soiciology
Week 12, soci 1125
Colonialism, Race, and Geographical inequality
Final Exam
The exam includes Two or Three short essay questions
You need to write 200-300 words essay for each question.
You will be given the question on December 5th night and are supposed to submit the response in pdf file by December 8th 11.59PM on Moodle.
The questions may include definition of concepts/theories and applying them on the examples from your everyday life.
Accurate and authentic examples are the key to get A for this assignment.
You will be given a short rubric with the question file. Read it carefully before answering the questions.
No question about the questions will be responded via email.
Please contribute to the course feedback (SOCI 1125A50)
I appreciate all your feedbacks and comments.
Theorizing Whiteness
Richard Dyer’s (1997) White
“ At the level of racial representation …whites are not of a certain race, they are just of the human race”
Whites thought of as simply people( as neutral prototype of human being) while non-whites are understood as distinct races.
Binary construction of White and non-white
Whiteness becomes deracialized as result of racialization of other ethnicity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ET8KyiY_Nc
The binary system
The word binary refers to a system with two and only two _separate and distinct parts, like binary codes.
Jacques Derrida was the first person who generalized it to all dimensions of western thoughts and demonstrates the “violent hierarchy” in the binary oppositions.
The logic of binary systems
Every binary system or binary opposition is simultaneously hierarchical system. According to Derrida, Binary system is the system which lies in western Epistemological1 perspective which dominate our culture, language, religion, philosophy and science. ( presence vs absence- God vs devil- good vs evil- culture Vs Nature- White vs Black- West vs East- Men vs Women) why?
In binary system we have two and only two ways to face all differences in the world : Either ignore them or contrast them with each others in a way that one governs/ supersize/dominate the other. Both these way__ and not just one of them__ are two wings of binary system. We should be either same and consequently almost equal, or make hierarchical dichotomy out of our differences.
1-Epistemology: the philosophical examination of the nature of belief; how we come to know things; what we think about “Truth”
The difference of Colonialism and ancient Empires
In colonialism, the conquered polities or populations are not just ruled over by foreign conquerors but are defined as inferior to their occupiers—inferior in legal, administrative, social, and cultural terms.
Colonialism always goes beyond domination over political territory or economic resources and strip the colonized society away from their traditional cultures and value.
Orientalism: Epistemological Colonialism
Edward Said(1978) defines Orientalism as “the idea of European(occident) identity as a superior one in comparison with all the non-European peoples and cultures(orient)”
The idea of European society as a developed, superior and progressive society was built on the assumption of existence of other society which are undeveloped , inferior and backward compared to the West.
Orientalism as an epistemology has been the most prevailed approach of knowledge production regarding Orient( nonwestern societies) in the major western institutions.
Orientalism as colonization of knowledge production system
Orientalism is just one face of the Western cultural colonialism which happens to have Orient as its subject.
But Orientalism as logic goes beyond Occident’s assumption against that particular geographical area ( The Orient) and creates a Eurocentric epistemology ( or colonization of knowledge)which ranks people/ cultures and knowledge based on their degree of difference with the West.
Self-Orientalism:
Internalizing the Orientalism assumptions about nonwestern community/ethnicity by people who belong to the same group.
The people of nonwestern community and culture start to judge themselves/ their cultural value and knowledge from Orientalism perspective and Western Gaze!
self Orientalism explain internalizing the Occident’s view of Orient by people in the Orient ( people who live in different geographical place than western societies[ Occident])
Internalized racism happens when member of racialized group in Western societies follow pretty similar pattern of self orientalism. That means Members of a racial group assume the ( mainly demeaning) attributes associated with the racial classification and internalize them as part of their identities
What are the example of self Orientalism/ internalized racism in your culture or any non-Western culture that you get to know them
How does self Orientalism become possible?
A stereotype is an oversimplified exaggerated or distorted generalization about an entire category of people that does not acknowledge individual variation. Stereotypes form the basis for prejudice and discrimination.
The danger of single story
The consequences of stereotypes on thoughts and behavior of other people toward a particular ethnicity or culture.
Prejudice (refers to thoughts )
Negative thoughts about a person or group that is irrational, long-lasting, and not based on fact. Racism is a type of prejudice that involves set beliefs about a specific racial group
Discrimination( refers to actions)
It is about action which denies the equal human rights of particular group of people in a particular situation.
3 types: Individual, direct institutional, or indirect institutional
The consequences of stereotypes on self image of people who belong to that culture/ ethnicity
Self Orientalism and Internalized racism
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