Units

Unit 4

For this assignment, Professor Tamura asked us to find a current event and write a poem about it. We had just read Susan Sontag’s “Regarding the Pain of Others,” which talks about our role as consumers of media that bombards us with horrifying images of trauma and suffering: how is our perception of reality influenced by these images? What are the limits of empathy and compassion? Sontag examines how trauma and suffering are portrayed in the media and how we as viewers, outsiders of the suffering, absorb and understand this information.

The biggest takeaway I took from this text was that eventually, we become desensitized to suffering, to the point where a mass shooting with 5 deaths is “just another shooting.” I was simultaneously horrified and interested by this realization as I considered how this phenomenon played out in my own life. Sontag talks about how as viewers distanced from this violence and suffering, we have the ability to avert our gaze when the images are too disturbing, when they make us uncomfortable. I’ve realized that sitting with our discomfort and not looking away when “it’s too much” is how we can move from sympathy to empathy. I used to think that feeling overwhelmed to the point where I would turn off the news was a sign of empathy, but now I understand that it’s just my privilege allowing me to walk away.

The headline of the article was: Terrorist Shooting in the Capital of Austria

Sontag says we are desensitized to suffering—
Another day, another death. Is it true? 
Read the news, they say. It’s your civic duty, they say. So
I look, I sigh, I move on. But… 
They won’t. Their families won’t. 
And tomorrow the cycle will repeat itself, endlessly churning into oblivion.
So I ask, who are we to choose whose lives are worth our tears?

Unit 3

Units

Dignity is something we are not truly aware of until it has been taken from us, whether that be through humiliation or loss of control. Taking away another person’s dignity is a form of empowerment; this is how the social hierarchy has remained intact throughout history. The power that is gained from stolen dignity also gives you control over the story that is told, which is how voices like Sara Baartman’s and thousands of other Black Venuses have been silenced. This relates to Adichie’s “The Dangers of the Single Story,” and is why human dignity is something that must be protected for all people. One question I had when writing these thoughts was, is human dignity a right? Should it be?

Sara Baartman is one historical example of the dangers of using other humans for entertainment, but I also considered contemporary examples when reading the text about human zoos. Specifically, I thought about the movie The Greatest Showman and the circus. Barnum’s success came from putting social “oddities” on display for public entertainment. While he promises them great wealth and fame, they truly just end up suffering from humiliation and having their dignity taken away from them. Looking back, is that really so different from the concept of human zoos and what was happening in London and Paris in the early eighteen hundreds?

The text talks about this innate curiosity we have for those who are “different” from us, but that doesn’t give us the right to take away dignity from other human beings in order to satisfy our curiosity. This is a lesson that we must learn from Sara Baartman’s story. I was deeply disturbed at the great lengths that the French scientists were willing to go in order to satisfy their curiosity about her body. The scenes where they attempted to force Sara to reveal her body to them were among the most horrifying in the movie because it was so apparent how they completely disregarded her as a human being. Instead, they simply saw her as a scientific object, which dehumanized her. Additionally, their position as European white men gave them this power over her, and this power enabled them to take away her dignity. The thing that I found the most disturbing was that they only truly won in the end, once she was dead and couldn’t resist them. Therefore, whatever peace and dignity she might’ve found in death was taken away from her.

Throughout the film, I felt deep shame and discomfort when watching others mutilate Sara’s body, and those emotions were heightened by the distance created through the scene. However, my discomfort and shame impacted how I viewed the film and what I took away from it. I was so uncomfortable knowing that what happened to Sara Baartman was not an isolated event, and that people really treated other human beings that way. This realization can be useful in the future to fight for change and learn from past mistakes. In the future, dignity should be protected and valued because once we lose it, we lose control over our own narrative.

Unit 2

Units

For this assignment, Professor Green asked us to put Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline in conversation with Frantz Fanon’s “Fact of Blackness” to understand the emotions and struggles of Omari and Xavier, two characters from Pipeline. Fanon’s work examines how Blackness is scrutinized in the eyes of white citizens, which connects to their inherent discomfort of “others.” Further, this discomfort encouraged the separation of whites from other races and justified their superiority complex.

However, both works illustrate that discomfort is a two way street. While white society was uncomfortable living alongside others who were different from them, black society was uncomfortable by the pressure of the white gaze and the expectations that came with it. They felt pressured to prove those stereotypes wrong, but many times, as illustrated by Omari and Xavier, they snap and lash out at their oppressors.

Fanon’s “Fact of Blackness” describes how a black man’s existence will always be first and foremost defined by his skin color, especially in comparison to the white man. He states, “as long as the black man is among his own, he will have no occasion… to experience his being through others” (82). Omari, being in a predominantly white private school, is living in a state of what he feels as constant scrutiny under the white gaze. He feels like an outsider, the token “black boy” of the school, defined by stereotypes. The pressure he felt from his teacher’s gaze is similar to what Fanon describes as the burden of the white man’s eyes, and eventually he snaps under the pressure.

Fanon also talks about the message that white society has sent to black men for generations: that they are dangerous and no good. Omari describes hearing a similar message through the story of Bigger Thomas, how his act of rage unleashed the animal in him. We see how both Omari and Xavier are affected by this fear: Omari tries to suppress his emotions but eventually explodes, whereas Xavier suppresses his emotions by running away from them. Xavier also demonstrates how the societal expectations to not only be a man but a black man have impacted his ability to form a relationship with his son, continuing the generational trauma. He is unable to show love in his determination to be strong and masculine, and in turn, Omari faces a similar struggle.

Unit 1

Units

Adichie’s “The Dangers of a Single Story” demonstrates why the humanities are so important: learning empathy. History is almost always written by the victors. Minority voices rarely have the opportunity to share their story, which silences thousands of voices, stories. This silencing of the oppressed allows us to avoid the uncomfortable truth of the past because the victors can leave out details of their mistakes, of the horrible atrocities committed, or the full scale of the victims’ suffering. However, this leaves us with a skewed understanding of history and our society. If we never hear those stories, we will never understand the world in “full color”— we will only see it in one shade. But how can we change this if we are only ever offered one side of the story?

In our youth, we read children’s books that tell stories of kids that are just like us. In school, history (and the humanities in general) is almost always taught from a Eurocentric perspective. We are so impressionable in what we hear, whether that’s from the news or a book or a movie. This vulnerability is what makes fake news especially dangerous; it isolates us from those who are different from us. Take, for example, a group like QAnon. They spread misinformation that takes advantage of people’s hatred for people that are different from them, which once again promotes an “us vs them” mentality. They also capitalize on people’s discomfort for the unknown and the unfamiliar; it’s easy to rationalize hating someone you don’t know. Fake news isolates and separates groups of people.

Additionally, the single story creates stereotypes, which both forms and reinforces assumptions that guide our perception of the world around us and other places and cultures. Stories have the power to take away dignity from someone, but they also have the ability to repair it and promote empathy and human connection. Stories are told by those in power, and once a narrative has been spread, it’s hard to reverse it or change it. Those in control can decide which stories are heard and how they are presented– they form the definitive story. That’s why it’s so important that we are always creating new stories from different perspectives. Empowering those whose voices are diminished is the first step to creating a more equitable world. This also ties into our earlier discussion of who has the right to tell another’s story and cultural appropriation. If we can only tell stories of people that are just like us, how will we ever hear the narratives of those whose voices are distinguished. But we also have to consider the dangers of biases when telling another person’s story, whether conscious or unconscious. Reevaluating the current practice of storytelling is difficult, even uncomfortable, but important because it may allow for untold stories to be heard.