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Over the past weeks we have learned a lot of new things. I learned about different races, ethnicities, and cultures. The world would not be the same if everyone was the same race and it is a great thing to learn about everyone and where they are from, and where they have come from. Everyone is different in their own way and it is our duty to accept everyone as a whole. I am going to talk about the social construct of race today, some of our readings, and a lot of our discussions that are always fun. Firstly, I am going to talk about the one video we all watched which was Race the Power of an Illusion part 2. I am choosing this one because I gained a lot of information on it. It started off by talking about our constitution and how all men are created equal. Well when you look back at it, was every man created equal? The answer is NO! Back when they first started this country they had slaves and men were more dominant then women. A slave had no rights at all and resorting back to the saying, they definitely are not treated equal. After that part, they talked about how race became to be, basically one man thought they were better than someone else because of their skin color. Race is more of an idea, no one is born to be prejudice, or even to discriminate a certain person because of their skin color. I believe if everyone tried we could get rid of this concept completely, but it will take a whole lot of effort and is not an individual task. When we went over this video in class, we talked about what if there was no such thing as race? Would our society be a whole lot better, or would we still have some other kind of hardship? I believe that we would have another hardship but to me, it does not matter the color of someone’s skin, it... ... middle of paper ... ...nd how when I was really young I used to play football. Then during practice I got to meet a bunch of other kids as well. In my hometown we had a lot of people from Mexico and I got to know a lot of them while playing the sport. We ended up becoming really good friends during our course of playing and outside of school. I believe that if I would not have been in this sport I would have not met them. I am really glad I got to meet them and experience some of their culture by becoming close with them. I talked about a lot about race, ethnicity, and the different movies we watched in this paper. I believe that continuing on in this class will help myself get a better understanding of different races and cultures, which will make me more knowledgeable in the future and better me in the long run. I cannot wait to see what we are going to learn about in the weeks to come!
In order to help combat against these tensions, there needs to be a restarting of global and political forces. The present system treats race as a scientifically proven separator of individual and instead should be seeing race for what it really is, a socially constructed
I’ll be completely honest; this class has been a bit of a struggle for me. While I appreciated the content and I knew that it was important and even why it was important, it always took me longer than I expected to have a firm grasp of the material. However, I have learned quite a bit about race and the study of it, and I’m going to use Wiesen’s “Herodotus and the Modern Debate over Race and Slavery”, Lucius Outlaw’s “Toward a Critical Theory of Race” as well as Letter of the Emperor Claudius to the Alexandrians to demonstrate what I’ve learned. Simply put, I’ve learned that race can be viewed from a scientific point of view and a religious one, but mannerisms and appearance end up dominating how a person is categorized racially.
“The Illusionist” is a short story by Steven Millhauser, which was adapted into a movie directed by Neil Burger in 2008 which both take place in Vienna. The short story’s plot revolves around Eisenheim and his relationship between himself and the state, which is still featured in the movie. Eisenheim’s illusions also cause him a bit of trouble; in the short story the cause of trouble is an illusion, which produces two spirits by the name of Rosa, Elis, and a boy who appears to be no older than eight. In the movie adaptation, the final straw that causes the Crown Prince to finally pursue persecution of Eisenheim is the illusion that again, produces a spirit, which turns out to be his dead fiancée. Because of Inspector Uhl’s growing obsession of Eisenheim, throughout the movie and the short story, it further ignites the blur between what is the reality and what is his illusion. Uhl’s obsession over Eisenheim and his illusions helps blur the reality around him.
Race has been a difficult topic to discuss and grasp ever since race problems began. Not only is it a sensitive topic that carries a lot of baggage to the name, but it is a continuous problem that we still today, after many years, battle with. “The Code Switch Podcast, Episode 1: Can we talk about Whiteness?” is a podcast with many speakers of different colors that discusses white ignorance and white uncertainty of talking about racial issues.
Racism is often considered a thing of the past, with its manifestation rarely being acknowledged in the United States today. Race: The Power of an Illusion, is a documentary that addresses the legacy of racism through its significance in the past, and its presence in society today. To understand racism, it is vital to understand the concept of race. Race is a social invention, not a biological truth. This can be observed through the varying classifications of race in different cultures and time periods. For instance, in the United States, race has long been distinguished by skin color. In nineteenth century China, however, race was determined by the amount of body hair an individual had. Someone with a large amount of facial hair, for example,
Racism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each other as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because most have dealt with racial discrimination in their life time.
