[iDC] Gender, Race, and Ethnicity

[Teresa Chen]

Dear Trebor

As you can imagine, I read this discussion thread with great interest. I 
appreciate it very much that you brought it up, and I noted some 
interesting new links and ideas. 

I am trying to cram an ethnic studies and an asian american studies 
program in right now, and feel more than anything else, overwhelmed by 
what I do not yet know. The more you read, the more you realize what you 
still need to read! 

I am almost finished with Linda Leung's Virtual Ethnicity book -- it is 
good, I relate to it very much, and would highly recommend it.

I don't think there are any answers out there. It's just important, like 
you said so eloquently, to keep asking questions and make sure people are 
conscious that race, ethnicity, class and gender still exist. Like Linda 
Leung mentions in her book, these factors are all interdependent on each 
other. She argues, that you can't talk about "ethnicity" without 
referencing class or gender as well.

Take care and thanks again, teresa


> --- Ursprüngliche Nachricht ---
> Von: Trebor  Scholz <trebor at thing.net>
> An: IDC list <idc at bbs.thing.net>
> Betreff: [iDC] Gender, Race, and Ethnicity
> Datum: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 09:30:11 -0400
> 
> Discussions about race in the university all too often assume inherent
> racialized research interests. African American scholars  are frequently
> expected to have an Afro-centric subject position,  a set of
> fascinations that directly corresponds to Africa. 
> 
> In U.S. academia Chinese Americans are all too often thought of as 
> experts on Chinese art. How about a Chinese scholar whose intellectual
> passion is German folk dance? What about an African American who
> finds herself drawn to Japanese music?
> 
> At new media events the near absence of minorities is often defended
> with a small number of visible minority artist theorists in the field.
> Such a lazy attitude that simply refuses to look harder, is inexcusable.
> A lack of curatorial effort is many times also reflected in the
> under-representation of women in new media conferences and media art
> exhibitions. Some slow progress needs to be acknowledged (see below).  
> 
> Another often stated argument is that of quality. ³We only care about
> quality and competence-- we don¹t concern ourselves with racial
> backgrounds.² In a deeply pluralistic cultural context it would be naive
> to think that our socialization is devoid of racial, ethnic, or
> class-related notions and prejudices.  Equally, we cannot be fully aware
> of this conditioning. Notions of quality and accomplishment are not
> formed in a social vacuum. None of this is surprising or new. None of
> this suggests any moral high ground. However, these questions have to be
> posed over and over again.
>  
> It¹d be great if people on this list could expand on the following
> references. 
> 
> Nils Zurawski, excerpt from: Virtual Ethnicity. Studies on Identity,
> Culture and the Internet.
> <http://www.uni-muenster.de/PeaCon/zurawski/veengl.html>
> 
> Where am I and who are 'we'?: Self-representation and the intersection
> of gender and ethnicity on the Web by Linda Leung
> <http://www.firstmonday.dk/Issues/issue8_10/leung/index.html>
> 
> The writings of Lisa Nakamura including:
> Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet 
	
> <http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/syllabi/readings/nakamura.html>
> 
> Where are the African Women bloggers?
> <http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/02/last_weekthere_.html>
> 
> Race in Cyberspace Exhibition
> <http://www.annenberg.edu/race/>
> 
> Gender, Race and Ethnicity in Media
> Cyberspace
> <http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/GenderMedia/cyber.html>
> 
> Provocative discussion starters:
> 
> Black People love us
> <http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/>
> 
> Racial Profiling on Google
> <http://www.orcmagazine.com/Google_Your_Race/>
> 
> Blackness for Sale on ebay
> <http://obadike.tripod.com/ebay.html>
> 
> -Trebor
>

-- 
email: teresa.chen at gmx.net
website: www.teresachen.ch


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