Book Report on Unholy Trinity: The IMF, World Bank and WTO - Peer Review

Watson 2

STUDENT NAME

Review and Ranking of Book Reports

Blinded by Sight

Rate #1: STUDENT 1

Summary:

xxx’s book report on Blinded by Sight starts off by mentioning what the book is about: race and how blind people see race. He writes about what moved Obasogie’s thoughts, which was greatly seen in childhood experiences especially in his involvement in church. He writes on the assumption that because race is thought to be visually obvious, then blind people cannot see or experience race. By analyzing Obasogie’s results it is evident that race is not just visual cues, but rather shaped by social forces that influence how individual’s understands race. He uses examples, such as the Pearl Harbor attack or 9/11, to explain how historic events have led to certain discriminations against certain groups. To explain how this book has connections with legal mechanisms, xxx uses colorblindness to demonstrate the importance that race has in the United States legal system. He quotes “colorblindness advocates for the disassociation with the social significance of race” and explains that because colorblindness is just physical traits then the law should not consider that different races act or behave in different ways. He uses the example of the case Plessy v Ferguson to make the point that some laws can enforce the idea of race which contradicts the purpose of the Constitution being colorblind. xxxx adds at the end of his book report a thought that I agree with which is that the book is a “must-read”, but its structure may confuse the reader.

Rate #2: STUDENT 2

Summary:

xxxx started his review by mentioning background information on the author and the precise inspiration for Obasogie to write the book Blinded by Sight which is the famous movie Ray. Xxxx summarized the results from Obasogie’s study into four perspectives. The first refers to the term known as whiteness which explained that white respondents see race as something that others have and does not include them. xxxxx noted that the author mentioned that minority groups have a more direct relationship with race because they have more experience with it. The second perspective is how blind white respondents relate to some discriminations that minority groups face because of their physical disability. The third perspective contradicts the second because it states how blind black respondents do not connect their physical disability to the discriminations they face. An important point that xxxx writes about is that people believe that blind people do not understand race because they cannot see. However, he follows with stating the main point that Obasogie makes which is that the focus of race is not related to vision, but to social factors. xxxx did not mention directly any legal mechanisms found in Obasogie’s book but wrote about colorblindness. He states that colorblindness neglects the struggles that minority groups go through daily. Colorblindness does not line up with reality. He uses the example of Black Lives Matter movement to express the change the United States needs. xxxx has the same vision as Obasogie for the future of race, which is that there is still room for change.

Rate #3: STUDENT 3

Summary:

xxx first gave an introduction of the book in which she wrote about the background of Obasogie’s family and impactful moments in his life that led him to write the book Blinded by Sight. She then writes about Obasogie’s study on sighted and blind people and explains the results. She noted that the purpose of the study was to see the significance of race on blind people and their racial experiences. By analyzing how blind people see race, it gave the basis of Obasogie’s thesis that race is evidently not only visual cues. The results were that blind and sighted people understand race as visual cues, showing that there is no difference on people who can see and people who cannot. Xxxx understood Obasogie’s hypothesis as what people see influences the way people perceive race and link it to social meanings to different types of human bodies. In xxxx’s book report the legal implications seen in Obasogie’s book were shown when he wrote about the Equal Protection Jurisprudence and the Fourteenth Amendment. These two legal mechanisms offer the majority of base with respect racial content. xxxx believes that race is a social construct just as Obasogie believes too, however, they have different views relating the future of race.