Sunday, January 25, 2009
Social Catagories and sterotyping, who am I?
After reading Identities and Social Locatoins: Who am I? Who are my people?, I was left with a lot of questions regarding myself and where I stand in terms of knowing, knowing when I am letting things taught to me by society interefere with my actions or who I communicate with. The reading talked a lot about how we change our personalities in order to be more acceptable to the people around us and if you think about it closely we do, and to me thats kind of scary. It also brings up the question in my mind of, are we ever able to achieve this sense of self and who I am? Also, is it ok to define yourself by things such as women, teacher, daughter etc...? The reading I think is trying to say that you can be definded as the things I listed earlier because its who you are but you have to be aware of how they affect your judgment on people and the world. It's important to read this early in the course because its this way of thinking and being aware that we have to read the texts and apply that thinking in order to understand where, racism and power come from.
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Hi Brittany,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. I am encouraged by your analysis and questions regarding how identity is shaped and formed, and when we ourselves re-define, re-vision, and re-shape ourselves according to internal need as well as the influences of important people and influences around us, or which are either consciously and/or unconsciously felt. I think you are on the right track by being alert and in tune to the processes which are already stirring some questions, and causing you to re-adjust your radar... I'm not sure II have 'the' answer about when the process is ever completed or obtained... I believe rather that identity and shaping of identity is a dynamic and always changing process, impacted and effected in multiple ways by both seen and unseen processes. MOst of the readings in this course challenge students to peel back the veneers and to examine the parts, processes, which are operating behind the curtain, so to speak, and to be consciously aware and alert to what they are, how they became, and what they actually do. Good luck on this journey! --Margo Tamez