Silence of Women...

Thank you Feminist bloggers for this little gem!

Some thoughts...about Taos Pueblo

Dr.Blueberry and I are in Taos, NM for a conference this week, and tomorrow (which also happens to be my birthday), we're headed down to the Pueblo Reservation. We're going as a group with other conference-goers, and some of them are a little fussy about not being able to take pictures (it's a visual communication conference, so they are all about the visual imagery).

They're upset about pictures, while I'm struggling with the idea of going to look at people, as though they are caged (like animals in a zoo, for instance) and there for my viewing pleasure.

I'm feeling a bit dramatic about these feelings, and my dearest friend suggest I might blog about it, rather she suggested I might make some notes about how I'm feeling and make some sort of research project out of the experience. It's a really great idea, but honestly, I don't know how I feel about that either. So I'll start with the blog for now, and see where it goes.

About the picture taking: The Pueblos are saying that because we're academics who study visual imagery, we're professionals, which means instead of the $6 camera fee, the fee is around $300. And, the $6 camera fee is only for amateur photos that will be used only for personal use--no academic use, no publication, no reproduction, etc. allowed. This leads me to the conclusion that I cannot take a camera at all. I am by no means a professional photographer; some of the conference attendees clearly are. But, I blog, I post the pictures I take, I sometimes use them for academic purposes, etc. etc. So, the decision is easy: Remove the temptation to use photographs by not taking photographs. And, we can buy postcards with pueblo images at the reservation. Yes, they might cost a bit more money than if I took it myself, but given that selling "things" is a way for the Native American nation to make money, I'm ok with that!

It's the spectacle that concerns me most: the event, the scheme, the image that is regarded only for its impact. Spectacle, academically, is associated with Aristotle's tragedy. I wonder about the tragedy of Native Americans, who had their lands taken from them by white folks....I ponder the tragedy of living off the land that was theirs, was not theirs, and is now theirs again, but only by paying taxes to a government that barely recognizes them as natives to this country, let alone as human. And, then I think about the tragedy that the only reason the Pueblo Indians invite us (spectators) onto their reservation is because they need to make money to pay the government (there is a charge, after all, to visit the reservation).

This post will not be the end of this conversation...I'm really struggling with this issue.

365: Some pictures from this week...

Though not all. Prelims are due tomorrow, and then vacay (Taos, NM). So, lots of pictures next Sunday! :)

My view for the recent several weeks!

My anniversary gift to Dr.Blueberry. Scherrensnitte. (german paper cutting, framed)

I went to the post this week to get stamps to mail bills. The postal worker asked me what stamps I wanted. I replied, "Meh, just give me something noone else wants...I just stick them on bills anyways." She turned to the page of Ronnie stamps, and said..."Are you sure...?" I laughed and laughed and laughed! 

365 Pictures...

No much happening this week....just writing, but here's what I can share with ya: 

Because I started Preliminary exams Monday, Sunday we spent some time cleaning the house...the first couple are pictures we took after cleaning!

yum...Pi Pizzeria (I think I shared this one last week, oops!)

The first that I wrote of three....

yum, spaghetti squash!

eek, raptured!

The 2nd of three--started Saturday!

I would turn this, if I knew how! It's just a little ole receipt for our first tank of gas in the new car!

365 Pictures...

Because I love this picture, I'm posting it again!

Dr.Blueberry and I bought a new car!

I just LOVE this gal!

Yum---Pi Pizza in St Louis, MO!

Cleaning spree--bathroom style!

And, bedroom style! I start preliminary exams this week, so Dr.Blueberry and I cleaned the house (so that I don't have any distractions, lol)! We did good!

My friend (and now) Dr.Jamie Huber (4th from left) and a group of fabulous academic and professional women mentors!

A bit of research...

One of the ideas I had when creating this blog was that I would likely spend some time sharing my research...I haven't done that so much lately, so I thought I'd drop a bit on you now.

So for almost a year now, I've been doing research on body image--a paper that will come to fruition (a.k.a. completion) within the coming month--and today I wanted to do a bit of extra reading, when I came upon this blog. Now, I don't know if I can call myself a blogger--I've only been doing this for four months now--but I'm  loving the blog-o-sphere, especially when it provides me with gems like this blog entry!

So, for those interested, perhaps I'll continue this conversation, as the writing progresses....but for now, a little light reading for ya! Oh, and in case you're wondering, I kinda love my body, even if it doesn't fit the "stereotypical beauty!"

(read the blog!)
:)

Two Today

January 24--Arm Warmers!

January 25--my view for the next few days!

YAY!

As of last Sunday evening, I have finally completed a draft of the Instructor's Resource Manual I've been writing. I suspect there will be edits to complete, but at least I can effectively move onto the next major task: prelims. Since Sunday, though, I have simply basked in the glory of completion....it feels so good!

