The article was particularly interesting to me. I find it hard to wrap my head around performance art, as it is new to my life as of this class. Not that I haven't seen it...but just as I've never thought about it. I'm interested to learn more about the types of performance art.
The thing that stuck out to me the most was the box about passing.
I've always been interested in the notion of 'passing' when it comes to gender identity. I have friends who identify as trans* in some way. They celebrate moments when they are called 'sir' or 'madam' in accordance to their gender expression, and count that as a validation of who they are. This is interesting to me. I have never been called anything but female pronouns, and I can't imagine wishing anything different.
But this article brought to light the idea of passing as a race. I hadn't thought about that. I have known people who have brought this up. I have a hispanic friend that I didn't know was hispanic. I've had a friend tell me that she was black after knowing her for years. But if there is not a scientific reason for the social constructs that we, as society, puts around skin color, then why is it happening? What does it mean to pass? Is it certain props, a purse, a voice, a baseball hat? And why is it so important to have an outsider validate who you are?
1 comment:
Sam, I was asking myself the same questions as I read this article. It seems to me that "passing" as a certain ethnicity is just the social norm now. These classifications set in place, without any scientific evidence to support them, set to cluster the groups together based on many things. For example, you suggested props, such as a purse, a voice, or a baseball cap. The article also proposes they are classified based on physical attributes as well. It is true that society is somehow developing these qualifying traits over time as you stated, but I also wonder, how much is being created by the individual group itself? Is it possible that one of the reasons we, as human beings, feel like we need to create these different social constructs is because we need to feel like we belong to some sort of group. It is true that society often seems to be split based on skin color alone. However, if we examine this further, we could propose the possibility that we are separated based on culture. And what person isn't proud of their culture. In fact, I know many people who flaunt their culture with pride by displaying their 'props' in society. Your question really made me explore who exactly in society is creating and validating these 'passes', and why.
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