No. This is not a play on words concerning the Dark Knight. Getting to this title was a much more organic and original process (thanks, friends!). Also, that is just a creepy reference to make -- so, please.
As the subtitle suggests, this is a blog on all things Swarthmore, relevant to me. If the direction changes, deal. If what I define as me transforms, deal. This is my blog. This is my forum. I invite dissent***. I invite agreement.
***With obvious exceptions. If you are harboring any serious '-isms', then, no, your voice is not welcome. What was that about free speech? Take your free hate elsewhere. If you are talking about post-racism, or post-anything that would include a negation of a people's history and lived experiences, this door is NOT open if you are trying to tell my why I am wrong without any form of reciprocal openness to conversation. I am open to conversation, not dictation. ***
However, I do not invite the yes/no, the right/wrong, the black/white. So if you like binaries or absolute things, then peace OUT!
So, back to the question: Why am I So So Serious?
Because Swarthmore is soooo ridiculous!!! Why? Let's get the elephant out of the room with some Context:
Swarthmore--- Predominantly white, middle to upper class constituency and culture, patriarchal organizational structure, engendered knowledge, i.e.... a microcosm of a greater status quo.
Me--- Black, working/lower middle class background and upbringing, womyn, Bronx, NY, collective and grassroots oriented, i.e.... a member of a community that you will read about in 5, no more than 10 years.
Swarthmore--- excessively anti-mainstream
Me--- painfully aware of it
This is a space for me to comment on the ridiculous dealings of Swarthmore College, on incidental, individual, collective and institutional levels. In whatever political or nonpolitical terms that I decide. In whatever formal or informal expressions I chose. Why no apologetic disclaimers? 'Cause it's my blog. And it's my voice.
Hey Sable! I love this and will be sure to follow. We have to talk about blogging...lol
ReplyDeleteWhat does "engendered knowledge" mean? Sorry for my ignorance.
The one thing I disagree with though is "predominantly white, middle to upper class constituency and culture." While this school is unquestionably predominantly white, I came from such an upper upper upper class constituency at my last institution that honestly these white folks seem poor in comparison. They very much don't harbor the sense of elitism that we would probably find at a UPenn. Nobody is walking around in Yves Saint Laurent scarves...idk, I think had we been some place more elite...the white culture would be different. While parts of it are problematic, ie. the lack of awareness - we can talk more about this later, there seems to be such a diversity in economic background and white culture on this campus with very few WASPY/JAPPY white students...far less than I was used to in New York. It was a bit of a transition. It was like pause...not all white people have houses in the Hamptons.
Hey Eva,
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying. I appreciate it.
Don't apologize for your ignorance-- Two things: Not only is this a loaded term, but its something I just made up (or picked up somewhere in reading/ conversation). I think that this phrase is very loaded, especially when considering different forms of knowledge and context. In terms of my lived experience at Swarthmore, engendered knowledge is similar, yet not quite the same as racialized knowledge (something I hope to tease out in the future). It's in my readings when I have to remind myself that the objective subject is (not) male. It's in my discussions when I have to pause because a man or white woman (think back to Dorsey and different races and different genders) interrupts me. It's in an editorial when a white woman declares that sexism is worse than racism. So, I'm starting to realize is that I consider engendered knowledge the text and social norms that further solidifies the race and gender hierarchy and my place in it. So in relation to your interests, I do not think that there is anything particularly unique about the institution (of Swat) actively fights against this (So for example, how the dating norm for black womyn is that there is none; yet our white counterparts have the greater expectation and possibility of the what does exist (random sex or marriage) at Swat (a problem in general)
I agree with you. Many of the white folks here are very different from the ones you went to school with, especially in terms of the connections between self-representation and class. However, I still feel like I am imbued in a culture of whiteness that others a different choice of hairstyle or (comparatively) radical politics, personal or otherwise. This is a tension that I think exists in most, if not all, institutionalized white spaces.