WTF AZ?

I have been putting the finishing touches on my thesis. The concluding remarks I am adding at this point are more of a reflection of the "idea" of Latin America (to use Mignolo's phrase). One of my main closing arguments is that San Diego is Latin America, and thus belongs rightly as a space studied for a Latin American Studies thesis along with its sister city of Tijuana. (Although perhaps it would be more accurate to say that "Latin America" in itself is a problematic construction and concept invented to be a distinction between the "two worlds" of the Americas. Shit, I don't even believe in the concept or use of Latin America anymore and I am about to have a degree in "Latin American Studies").

In my conclusion I discuss how nationality was not used as an identifier for my informants because national identity becomes fluid for many inhabitants of the US-Mexico borderlands. I argue that by highlighting politically and socially constructed borders, the US practices a continued colonization of Mexico. By reinforcing what makes "Us" different from "Them," one group posits itself as superior. I just finished writing about how labeling individuals of the borderlands as "Mexican" or "American" is inappropriate in an area where many are likely to have more in common with someone on the other side of the border than their own.

But just as I am writing all of this into my conclusion, Arizona governor Jan Brewer signs a bill that legalizes racial profiling in the state in order to combat illegal immigration. Pardon my spit take. Alicia Mendez sums up some of the details and problems with this bill here. This is scary business, folks. To begin, the probable future of racial/ethnic/(lingual?) profiling in Arizona that will come about as a result of this measure is sickening. How can you tell if someone is an illegal immigrant, meriting probable cause to ask for proof of citizenship? Well I'll tell you one thing, I won't be stopped on the Arizona streets anytime soon due to SB 1070. So we can cross off gingers (daywalkers?) off the suspicion list... But what confuses me more than ever is the contradiction present in the conservative agenda here. Tea partiers are all up in arms because they think their freedoms are being taken away, right? Less government control, they say. And yet, they agree with a measure that will make it so that every Arizona citizen may have to carry around papers that confirm your legal residence in the US. And if you don't have that information at hand you can be detained. (Not if you are Anglo, though).

And one more thing...Are we forgetting the history of Mexico and the US Southwest?
I feel like I am in a weird time warp. What's next? I am officially scared about the direction things have been going lately. This climate of fear has a lot of people spring loaded and ready to pounce. And those people have guns.

It is at times like this that I need to take a deep breath, remember the teachings of Leslie Marmon Silko's Almanac of the Dead, and hope that I am not left to befall the same fate as the Destroyers.

Update 04.27: I love that Mexico has responded with a travel advisory for Mexicans traveling to Arizona. "Although details on how the law will be enforced remain unclear, the ministry said, 'it must be assumed that every Mexican citizen may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any time.'"

I Am Not Colorblind

I have a lot of students with the same name in the same class. In fact, I have two Zachs in my class this quarter, and they sit right next to each other. When I call on them in class, I call one Zach and one Zachary to try to avoid confusion. Zach is white, Zachary is black.

Yesterday, I had students circulate around the room to interview one another using the grammar we had just gone over. When it was time for students to share their findings, I asked "Who interviewed Zach?" When a lot of people raised their hand, I realized that people who had interviewed both were raising their hands. I looked over to them, saw Zach had a hat on, and said "The Zach with the white hat." My mentioning of white set off a wave of uncomfortable-ness. Zachary started cracking up, saying "white Zach in the white hat!" A lot of people in the class looked uncomfortable because of this declaration of race. As if we should all be colorblind.

There was a time when I thought that must be the best solution. That is, to avoid talking about race, pretending not to see it. Listening to the way my family would talk about people according to their race, at my graduation: "those black people sitting in front of us were so obnoxious during the ceremony," has made me aware of how one can bring up race unnecessarily, or in the wrong context. Had there been white obnoxious people in front of them during my graduation ceremony, I know they still would have complained. But because they prescribe to the idea that white is like the "default race," they would never have said "those white people sitting in front of us were so obnoxious during the ceremony." White would not have been a descriptor. I can't entirely blame my family for the way they see the world. I have tried to explain to them how I find that using race in this way is offensive. So when it is unnecessary, I really don't think race needs to be brought up.

However, it is quite another thing to pretend not to see race, to avoid even talking about it, and to generally invoke a policy of colorblindness. This doesn't make you enlightened, progressive or tolerant. It exposes ignorance. Why else do you think Stephen Colbert uses it as an ironic element to his on-screen personality on the Colbert Report? Colorblindness is something that intolerant people use as an excuse to pretend that they are tolerant. This is just like when people say "I don't care what gay (/trans/bi/queer) people do as long as they don't flaunt it in my face." It is a way to feign tolerance while simultaneously being intolerant.

I don't know if things will change in regards to this topic in my lifetime, but I know that I am ending a legacy of intolerance in my family by refusing to continue traditions aligning with the -isms of intolerance. I hope that many other people are similarly challenging ways in which they were brought up that might be similarly racist, sexist, classist and homophobic.

Blog numero uno

Oh dear, it appears as though I have started a blog. And why would I want to do that? Well, I will tell you right now, friend. As I approach the end of my penultimate quarter at Ohio University, I realize that although graduate school for me has been a stress-filled adventure, I thrive on academic discussions. My interests include, but are not limited to:
1. Feminism and Gender studies (study of gender within the media, studies of femininities and masculinities, the study of women and the environment)
2. Race studies
3. Latin America in general -> Mexico more specifically, and Venezuela on occasion.-> Tijuana/San Diego most specifically. Haiti has also always fascinated me from what I have learned from Randall Robinson and Franz Fanon
4. Environmental Studies- my knowledge of this is more on the political and/or educational side than the scientific side of, say, climate change.
5. Literature (although my formal education seems to be getting in the way of my pleasure reading)
6. Foreign Languages (Spanish and Portuguese)
7....and along with foriegn languages, travel
8. Teaching (something I never thought I would find such an interest in, but now as a Spanish teacher, it's a pretty big part of my life)
9. Film- I love movies. Especially the films of Vincent Gallo, Werner Herzog, Wes Anderson, Harmony Korrine, Lars von Trier, and Alejandro González Iñárritu to name the tip top.

Those are my interests right off the top of my head thinking about classes I've taken, research I've participated in, literature I've read, and things, places and people with which/whom I have come into contact. Of course my discussions on this blog will not be limited to such materials.
Right now might not be the best time to begin such an endeavor, as it will probably distract me from the real tasks at hand in my life, which are:

1. Assignments for my capstone course for the Women's and Gender Studies certificate
2. My thesis on Women and Environmental Advocacy on the US-Mexico Border
3. Lesson planning and teaching Spanish 112- the second in a series of 3 beginning Spanish classes.
4. Figuring out what life will be for me after I graduate with my Master's Degree in Latin American Studies (will I move to San Diego or am I doomed to stay in cold and snowy Ohio, working at Columbus State?)
5. Research assistance-ship hours with my academic advisor/Chair for my thesis committee, Risa Whitson.
6. Planning my presentations for A.) the International Student Union Research Symposium and B.) the Ohio Latinamericanist Conference.

As I finish up my Master's Degree I will probably be blogging sporadically and mostly about content pertaining to my classes and my thesis. As I mentioned previously, I am starting this blog so that I can continue to engage in meaningful and thoughtful "conversation" about my interests and passions. I encourage readers to post comments so that a dialogue can grow from my comments and questions. I welcome your ideas, comments, suggestions and questions. Thanks for reading!