In honor of my basking, here're a few pictures from or vegan (except for that Chocolate Pie) Thanksgiving...

Writing...

I haven't had the opportunity to take many pictures recently, but what I have had time to do is write. I've been writing a couple of things...

I've been writing the Instructor's Resource Manual for my advisor and his writing partner's new textbook (that is officially in print as of Friday the 15th). Now...I just need to finish the IRM. It's not easy, for the record. Writing exam questions is a real booger, especially for a text of this kind. I feel like in some ways it attempts (and maybe this is because of who I am writing for) to debunk the reliability of Multiple-Choice and True-False questions, and yet, in order to sell a textbook, these things have to be included. It's kinda gross (as my friend, the cheese, would say).

I've also been trying to write a fellowship application. This application is awarded based on one's dissertation research that adds to the literature about education issues. I think my dissertation will add to that literature, but before writing it, I'm having difficulties putting into words what it will add. Fun times...

Finally, I'm trying to prepare for my preliminary exams. I think I have written the beginnings of one of my possible questions. I'm going to paste it below.

:)

Happy days...

Possibility:

On a beautiful spring day in May of 2010, one of my instructors invited the class to sit outside during classtime. I had chosen to wear a short skirt that day and therefore was miserably self-conscious; moreover, I was uncomfortable because of the way I had to contour my body to sit without revealing my unmentionables. I wrote the following, in my class notebook, that day:

Sitting on the ground reminds me of the size of my body, a size that I have grown to both have and love over the years—granted, there has been progressively more love than hate. The size of my body, however, has not been accepted (nor loved) by much of western society as beautiful, healthy, or o.k. I know, though, that the curve of my hips and thickness of my thighs are who I am in this space, uncomfortable as I may be physically on the ground.

Earlier the same semester, plus size clothing retailer Lane Bryant produced a television commercial that was “banned” by Fox and ABC during prime programming for shows such as American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. Though Fox eventually relented and allowed the commercial, ABC offered that the commercial could be run at a later hour. The argument from the media stated that the advertisement bared too much cleavage to be aired in primetime hours, but the public read an implication that the choice to not run the advertisement was a clear example of weight discrimination.

The media provides television viewers with a barrage of commercials every hour, many of which fuel our consumerist tendencies while also speaking to our cultural expectations and reifying our cultural norms. Commercials address the cultural expectations and stereotypes of women and women’s bodies, in particular beauty norms.

Hart and Daughton (2005) suggested several critical probes that feminist critics might use in order to interpret the “possibilities of a message” (p. 285). For this analysis, I will use the following of those probes (found on pages 285 and 291):

·         In what ways does this artifact suggest that women and men should look, think, feel, behave?

·         In what ways are women and men advantaged or disadvantaged by such portrayals?

·         What does the rhetor present as “the norm”?

·         What intellectual, mythic, or role conventions does the artifact offer?

·         What are the implications of these depictions for men and women (people of different classes, body sizes, sexualities, ethnicities, nationalities, etc.), both in terms of how they see themselves and in terms of how others see them?

Using the constructs of feminist rhetorical criticism, I am interested in analyzing this commercial, the rhetoric surrounding it, and my own lived responses to it.

Just Stuff...

It's week 3 of school, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Here are some of the things/ideas floating around in this head of mine...without pictures.

Whiteness--yes, I took a class this summer, but after a racist chalking incident on campus during the first week, my passion against the oppression of marginalized groups has been reignited.

Violence against women---yes, I chose those words explicitly. Not "gender violence" because I honestly think these two phrases have particularly different meanings. These will be explicated in another post at another time....perhaps when I'm less upset.

Sensationalization--Defined from this free website. To cast and present in a manner intended to arouse strong interest, especially through inclusion of exaggerated or lurid details. I'm interested in having conversations with you because I have you in mind, because you are my friend, because I want to be a part of your friend rankings....not because I want to arouse my own (or any others) personal interest.

Open Learning--not really defined, as much as my own explanation. I've always been interested in creating (in as much as possible) an accessible classroom, for a variety of learning styles and abilities. I believe this is a two-way street, though, in that a teacher can only do so much to engage a student on her/his own. While abilities and styles of learning are very different topics, when talking about the classroom and student engagement, I attempt to create an environment that is open for all bodies...

Equal Rights (Amendment)--in 1923, Alice Paul alongside a variety of strong women, worked to gain the right for women to vote. But, the battle stopped there. Women are still discriminated against in the workplace and therefore wages. In 2010, many women are (still) complacent with this information. I am not.

As the World Turns---please don't go off the air. 1956. Though I was nowhere near my mother's 5 year old uterus during this year, I love this show. I love the performers. I love the storylines. I don't know what I will do after September 17th. Of course, I may have said this after the end of other shows that I was addicted to (a.k.a. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Angel, Charmed, etc.).

