Seattle Campus Course- Women of Color in Academia

Posted by Mandy

Dear students,

If you are looking for courses for AU 10, consider the course I will be teaching Women 577: Women of Color in Academia. In this course we will explore how "women of color" in academia are positioned, through scholarship and identities, to question and redefine academia, education, and the established boundaries between academia and other communities. Discussion focuses on understanding institutional sites and forms of knowledge production and validation in academia in the United States.

This course will be taught MW 1:30-3:30 p.m. I will appear in the time schedule as soon as a room is assigned.

Please share this information with other students who may be interested in this topic.

Cordially,

Angela B. Ginorio V: 206/685-2238
University of Washington Fax: 206/685-9555
Women Studies 35-4345
Seattle, WA 98195-4345
http://faculty.washington.edu/ginorio

Caminante, no hay camino/Se hace camino al andar. Antonio Machado

Note: The quote that Angela has posted translates loosely to "Wayfarer (lit "one who walks the path"), there is no road./ You create the road by walking." Oh, okay, here's a better translation than my crappy Spanglish one- "wanderer, there is no road,/the road is made by walking."

Webinar about Women of Color

Posted by Mona

I'm at work today and can't participate, I hope one of us can join the webinar & share some of the things they discussed. Best, Mona

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WEBINAR:
Women of Color, Wealth and America's Future

Join us for a Webinar on June 8 from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM PDT



Register Now!





New Report Exposes Damaging Wealth Gap for Women of Color

Women of color face an enormous wealth gap when compared to the rest of society, one that undermines their future economic security and that of their children, according to a groundbreaking report from the Insight Center's Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative, Lifting As We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth, and America's Future.

The report by former Harvard associate professor Mariko Chang, Ph.D., author of the forthcoming book Shortchanged: Why Women Have Less Wealth and What Can Be Done About It, for the first time brings together a wealth of data to detail the dire economic realities facing women of color. It finds that single women have only one third of the assets of single men. But due to the compounding of race and gender disadvantages - families of color have 16 cents to the white family's dollar - the economic situation of women of color is tenuous at best. It's findings include:

Single black and Hispanic women have a median wealth of $100 and $120 respectively. Nearly half of all single black and Hispanic women have zero or negative wealth, the latter of which occurs when debts exceeds assets. Never-married women of color have a median wealth of zero.

Join the Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative for a webinar for an in-depth discussion of the report's findings.

Speakers:

Mariko Chang, PhD., Author, foremost scholar on the gender wealth gap

Meizhu Lui, Director, Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative

Melany De La Cruz, Assistant Director, Asian American Studies Center, UCLA

Sarah Echohawk Vermillion, Vice President, First Nations Development Institute

Janis Bowdler, Deputy Director, Wealth Building Policy Project, National Council of La Raza

Register: Click Here

Follow us on Twitter


Title: Women of Color, Wealth, and America's Future

Date: Tuesday June 8, 2010

Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM PDT


After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar

Favorite Native Prayer

Posted by Mona

Well, I know prayers can be controversial, this is one of my favorites. It sums up personal responsibility and the connection to nature that are common threads among Native Americans. I thought it was so beautiful I'd share it. While I've known we were always a civilized people, it also shows the wisdom that Native Americans possessed in 1887 for those who doubted that and felt we needed to be assimilated!

Best, Mona

An Indian Prayer

O' GREAT SPIRIT,
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
 hear me! I am small and weak, I need your 
strength and wisdom.

Let Me Walk In Beauty, and make my eyes
 ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make My Hands Respect the things you have 
made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make Me Wise so that I may understand the
 things you have taught my people.

Let Me Learn the lessons you have hidden 
in every leaf and rock.

I Seek Strength, not to be greater than my 
brother, but to fight my greatest 
enemy...myself.

Make Me Always Ready to come to you with 
clean hands and straight eyes.

So When Life Fades, as the fading sunset,
 my spirit may come to you
 without shame.

(translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887)
published in Native American Prayers - by the Episcopal Church

What I've learned this year

Posted by Mona

What I've learned this year, by Mona Halcomb

After reading a multitude of theorist I am finally able to have a clearer picture of some of the complexities in my life that have frustrated and eluded meaning for me until now. Like the chemical reaction that happens when film is processed which brings the amber silhouettes of a negative into a positive image I am able to take the theories (chemical solution) and submerge my experiences (negatives) and come to a more informed understanding of these experiences. While there could be several sites of investigation to consider in my life, as a Native American woman, I will concentrate on two very important and fundamental ones. I’ll take two situations with my dad and brother and putting them in to a broader context that allows me to look at them through a more compassionate lens. As the quote, “I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too” - William Shakespeare suggest the relationships of daughters, fathers, and brothers are worthy of deeper contemplation.

One Saturday my dad and I were shopping at Costco for a family picnic. A man approached us and said, “I like your boots sir.” My dad proceeded to put one hand on his waist and the other in the air and twirl around in a 360⁰ circle saying, “I have a matching belt.” I was so embarrassed I leaped three aisles in a single bound with a heavy cart all the while saying to myself, “I don’t know him!” When I returned to work on Monday morning I talked to a friend who taught Native American Studies about the episode. He kindly shared with me the experiences of some Indian children in boarding schools, their school clothes, which usually consisted of ugly, green, and cheaply made uniforms that resembled current day scrubs many hospital workers wear. My parents were stripped of the self-expression as many young people typically are allowed to experiment with clothes and hair when discovering “who they are.” The fact that both my mother and father were raised in boarding schools, and were both “fancy dressers” and could even be labeled as “Clothes Horses” which refers to a person excessively or obsessively interested in clothes was a result of being in boarding school. As Stanley J. Grenz states, “truth and even the way we envision truth are dependent on the community in which we participate.”[1] When my friend shared with me the boarding school experiences, I was given the gift of looking at my parents through the lens of the community they were a part of and not see their love of clothes as personal idiosyncrasies and flaws of theirs but rather in the larger context of historical domination and the results of that domination.

I have never heard either of my parents speak about their personal boarding school experiences in great detail. I do know that the affects that boarding school had on both my parents extend far beyond their clothing choices. Nor have I had the opportunity to learn about boarding schools during my education, even in a master’s level program about culture, the attention of Native American policies and experiences remains on the peripheral of inquiry and only receives a modest level of inclusion. Therefore, the implication of Michel Foucault’s theory of power-knowledge[2] is critical in understanding why this is. As Foucault explains power is based on knowledge, yet power (re-) creates itself through knowledge. We are often ambiguous to the fact that knowledge being produced has it’s own intentions. Some of these intentions are to make invisible in a systemic way the experiences of marginalized groups. Another theorist, Chela Sandoval claims, “Under conditions of colonialization, poverty, racism, gender or sexual subordination, dominated populations are often held away from the comforts of the dominated ideology or ripped out of legitimized social narratives, in a process of power that places such constituencies in a very different position from which to view objects-in-reality than other kinds of citizen-subjects.” (104) [3] Had some of the events of boarding schools been taught when I was in school I might have understood my parents a little more as a young person. However, as Ien Ang points out this is not a problem that only Native Americans face, she says that cultural studies is not in daily conversations of people because it is not considered relevant. She cautions that research institutions collaborating with outside funders must be able to look at a situation in its complexity, and not “name a problem” to research.” And lastly, that cultural study must contest meanings negotiated and constructed for these groups and become relevant. [4]

