaimed devout Muslim women who either chose to engage or not to engage in a highly debated form of demonstrating one's devoutness in the muslim world--wearing the hijab. It was interesting that all of the women interviewed were able to recognize its origins as being a form of male control over females but that they took this differently. The veiling group took it was their duty to exercise their control over sexual encounters with men and thus, it made them feel more empowered while their opposing practicers of non-veiling took this to be a mere manifestation of the continued control men try to hold over women even in a modernizing world. I also found it interesting that neither group opposed the other as I would have thought, but rather they accepted each other as members of the same group just with different ideologies but this was not an impediment to their commonalities. Tying this in with the lecture, one can see the intersectionality of this dilemma as the women interviewed were that of a college town and so probably more liberal than if they were to be in a more conservative area. Also, they were all of different age and class backgrounds so it is hard to tell where their differing ideologies really stem from.
Lastly, in response to the question about whether or not situated knowledge is an impediment to seeing the world clearly, I think it is because experience builds up biases or opinions in general that tend to either develop more strongly over time unless they are disproved. It is difficult to not account for any subjectivity at all in analyzing an incident because we are all going to interpret in a different way depending on our past experiences.
Blog #3
The two assigned readings I'd like to choose are "Theorizing Difference from Mutiracial Feminism", and "Global Women".
After reading the first essay, I was forced to think that since there are different races of women, there shouldn't be only one feminism. And also, just similar to the "mythical norm", women who fit in "white feminism" also have common characters. They are middle class, white, and so on. However, it is obviously that not all women can fit in the category, so that there should be different feminisms. Then, I thought about Audre Lorde and her view of "unorthodox " feminism. She said, "as a forty-nine-year-old Black lesbian feminist socialist mother of two...I usually find myself a part of some group defined as other, deviant, inferior, or just plain wrong." (245) She pointed out that there were really other feminisms and other thoughts. Thus we should view the world not only in one lens.
And in the "Global Women", what Josephine did really struck me. She left her children and went to work in foreign countries. What really amazed me is that all her children had psycological problems, and they did not live good lives. It made me to think why single mothers have to sacrifice so much and still can not get the felicitous and satisfactory lives. Also, most times, women who go out to work do not get creditable jobs. Just as the authors pointed out, "global women" often do lower status jobs such as waitress, nanny and even sex workers. However, they just want to give their children rich lives. So,these women have to struggle to get recognized by the foreign society and also by her children. Pretty hard, and very conflicting.
To Prof. Messner's question, I think that if we have a standard of truth, then the "situated knowledge" will certainly not be the impediment of knowing the world clearly. However, if we assume that truth is changing through the area and time, we can find that "situated knowledge" really stop us knowing the world. Because of this, Bruno was burnt; Galileo was circumvenced; Darwin was attacked. So, I believe that wether "situated knowledge" is an impediment or not, it depends on the definition of the truth.
After reading the first essay, I was forced to think that since there are different races of women, there shouldn't be only one feminism. And also, just similar to the "mythical norm", women who fit in "white feminism" also have common characters. They are middle class, white, and so on. However, it is obviously that not all women can fit in the category, so that there should be different feminisms. Then, I thought about Audre Lorde and her view of "unorthodox " feminism. She said, "as a forty-nine-year-old Black lesbian feminist socialist mother of two...I usually find myself a part of some group defined as other, deviant, inferior, or just plain wrong." (245) She pointed out that there were really other feminisms and other thoughts. Thus we should view the world not only in one lens.
And in the "Global Women", what Josephine did really struck me. She left her children and went to work in foreign countries. What really amazed me is that all her children had psycological problems, and they did not live good lives. It made me to think why single mothers have to sacrifice so much and still can not get the felicitous and satisfactory lives. Also, most times, women who go out to work do not get creditable jobs. Just as the authors pointed out, "global women" often do lower status jobs such as waitress, nanny and even sex workers. However, they just want to give their children rich lives. So,these women have to struggle to get recognized by the foreign society and also by her children. Pretty hard, and very conflicting.
To Prof. Messner's question, I think that if we have a standard of truth, then the "situated knowledge" will certainly not be the impediment of knowing the world clearly. However, if we assume that truth is changing through the area and time, we can find that "situated knowledge" really stop us knowing the world. Because of this, Bruno was burnt; Galileo was circumvenced; Darwin was attacked. So, I believe that wether "situated knowledge" is an impediment or not, it depends on the definition of the truth.
Reading Responses
One of the articles we read this week is titled Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference by Audre Lorde. This piece caught my attention within the first two paragraphs, when Lorde abruptly announced that she was a “forty-nine-year-old Black lesbian feminist socialist mother of two” (245). Without reading beyond this sentence, I immediately thought that this woman is living the life of a minority and a life a struggle. In society, we have come to see some of these attributes as unacceptable or lower in status. Though we call ourselves a nation of freedom, we do not always live without judgment or bias toward others. In class, Professor Messner identified and familiarized us with this concept, the “mythical norm”. This norm is a structure of our thinking in which we deem people subordinate or superordinate based on traits such as gender, race, body type, religion, sexuality, class etc. Those who do not fit in with the superior traits that Lorde defines, as “ White, thin male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure” (246), live in a more complicated world.
