Yesterday I heard a very interesting talk by an African-American Prof
at Cal State U FFullerton. She showed a taped discussion among a group
of about 8 men (I was thinking of you, Mary). Despite this variety,
three ethnicities did all the talking, the Anglo, the Latino and the
African American. The Anglo took the general position outlined by
Phillip very succinctly. Anglo is normal. For an Anglo to say s/he
is color blind is self, that we should all related person to person,
is to take "being white" as the norm, as the unmarked case. This was
powerfully brought out by the African American and in the ensuing
discussion as he talked about all of the ways in daily life he is told
to shed his history and become white at the same time that he experiences
being made other, always, because of the color of his skin.
And yes, diversity is the current term used to cover over a lot of nasty
stuff having to do with ethnicity and class, but it will not stretch,
in many social settings I inhabit, to talking about gender diversity.
Which brings me to AERA. I am afraid I cannot give a detailed report,
Jay. The week was a blur for me because I was living too many lives
at one time. I have an extra heavy teaching load at present and because
it is going through a crisis over diversity and education, my university
was hauling me around committee meetings II could not avoid. The
workshop was exceptionally stimulating. And I think what made it so
stimulating, over and above the high level of people's committment
and general academic excellence, was the diversity of the group. I
can't even list all the places people came from: Aruba, Puerto
Rico, England, Canada, Sweden, Germany, as well as an interesting
mix of American eths and genders. I collected the graphics that
people wrote on the group scratch pad. Yrjo's expanded triangle
and two interesting tables with lists of people and categories
(constructivist, critical, postmodernist) and concepts (too numerous
to mention) are what I remember. If I can find the time, I will try
to get the lists on xmca, because I think they could be generative
of discussion.
I wasn't really at AERA except when I had an official function. My
main memory is of driving back and forth and finding parking, so
I will have to leave that to others to comment on. And hopefully
others at the workshop will chip in with their highlights.
mike