WASPS and discrimination...?

[werewolveriniki]

Can one truly understand or empathize with discrimination if they've never experienced it?

I love my boy, but the one subject that he seems not to understand at all is discrimination. Granted, he's a WASP, so how would he know? But instead of trying to understand he just gets really uncomfortable, changes the subject immediately, and acts like there

Comments

[ibid]

Take him to live in Africa for a few months? Has he ever lived outside his ethnic/cultural milieu?

It seems to be a common malaise alas. One of the reasons I decided to leave Edinburgh was the reaction given to a visiting lecturer during the postgrad seminars we used to have. She presented a paper about reflexivity and representation (basically how the researcher, his/her person, background etc affects the research. For anthropology this is pretty damned important). She was trying to explain why, for the purposes of her research in India it was important for her to be seen as Italian (as she was) rather than British (as the local people assumed all Europeans to be) and the Dead White Males of the department tore into her. It was insensitive and as Dead White Males they had never had to justify themselves to anyone and didn't seem to understand that it is often important. On a lower level it is horribly common among white majority Brits who can't understand why minorities feel uncomfortable sometimes.

I think one has to have a willingness to acknowledge difference, think about how others see you, the realisation that you are not the default model and the imagination to think yourself in another person's shoes. Not always easy if you've never faced it.

[werewolveriniki]

he's lived in South Korea, Belgium, and Germany. On military bases.
I guess bc he was raised not to look down on anyone AND he's never been looked down on that he's oblivious to when it happens.... I don't know.

Oh, the irony that the cultural anthropology dept couldn't understand something that simple
:/

[ibid]

It's good at least that he doesn't look down on people, but he is still coming from the position of a privileged minority.

I thought so too. I decided this was not the department for me.