Names (White Privilege)

Fri Apr 28 14:15:51 UTC 2006

Mia,

No we don't all know this already!
I have learned more from you, and the discussions you start/keep going, on
this list-serv in the past couple years than in years of book-learning and
academia.
We all have compartmentalized bits of knowledge, but we all have gaps, as
well.  Thanks for helping to fill mine, and please keep doing so!

Margaret Buckner
Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology
Missouri State University
901 S. National Ave.
Springfield, MO 65897
(417) 836-6165
mbuckner at missouristate.edu

On 4/26/06 1:09 PM, "annie ross" <annier at SFU.CA> wrote:

> 
> mia
> 
> we all know this already.
> 
> don't think you are the only one who knows anything.
> 
> annie
> 
> On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 08:03:57 -0600 ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU wrote:
>> In critical theory, for which my Department of Education is <world?>
>> famous,
>> the unnamed category is the referent against which all others are
> compared.
>> So when you Name the category, then you create a situation with
>> inhibits the
>> better-worse comparison.
>> 
>> I don't have time today to collect the really good references, because I
>> have too much to do, but perhaps later.
>> 
>> There is a complex and rich body of literature on the politics of being
>> white. There is, for example, an interesting piece that discusses the
>> "whiteness" in a conceptual battle between the Japanese and the Chinese.
>> 
>> Whiteness is political, it is about privilege, it is about expectation,
>> comparison, rates of pay, writing skills, literacy, fluency, who gets
>> listened to. The selections Andre sent yesterday really open up some of
> the
>> issues around whiteness, but doesn't cover them all. Whiteness has to be
>> seen through the eyes of people who are "not white". Gloria Anzaldúa
> writes
>> extensively on the construction of the Mestizaje; Devon Mihesuah and Linda
>> Tuhiwai Smith write about research conducted by white people in Indigenous
>> communities and the damage that has been done. Mihesuah in some of her
>> edited books, and also people like Vine Deloria, Jr., and Daniel Wildcat
>> write over and over about how white people restrict the developments of an
>> Indigenous canon. The rule is that if there are no Indigenous references,
>> you have to use something else that has been published. Since most "white"
>> writing is considered outsider writing, and Indigenous people are very
>> unhappy at having been misrepresented and having their spiritual
> ceremonies
>> appropriated - by white people.
>> 
>> Perhaps you should look up some of these writers, and read what they
>> have to
>> say. You could also look at some of the critical theorists. Sandy Grande
>> (Quecha) is a Red pedagogist; read what she has to say. Read almost
>> anything
>> by DeLoria, Jr. Better yet, get yourself a copy of Genocide of the
>> Mind, and
>> read what the people have to say.
>> 
>> I think if you do this, then the application of the term "white" will move
>> from a simple labeling to a complex discussional area the encompasses
>> issues
>> of power, privilege, gate-keeping, suppression, and colonization. 
>> 
>> I would like to say before ending, Annie, that my comments are meant
>> kindly.
>> I have written a lot, some of it very briefly, and I am extremely busy
>> today, so I apologize in advance if anything sounds abrupt or critical.
>> 
>> Best always, 
>> Mia
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
>> [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
>> On Behalf Of annie ross
>> Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 8:35 PM
>> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Names (White Privilege)
>> 
>> 
>> please stop labeling people 'white', what does it mean? anyway?,  or
>> 'priveledged', all westerners are 'priveledged', relatively speaking on a
>> global scale,  or 'unaware'. not true that all 'whites' are p and u.  and
>> awareness is certainly relative.  an aware person, arguably, does not
> waste
>> time compartmentalizing others into categories in order to dismiss their
>> value.
>> 
>> Pulllleeeeeeeez ( a word for my linguist brothers and sisters) try to not
>> label, when labeling de-humanizes, no... i should say, de-spiritualizes
>> others. 
>> human-made classifications muddy the clear stream.
>> we have so much work to do.
>> and people who can be labeled 'white' and 'priveledged' and 'unaware' have
>> done good work and do matter in the grand scheme of things.
>> 
>> thank you for the favor.
>> 
>> a
>> 
>> 
>> On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:35:02 -0600 ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU wrote:
>>> This is a wondrous event, is it not?
>>> 
>>> Here on the Indigenous Languages and Technologies list, we are actually
>>> talking about how and why bad things have happened to Ñdn people, Ñdn
>>> languages and Ñdn cultures and why white people seem to be totally and
>>> blithely unaware (or in serious denial) that they had anything to do
> with
>>> it. 
>>> 
>>> One link came through Richard's post . . .
>>> 
>>> One of the experiments I did in psychology presented a text on place
>> names
>>> to people who had Masters and PhD degrees, so there could be no argument
>>> about their reading and comprehension skills. In the text, I changed the
>>> expected order of English/other languages by using the local Indigenous
>>> place name in the text, and putting the English name in parenthesis. Do
>> you
>>> know that the participants couldn‚t name the places?
>>> 
>>> The other thing I noticed is that Indigenous names are all about
>>> description, so you might actually have a clue about the place, how it
>>> looks, what you do there. White names are all about people, Brown's
>> Ferry,
>>> Trump Tower, Camp David . . . .
>>> 
>>> Mia 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
>>> [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
>>> On Behalf Of phil cash cash
>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:14 PM
>>> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>>> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Names (White Privilege)
>>> 
>>> Dear ILAT,
>>> 
>>> gee, I must have missed the suttle link between "Names" and "White 
>>> privilege" here..  ;-)
>>> later, Phil
>>> 
>>> On Apr 25, 2006, at 9:35 AM, Andre Cramblit wrote:
>>> 
>>>> White Privilege
>>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> annie g. ross
>> First Nations Studies
>> School for the Contemporary Arts
>> Simon Fraser University
>> 8888 University Drive
>> Burnaby, British Columbia
>> V5A 1S6
>> annier at sfu.ca
>> Telephone:  604-291-3575  Facsimile: 604-291-5666
>> 
> 
> 
> annie g. ross
> First Nations Studies
> School for the Contemporary Arts
> Simon Fraser University
> 8888 University Drive
> Burnaby, British Columbia
> V5A 1S6
> annier at sfu.ca
> Telephone:  604-291-3575  Facsimile:  604-291-5666