Moving from a daughter / parent relationship to one of a sibling / sister I would like to look at an exchange between my older brother and a neighbor. I had just moved to Washington State from California, it is prudent to say something about the cultural norm in California, you could be in a supermarket and meet someone in line and be invited to a bbq at their house on the spot. People may not have been deep life long friends but they were often very friendly. In my new apartment I expected similar types of interactions. There was a neighbor who was a middle aged white woman. Our doors faced each other. I tried everything I could to be friendly with her, I’d always say hi, good morning, or can I help you with those bags? She never spoke or replied in any way to me. After eight months I began to think she was a deaf mute. One morning around 4:00 a.m. the fire alarm sounded. We all rushed out our doors and in her panic she looked at me and said, “What’s going on?” I was stunned, not by the alarm but by my neighbors voice. I replied, “Oh, you can talk!” Which angered her beyond measure and she rushed down the stairs. My older brother who grew up in the Northwest was over for a visit just after this incident. He and I were running an errand and the neighbor was coming up the stairs as we were walking down. Being the eternal optimist I looked her straight in the eye and said, “Hi!” She in her usual manner ignored me. My brother on the other hand (who was loud and outgoing) dropped his head immediately to the ground and refused to make eye contact with her. He became meek and subordinate in a split second. I was furious with him. I’d lost a lot of respect for him in that moment. How dare he become humble and timid because of this one individual! I needed an older brother I could look up to and emulate. Someone to be a role model for me not someone who had learned the lesson of subordination.

Reading scholars like Grenz, Foucault, Sandoval, and Ang shed some insight but did not completely rectify my disappointment with my older brother’s response. Then upon reading Carole Pateman describe the public / private debate in feminist theory a light came on for me. In, “The Disorder of Women” Carole Pateman speaks about the role of men and women. Men are seen as breadwinners and women are not seen to be owners of their own persons, and are not able to bring their persons to market.[5] She does a nice job or laying down the dichotomy and polarization of men and women’s roles, however she fails to articulate the complex space men of color inhabit. Despite the fact Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, the right to vote was enforced by individual states and until 1957 some states did not allow Native American’s to vote. By looking at the complex relationship between men and women that Pateman outlines and then looking at even more complex policies that affected Native American’s to the mix, how can I be angry with my older brother for situating himself into a role that society had prescribed for him? Can I expect him to rise above the societal roles of dominated cultures single-handily? Of course I can’t and if he were he still with me I’d apologize for my anger. I didn’t say anything to him at the time but I am sure he could tell I was seething beneath the surface at something. I didn’t have the words to articulate my emotions at the time. But now having read some of the theorist I am able to see these in a new light.

Reflecting on the two experiences with my dad and brother reminds me of doing beadwork. When you are concentrating and focusing on the individual process: one red bead, two white beads, five black beads, etc…it is hard to see the larger picture. Once you are far enough along and hold the piece at a distance you can begin to make out a picture, which after some time comes into focus of what is being created. Looking at these two experiences closely and in isolation I only felt embarrassment or anger. Holding them at a distance and seeing the larger picture of what society has constructed through the lens of these theorist allows me to view them in terms of power-knowledge which has created roles for public / private citizens. And by having these roles come into focus the possibility to create paths that move beyond prescribed locations.

---

[1] Grenz, S.J. “Star Trek and the Postmodern Generation”

[2] Foucault, M., The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1981 (see pp. 92-102)

[3] Sandoval, C., “Semiotics and Languages of Emancipation” in Methodology of the Oppressed

[4] Ang, I., Who Needs Cultural research?

[5] Pateman, C., “the Disorder of Women” 1989

Firefly and Latina Diversity

Posted by Mandy

My parents were classy beautiful Latin people. They grew up in the 30’s, a time when you looked clean, you were pressed; you looked people in the eye; you were gracious, no matter how much money you did or didn’t have. Those were the values I went into the world with. –Gina Torres, portrayer Zoe Washburne in Firefly/Serenity

Being born in Brazil made me who I am. –Morena Baccarin, portrayer of Inara Serra

As a second-generation Chilena Americana of a Pinochet-era immigrant mother, I am constantly amazed by the frequency with which I am interrogated about the legitimacy of my Latina identity. I am told that I do not “look” Latina, I do not “speak” like a Latina, my accent does not “sound” as though it belongs to a Latina. The implication being that I am simply trying to “pass” as a Latina, though for what reason, I cannot say. I did not realize that so many people were trying to achieve admittance to a group particularly targeted for banishment from this country in a time when "looking Latin@" is equated with "looking illegal" ("Arizona...").


