Hope everyone had an awesome Valentine's Day!
Janice was my valentine this year and we had lunch at Celia's -- ehhhh, you call that a CHIMICHANGA?!!! Ridiculous.
Anyways, I learned about the concept of double consciousness in class on Tuesday and revisited the topic today.
"It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity." -- W.E.B. Du Bois
The relevancy of it, you might ask?
On Valentine's day, Xuemin received a beautiful bouquet and the delivery guy was extremely nice and so on, joking that she had another secret admirer other than him, haha. When Xuemin was surprised that the bouquet came with a vase and commented on it, he said that yes, it came with a vase, and that what with the vase being red and all, didn't it represent good luck in the Chinese culture? He then wished all of us a happy valentine's day.
The moment the door closed, I immediately turned to Xuemin and we both immediately knew what we were thinking. He was a nice guy, UP until his comment about being Chinese.
And yes, he might not have been thinking much about it, as in he didn't have any bad intentions, but uhhh... why even that comment?
Had Xuemin been a European American [read: Caucasian], would that comment have come up?
[For point of reference, I should note that the delivery man was himself, European American].
And so, back to my point. As this was an Ethnic Studies class, my professor asked if any of us students had any experience or connection to this concept of double consciousness.
And yes, I do believe that growing up as a person of color in the United States, has given me this sense of double consciousness - of being able to internalize and reflect upon the ways that I am treated in relation to my appearance.
I think also though, that double consciousness is not limited to being a color of person in the United States, but in any situation in which you do not fit society's ideal model -- such as being a LGBT person in a society that only believes in male-female relationships, a curvy male or curvy female in a weight obsessed society, a female in a patriarchal society, etc.
Because of your identity (sexual, gender, geographic, ethnic, personal, etc), has a lens of double-consciousness emerged in you? Have you been placed in situations, where you are more aware of biases and certain notions, than other individuals around you?
Janice was my valentine this year and we had lunch at Celia's -- ehhhh, you call that a CHIMICHANGA?!!! Ridiculous.
Anyways, I learned about the concept of double consciousness in class on Tuesday and revisited the topic today.
"It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity." -- W.E.B. Du Bois
The relevancy of it, you might ask?
On Valentine's day, Xuemin received a beautiful bouquet and the delivery guy was extremely nice and so on, joking that she had another secret admirer other than him, haha. When Xuemin was surprised that the bouquet came with a vase and commented on it, he said that yes, it came with a vase, and that what with the vase being red and all, didn't it represent good luck in the Chinese culture? He then wished all of us a happy valentine's day.
The moment the door closed, I immediately turned to Xuemin and we both immediately knew what we were thinking. He was a nice guy, UP until his comment about being Chinese.
And yes, he might not have been thinking much about it, as in he didn't have any bad intentions, but uhhh... why even that comment?
Had Xuemin been a European American [read: Caucasian], would that comment have come up?
[For point of reference, I should note that the delivery man was himself, European American].
And so, back to my point. As this was an Ethnic Studies class, my professor asked if any of us students had any experience or connection to this concept of double consciousness.
And yes, I do believe that growing up as a person of color in the United States, has given me this sense of double consciousness - of being able to internalize and reflect upon the ways that I am treated in relation to my appearance.
I think also though, that double consciousness is not limited to being a color of person in the United States, but in any situation in which you do not fit society's ideal model -- such as being a LGBT person in a society that only believes in male-female relationships, a curvy male or curvy female in a weight obsessed society, a female in a patriarchal society, etc.
Because of your identity (sexual, gender, geographic, ethnic, personal, etc), has a lens of double-consciousness emerged in you? Have you been placed in situations, where you are more aware of biases and certain notions, than other individuals around you?
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