Race is a very interesting subject of sociology, and it is also immensely studied. What is race? Race is presumed common genetic heritage resulting in distinguishing physical characteristics” (Social Stratification). There are three basic theories to explain race in sociology; Functionalist Theory, Conflict Theory, and the Symbolic Interaction Theory.
Race has been a controversial issue throughout history and even more so today. The idea of race has contributed to the justifications of racial inequality and has led to the prejudice and discrimination of certain racial groups. Race and racism were constructed to disadvantage people of color and to maintain white power in America. Today, race has been the center of many political changes and actions that have affected people of color. The idea of race has played a role in how people from different racial groups interact amongst each other. Interactions within one’s own racial group are more common than interactions among other racial groups, at least in my own experiences. Therefore, because I have been positioned to surround myself with people from my own racial group since a very young age, I have internalized that being around my own racial group is a normal and natural occurrence.
Race: The Power of an Illusion was an interesting 3 part film. After watching this, it made me questioned if race was really an illusion or not. It is absolutely taboo to think that the one thing that separates people the most may be a myth in itself. “We can 't find any genetic markers that are in everybody of a particular race and in nobody of some other race. We can 't find any genetic markers that define race.” (Adelman and Herbes Sommers 2003). Racism is something created in the U.S made to create supremacy for the creator. Racism is not just the way someone thinks, it is something that has is manifested in our society to separate us and can be traced to our everyday activities.
...ome color and an equally genuine valuation of people as people, regardless of color” (Rodriguez[2000]:3). If the dualistic look at race disappeared from society then the dominate group would find an alternative way to classify humans. The dominate group would do this because the disadvantages people in inferior positions have helps to increase or perpetuate the advantages that the dominate group has. The dominate group will do what-ever it takes to maintain their dominance. I believe there are steps that can be taken to help promote change in the dominate group. I believe if the dominate group would take a step back to look at the entire picture societal changes could possible. Also, recognition of white privilege would change the dynamics of society as a whole. The norms should be reevaluated to accept that there is no such thing as normal or ideal individual.
In this world we are constantly being categorized by our race and ethnicity, and for many people it’s hard to look beyond that. Even though in the past many stood up for equality and to stop racism and discrimination, it still occurs. In this nation of freedom and equality, there are still many people who believe that their race is superior to others. These beliefs are the ones that destroy our nation and affect the lives of many. The people affected are not limited by their age group, sex, social status, or by their education level.
The concept of race is an ancient construction through which a single society models all of mankind around the ideal man. This idealism evolved from prejudice and ignorance of another culture and the inability to view another human as equal. The establishment of race and racism can be seen from as early as the Middle Ages through the present. The social construction of racism and the feeling of superiority to people of other ethnicities, have been distinguishably present in European societies as well as America throughout the last several centuries.
Reflecting directly on the cultural attitudes and sociocultural messages explained throughout this course, it is clear that race, gender, and sexuality are all socially constructed in one way or another. Contrary to popular belief, race is actually almost completely socially constructed, it is not biological. Further, a human’s DNA does not differentiate at all to create any specific race. However, society has categorized certain things, such as skin color, to determine the race of individuals. In simpler terms, there are not specific genes that parents pass on to their offspring that determine their race; society categorizes people into specific races when they are born based on their
Watching “A Class Divided” was such an impactful experience for me in that it taught me how important it is to make people understand that racism is real and important to understand. I have personally dealt with racism, but I always just thought that there was nothing I could really ever do about it and that I simply had to toughen up and take it. However, this video has allowed me to see that when people who have never experienced racism are put in a situation of discrimination then life can be made equal and understanding of human equality is a
The Palace of Illusions by Kim Addonizio explores the expanding paradoxes and conflicts innate in human experience through a series of short stories. Each story illustrating different characters; from ignorant parents to concepts of love or the maddening struggle of alienation and self-hatred, the characters in The Palace of Illusions all must contend with these challenges. As they tread the burdened line between the real and the imaginary, often in a world not of their making, they handle their strange misgivings as humanely or inhumanely as possible. Addonizio draws on many literary devices to bring to life a variety of settings, all connected through the suggestion that things in the known world are not what they seem through the use of