Another article that made an impression on me was Americans Have a Different Attitued by Yen Le Espiritu. In this piece, Espiritu spent much of the time explaining why marrying a person of your same gender (in this case, Filipinos) will lead to a more successful marriage. This seems to be because those who share a similar cultural responsibility often have the same expectations of each other. The author claims that Filipino men are warned not to marry Caucasian women because “white women will leave you” (235). In the Filipono culture, boys and girls are expected to “do” their gender. Boys are supposed to act like boys, go out and play with friends, while girls are supposed to stay at home and be protected by their family because they are the weaker, more vulnerable sex. This article shows the relationship between race and gender that we have been discussing in class. It is difficult to define the gender norms of a society without taking a carful look at race and culture.
I believe that “situated knowledge” is not an impediment to seeing the world clearly. Because it is impossible, or very nearly impossible, to live without your own “situated knowledge”, since everyone has knowledge grounded in their own gender, race, and class, it would not hinder their ability to see the world clearly. This is because no one would be able to see the world clearly. Seeing the world “clearly” would be a matter of opinion. And since no one can live without implementing their “situated knowledge”, no one would be able to see clearly, and thus, everyone would assume that they are seeing the world clearly.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
blog due sept 21
In the Read and Bartkowski article, I was struck by the similarities in the views of both Muslim women who choose to veil and those who choose not to veil. Both sets of women felt that wearing hijab was separate than being true to their religion, and that the reason for veiling is because men are unable to control their sexual desires. However, what interested me the most was the benefits that many veiled women experienced. Not only did they feel closer to their culture, but more importantly, they felt like they could live more freely in society because they were not judged on their faces or bodies and instead seen for more than their appearance.
This prompted me to think that perhaps these women feel like by wearing hijab, they are seen and judged equally to males in society. Our section discussion about the focus on men's lives when portraying life on the streets made me think of this article. Many of the women in the article felt like veiling allowed them to go out and live their lives freely. This indicates that these women, without veils, feel like they need to stay in the home. The woman who go unveiled also feel that their choice allows them to live freely and surpass the idea of being simply housewives. We concluded in our discussion that many portrayals of urban life focus on the men because our society often concludes that women are staying home while the men go out and adventures. This is similar to the idea that muslim women connect their decision to wear/not wear hijab to their desire to live a life outside of the home.
Another topic brought up in our section discussion was how the ideal woman of today needs to do everything: Not only does she need to be thin and beautiful, but she needs to be both a mother and a working woman. (Carmen's ad demonstrated this concept). The Ehrenreich Hochschild article about the transfer of labor jobs from American housewives to immigrant women ties in with this concept. In the past, women were seen as being a useful part of society when they married, raised children, and cared for their home. Now, gender norms of females are shifting, and it is becoming normal and even expected for women to spend their days at work while their children and homes are cared for by someone else. Unfortunately, the people caring for their home/family often have left behind their own homes and children in trade for their new jobs.
In response to Messner's question...
I do not think situated knowledge is an impediment to seeing the world clearly, because I feel like there is no such thing as a "clear" vision of the world. Every person has their own gender, race, religion, position in society, etc., and therefore every person has situated knowledge. Many people are excellent at making objective decisions and statements; these people are vital to our culture as judges, politicians, counselors etc. However, I do not think people see the world less clearly due to their situated knowledge, they simply see it in their own way.
This prompted me to think that perhaps these women feel like by wearing hijab, they are seen and judged equally to males in society. Our section discussion about the focus on men's lives when portraying life on the streets made me think of this article. Many of the women in the article felt like veiling allowed them to go out and live their lives freely. This indicates that these women, without veils, feel like they need to stay in the home. The woman who go unveiled also feel that their choice allows them to live freely and surpass the idea of being simply housewives. We concluded in our discussion that many portrayals of urban life focus on the men because our society often concludes that women are staying home while the men go out and adventures. This is similar to the idea that muslim women connect their decision to wear/not wear hijab to their desire to live a life outside of the home.
Another topic brought up in our section discussion was how the ideal woman of today needs to do everything: Not only does she need to be thin and beautiful, but she needs to be both a mother and a working woman. (Carmen's ad demonstrated this concept). The Ehrenreich Hochschild article about the transfer of labor jobs from American housewives to immigrant women ties in with this concept. In the past, women were seen as being a useful part of society when they married, raised children, and cared for their home. Now, gender norms of females are shifting, and it is becoming normal and even expected for women to spend their days at work while their children and homes are cared for by someone else. Unfortunately, the people caring for their home/family often have left behind their own homes and children in trade for their new jobs.
In response to Messner's question...
I do not think situated knowledge is an impediment to seeing the world clearly, because I feel like there is no such thing as a "clear" vision of the world. Every person has their own gender, race, religion, position in society, etc., and therefore every person has situated knowledge. Many people are excellent at making objective decisions and statements; these people are vital to our culture as judges, politicians, counselors etc. However, I do not think people see the world less clearly due to their situated knowledge, they simply see it in their own way.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
POSER!
Hey everyone!
Here's the full video that was shown in the presentation - for those of you who wants to watch it :)
Here's the full video that was shown in the presentation - for those of you who wants to watch it :)
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