Preliminary Exams--Feminist Pedagogy, Critical Pedagogy, Whiteness, Silence, Autoethnography, Gender and Communication, Rhetorical Analysis. I should probably write these questions.

Organization of time---my time is like *whoa* right now. Lots of it, no management of it. I need to create and follow a schedule. I need to get back to writing my (this) blog regularly. I need to finish this Instructor's Resource Manual. I need to get my Prelims questions written. I need to read for class. I need to get lots of academic work done because someday....I'm going to need (and WANT) a full-time tenure track teaching/research gig!


Happy Tuesday.

What I learned about Whiteness and Communication....

Grew up in

rural Texas in a

poor

white

uneducated

single-parent

home.

In Carbondale, I

Moved to the

“Graduate

Student

Ghetto”

(a.k.a.

the Comm Studies Ghetto),

“Ghetto,” the image of which has been [the]

source of shame and embarrassment when

spoken outside of

certain black contexts”[i]

Saying I

live in the “graduate student ghetto”

is

problematic.

Living alone, I

lock my doors

when I come home.

“Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

ClickClickClickClickClickClickClick.

The clicking sounds are

always accompanied by nervous gestures and eyes

[eyes] that want to

look but are

hesitant to do so.”[ii]

I don’t

live in the ghetto,

In

a

ghetto.

I don’t live in a

segregated living space

that is the

result of

bias or

stereotyping.

I live

amongst friends,

amongst departmental family,

amongst …

“Whiteness is not

merely an

objective social location entirely

independent of the self, but rather, a

central feature of subjectivity, or

one’s lived, interior self. Whiteness is

learned,

in process,

developed over the modern era and

still developing, but

lived on the inside as well as

attributed to

one’s

external

appearance.”[iii]

“Whiteness is not simply and solely a

legally recognized property interest. It is

simultaneously an

aspect of

self-identity and of

personhood…”[iv]

“Whiteness produced

—and was produced by—the

social advantage that accompanied it.”[v]

bell

hooks

grew up “in the

social circumstances created by

racial apartheid to

all black spaces in the

edges of town…”[vi]

Away from the city center

marks the streets

as dimly lit by the moon,

darkening the luminosity as well as

(in hooks’ description)

marking the

bodies

as
dark.

Like McIntosh, “If I should

need to move,

I can be

pretty sure of

renting or

purchasing

housing

in an area which I can

afford and

in which I would

want

to

live.”[vii]

Moreover, my

white privilege means that

I get to live in a

fairly nice,

well-located

neighborhood and refer to it as

the ghetto, with the

expectation that my

neighbors and friends will

laugh

at the association I’ve made.

“Whiteness

not only points to the

ways in which

colorism

(white as believed to be supremely

beautiful,

untainted,

moral,

good,

intelligent,

civilized, and

lawful)

is the hallmark of

North American racism but also

points to those

phenotypical whites who

make

every

effort to

guard against racist beliefs.”[viii]

As a white body, I

benefit from the

white,

racist

social structure.

“Whites need not

intentionally invest in

whiteness in order to

reap

the

benefits…”[ix]

“By

avoiding

whiteness as a

raced term, whites

effectively

distance themselves from

whiteness as a

governing

racial

ideology

in the United States.”[x]

“Whiteness, after all, is a

master

of

concealment;

it is

insidiously embedded within

responses,

reactions,

good intentions,

postural gestures,

denials, and

structural and material

orders.”[xi]

“In order to

transcend

current

race

relations,

which is a concrete possibility,

we must

first

go through race

in order to

have any

hopes of

going beyond it.”[xii]

Until then,

“as an

antiracist racist

I believe that I should

always

feel

conflicted,

full of contradictions,

never as though I have

“arrived”.”[xiii]

And,

until then,

I will

say “I

live

in the

tree streets

of

Carbondale.”

---

[i] Leonardo, Zeus.  Race, Whiteness, and Education.  NY: Routledge, 2009. Print. (123)

[ii] Yancy, George.  Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race.  Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. Print. (xix)

[iii] Yancy (x-xi)

[iv] Harris, Cheryl.  “Whiteness as Property.”  Black on White: Black Writers on What it Means to Be White.  Ed. David Roediger.  NY: Schocken Books, 1998.  103-118. Print. (104)

[v] Harris (116)

[vi] hooks, bell.  “Whiteness in the Black Imagination.”  Killing Rage: Ending Racism.  NY: Owl Books, 1995. 31-50. Print. (39)

[vii] McIntosh, Peggy.  “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women’s Studies.”  Readings in Sociocultural Studies in Education, 2^nd ed. Kate Rousmaniere, Ed.  NY: McGraw Hill, 1995. 189-195. Print. (190)

[viii] Yancy (25)

[ix] Yancy (53)

[x] Yancy (46)

[xi] Yancy (229)                 

[xii] Zeus. (125)

[xiii] Christine Clark, as quoted in Yancy (227)