In her article for VidaAfroLatina, Ivy Farguheson reflects on the many instances in which her race has been challenged:

They question our heritage, our legitimacy. Our Latino-ness, as it were. And the problem continues if you don’t have an accent and don’t look like what people think “Latinos” should look like.

So, what should I look like if I want to appear indisputably Latina? At times, the feeling that I don’t belong, notably as a result of primarily White people questioning whether or not I really belong to the race of my ancestors, becomes too difficult to deal with. I consider dying my hair black, getting a perm, I darken my eyebrows, put on thick, dark red lip liner and large, golden hoop earrings. I smack gum and refer to people as “mamí” and “papí.” I wear bright colors, skirts, and high heeled shoes.

I become a walking stereotype, and I look no more Latina than usual, for my usual appearance, no matter what it is, is Latina for I am Latina.

...the truth is most U.S. Latinos, especially in the Southwest, don't see skin color.

And the reason is simple.

Within Latino families, there can exist a variety of different skin tones. From the very fair-skinned to the very dark, families are comprised of members who may not even look like they're related but they all share the same blood and family history.
-Marisa Treviño

Anthony Quinn as "Zorba the Greek."
He was born Antonio Rodolfo Oaxaca Quinn in Chihuahua, Mexico.

There exists an immense rage related to this issue of having to “fit in” to White perceptions of what Latin@s should look like.

I recently tried to explain what I refer to as “the rage” to a White colleague. How can I explain that I am angry because my mother and tio were so mistreated when they first came to this country that the only place they could safely live was on the Yakima Indian Reservation? When cohorts express disgust at the new policies going into effect in Arizona surrounding the “illegal immigrant problem,” how am I to explain that I literally agonized over dropping out of school to become a lobbyist for Latin@ rights as a result of these new laws? What words can I use to discuss the turmoil during the summer of 2008 when I tried to figure out whether it would be better for the Latin@ community if I applied for a PhD or a law degree?

The rage is expressed so beautifully though still undefined in Sandra Cisneros’ Caramelo:

A part of me wants to kick their ass. A part of me feels sorry for their stupid ignorant selves. But if you've never been father south than Nuevo Laredo, how the hell would you know what Mexicans are supposed to look like, right?

There are the green-eyed Mexicans. The rich blond Mexicans. The Mexicans with the faces of Arab sheiks. The Jewish Mexicans. The big-footed-as-a-German Mexicans. The leftover-French Mexicans. The chaparrito compact Mexicans. The Tarahumara tall-as-desert-saguaro Mexicans. The Mediterranean Mexicans. The Mexicans with Tunisian eyebrows. The negrito Mexicans of the double coasts. The Chinese Mexicans. The curly-haired, freckled-faced, red-headed Mexicans. The jaguar-lipped Mexicans. The wide-as-a-Tula-tree Zapotec Mexicans. The Lebanese Mexicans. Look, I don't know what you're talking about when you say I don't look Mexican. I am Mexican (352-353).

So how does Firefly, the (far, far too) short-lived but much appreciated Joss Whedon space Western, fit into all this? Well, for starters, take a look at this picture of the show's female cast members.

(Left to right) Jewel Staite, Summer Glau, Morena Baccarin, and Gina Torres

As the caption explains, the lady in the blue dress is the gloriously sexy, dark-skinned Gina Torres. To her right stands the classically beautiful fair-skinned Morena Baccarin. While Torres is often referred to as a “strong Black woman” in the Whedonverse, and Baccarin called a “wispy White woman,” both are Latina (Torres is Cuban/Puerto Rican, Baccarin is Brazilian). Together, they demonstrate how impossible it is to accurately define “what a Latina looks like.” As Ivy Farguheson explains:

You cannot tell every Latino by our looks or our names. You can only know us by learning about us and listening to our unique stories.

