For week 8, please read:

• Matt Brim, Poor Queer Studies (Intro, ch4; optional reading: ch2)
• Roderick Ferguson, The Reorder of Things (ch3)

You might consider the following questions:

1. How does Ferguson understand the administration of “yes” as a new form of racist power exercised in higher education in response to new forms of “no,” including the student resistance movements at CUNY in the late 1960s?
2. How would you re-title “Poor Queer Studies” to do some different class/race work in your discipline/field? Or a bit more broadly, do you see ways of rethinking ideas in PQS based on your experience in an academic discipline, as a teacher, as a CUNY community member?
3. Reflect on the centering of ‘mothers’ in chapter 4. How does this connect with the idea of teaching beyond the classroom? How does it connect with what we’ve discussed regarding community vs individualism? I (Katina) am curious to hear what this strategy—centering mothers, specifically—brings up for you in conjunction with your own educational and life trajectories.

Related: You might take a look at the Interference Archive’s online exhibition on student organizing: https://walkout.interferencearchive.org/ — a number of CUNY-related documents are included.

I held my breath for “Simon Says” Powerful!!

It made me think of how control and inferiority (elements of slavery) are perpetuated in the classroom and school structure. More so, I think about the way Black history is taught and how in many ways it reinforces the white supremacist agenda. Slavery is a prominent part of African-American history but it is not the only part and should not be where the teaching begins. Coming from the Grenada what I learned about my African ancestry was from a very different perspective. Before slavery, we learned African history and when slavery was taught the focus was on the many rebellions and uprisings that took place on the plantations. It may be seen as being dismissive but there was a focus on teaching the people that we are not just decedents of slaves. That being said, on the NYT article about who should own the photos of slaves, it definitely should not be Harvard. I view educational institutions holding on to these photos of slave the same way I view Western museums holding African artifacts – upholding white supremacy.

I distinctly remember sitting with my two roommates last March, in grief and in shock about the state of the world, wondering if the mandates to stay at home, isolated and indoors, would inflict some sort of worldwide introspection at a deep level. 

While may be take much time before any of us realize the extent in which the pandemic has affected us psychologically, one thing that I have just begun to realize is how much lays beneath the surface. As a psychologist, I’m mostly interested in “what lies beneath the surface” in emotional/conscious ways. 

Throughout the pandemic, I’ve been thinking a lot about repression, not just individually, but on a scale of societal structures. As someone raised in the United States, I have begun reflecting on how much accepted, internalized, and neglected in our mainstream culture. There are so many unspoken rules and norms (and of course, spoken ones, too). 

The readings of this week allowed me bring my interested in the subliminal to my curiosity for higher education and structures of inequality. I was particularly interested in the infographic on characteristics of white supremacy culture. So many of these characteristics were deeply psychological: defensiveness, fundamental attribution errors.

This may be a big leap, but the conversations in these articles made me question the role that internal reflection may have on healing a racist society. 

This is not at all to say that white supremacy is merely caused by unresolved psychological issues – I don’t think that’s the case, but I wonder the ways that our inability to connect with others collectively, untangle trauma, take ownership emotionally, and work toward healing have affected our unjust systems. More importantly, I’m curious about the ways that resolving these internal issues can help us bring about a more inclusive society. 

As I read through the articles shared in the post, some ideas of the articles impressed me and made me think about a variety of things. When it comes to white supremacy culture, even though we don’t have the term, “white supremacy,” in South Korea, I could notice that the description of white supremacy culture’s characteristics is very similar to capitalism’s one. If white supremacy was a phenomenon happening only in the US, it would be a very difficult concept for me to understand. But, for now, it is an understandable norm to me, and its antidotes are also applicable to Korean society. And I found out that those antidotes to white supremacy could be life’s principles to anyone who wants to live in a society that emphasizes inclusivity. As I read this sentence, which explains one of the antidotes, “work to recognize the contributions and skills that every person brings to the organization,” I could remind of our class, in which all students can share their experiences and knowledge related to the topics to discuss.

Regarding the need of competition in the field of education, I’ve been thinking like “too much competition is bad. But, without competition, no better results are there.” I totally agree with the idea that we should be cautious not to value competition over collaboration. Instead, it seems like collaboration’s value should be more appreciated in this highly competitive modern society. Especially regarding the field of education, when students start to receive education in unequal socioeconomic status, emphasis on competition could deteriorate the academic performances of students who are in difficult situations and hardships. However, in terms of our market system, a lot of companies compete fiercely with other companies. So, we need to make sure that students know this competitive reality that they will face in the future. In this regard, competition value also shouldn’t be neglected.

Knowledge is never objective. It comes from a viewpoint or different perspectives. Objectivity is seen in our culture as neutral or impartial. But that understanding of objectivity comes from a specific perspective (white, male, heterosexual). All other positions are made invalid and subjective, denying voice and subjectivity.

Readings were used to construct a visualization of textual commonalities across articles:

I was struck by the inclusion of individualism as part of the white supremacy culture chart as it’s so central to the workings of academia. Students are evaluated individually in each course they take after being admitted as individuals and before graduating as individuals. Faculty are hired individually (except for cluster hires which I would be very happy to discuss) and tenured individually. The most prized research in many disciplines is that supposedly conducted alone. In other words, to succeed, one (depending on who they’re in community with) must disavow that community in order to succeed. Additionally, it makes it easy for institutions to push out and punish individuals (particularly those marginalized in the academy). This brings me to a question that was asked at a student protest for Black Lives over the summer at Brooklyn College: what would a Black life affirming university look like? What would it feel like? How would relationships and community be present in such an institution?

How pervasive is white supremacist culture (WSC) within higher education?  Does WSC even exist within academia?  

Please feel free to significantly shorten responses this week. Approximately 200 words or less:

1.  White Supremacy Culture – https://overcomingracism.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/HANDOUT-SHARED-Characteristics-of-White-Supremacy-Culture-original-1.pdf 
2. More Than One Pandemic – https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02615479.2020.1825665 
3. Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates outraged at arrest at his home- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/22/henry-louis-gates-arrested-at-home 
   1. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/08/the-arrest-of-henry-louis-gates/61365/  (opt.)
4. Yale’s diversity promises

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/04/01/thirteen-professors-withdraw-their-labor-one-yales-most-diverse-majors

5. Who Should Own Photos of Slaves? The Descendants, not Harvard, a Lawsuit Says – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/us/slave-photographs-harvard.html 

(Videos)

6. Ruth Wilson Gilmore on CUNY’s potential role in abolition (only minutes 46 to 52)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeQmVpnRMYE 

7. Simon Says – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zatHOwWBPEI