Cultural and Ethnic Studies: RACE IN ACTION

RACE IN ACTION

1. identify themselves according to their race, ethnicity and their nationality, and then post your thoughts about any part of pages 45-47 in Dreams From my Father

2. respond from your own racial position to the writings of others.

Example: As a white male ...

The following questions should inform your response to the passage:

 Use the passage in Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama that discusses the topic of Power as the basis of this discussion. 

- What does the author Obama seem to say about power? 

- Why is the word power “fixed in [his] mother’s mind like a curse?” 

 - Does his mother’s race affect the way that she understands power? - Do Barack’s and Lolo’s race affect the way that they understand power? 

- Why does the concept of power seem to be linked to guilt in whites in this passage? What do you think about this passage?

This passage is taken from Chapter 2, under the Origin section of Dreams From my Father, and is found about 7 pages from the end of the chapter in a paragraph that begins with the word Power in italics.