Note: Latina is used to refer to Latin women, while Latino refers to Latin men. Latin@ includes both an a and an o at the end, referring to Latin folks of both genders. It is not a typo :)

Works Cited

"Arizona governor signs immigration bill." CNN. 24 Apr. 2010. 3 June 2010 http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/23/obama.immigration/index.html

Cisneros, Sandra. Caramelo. New York: Vintage, 2002.

Farguheson, Ivy. “A Latina by Any Other Name Sounds Just as Dulce.” VidaAfroLatina 31 Jan. 2009: online ed. 3 June 2010 http://vidaafrolatina.com/A_Latina_by_Any_Other_Na.html

Torres, Gina. "Bio & Contact." Gina-Torres.com. 2010. 3 June 2010 http://www.gina-torres.com/about/

Treviño, Marisa. “For Latinos ‘being white’ is more a state of mind than skin tone.” Latina Lista. 1 June 2010. 3 June 2010 http://www.latinalista.net/palabrafinal/2010/06/for_latinos_being_white_is_more_of_a_sta.html

Weltman, Wladimir. "Morena Baccarin: Brazilian Born Alien." The Rio Times 25 May 2010: online ed. 3 June 2010 http://riotimesonline.com/news/rio-entertainment/morena-baccarin-brazilian-born-alien/

2010 Seattle Out and Proud Pride Parade- Sunday, June 27th

Posted by Mona

The QFSUW is still seeking people to march in the 2010 Seattle Out and Proud Pride Parade to represent the the University of Washington for Sunday, June 27, 2010, 11am-3pm. We are inviting all members of the UW community to march with us in solidaritary to show our support for our GLBTQA brothers and sisters.

This includes not only those who identify as GLBTQ but our allies as well! This promises to be a great time for us all to come together and show our Husky Pride while demonstrating our acceptance and appreciation of each other!

For a university with a student population of at least 42,907 students, 5,803 faculty, and 16,174 staff, we should be able to break our record of 11 marchers from last year. If you are interested in marching the parade, please contact Aaron Olson (alolson@uw.edu) so that we know to expect you. Please feel free to forward this email to friends and family who may also be interested in joining us!

Aaron Olson

P.S. One of the grand marshals for this year's parade is UW Alumnus David Kopay, Class of 1964.

Clean Greens Farm Visit- Saturday, June 19th

Posted by Priya

Teach Out! Engaging our Local Food Cycle
AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN ABOUT AND WORK FOR A LOCAL COMMUNITY FARM
Coordinated by the Food Justice Project of the Community Alliance for Global Justice
Second Event of 2010! Clean Greens Farm, Duvall, WA
Saturday, June 19th, 10am-3pm

CAGJ’s Food Justice Project invites our members and others to learn about and build connections with key players in the local food region through monthly visits to farms, community kitchens, and community gardens! The site visits will include hands-on work that is needed by or is appropriate to the sites, opportunities to debrief and reflect at the end of the site visit, and calls to action! Each visit will allow for carpool options and many will also feature a bike route guided by a CAGJ member. Through these visits, CAGJ hopes to facilitate a place for the voices of our local food producers to be heard and their knowledge and skills to be recognized and celebrated.

The Black Dollar Days Task Force developed Clean Greens in response to the under-representation of African Americans among the ranks of those farming in Washington, as well as the lack of foods relevant to the African American as well as African immigrant food cultures locally. Operating on 22 acres, Clean Greens produces chemical-free, organic food for inner city residents.

**Please note, space is limited, so RSVP's are required. To RSVP, or for more information, please email Molly at mollyjade@gmail.com. We will send you directions and carpooling details upon receiving your RSVP, as well as information about what to wear and bring. All activities will be appropriate for children and we can work out disability accommodations if needed.