For my post blog entre I wanted to focus on Bell Hooks and her explanation of the commodification of otherness. She explains, “The commodification
of otherness has been so successful because it is offered as a new delight,
more intense, more satisfying than normal ways of doing and feeling. Within
commodity culture, ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the
dull dish that is mainstream white culture." I interpreted this with how America is obsessed with black culture and how we typically feel better and different when we "step out of white culture" and emerge ourselves in other cultures and impliment it or an aspect of it in our lives. White culture typically has the connotation of being "norm" and boring. This is why people in white culture stray out and deviate from the culture to feel different. For example, the white teenager living in white suburbia listening to "ghetto" black music and feels as though he is not "white" but he acts black. People tend to make fun of white culture and for the most part don't want to admit they are apart of it. It is also interesting in how white culture loves other cultures like black and hispanic culture for example and feature it on media outlets and the radio, but we still oppress them in society. Overall, this is an issue because those in white culture get additions onto their culture, yet the culture that is adding the addition to white culture, is having their culture taken away from them. This goes into cultural appropriation and the confusion behind it. Many white people do not see the harm in dressing up as someones culture because they feel as though they are embracing it. When on the other hand, the other culture is ahving thier identiy, culture and so on, taken away from them. Making their culture not feel as unique, and making them feel as not as unique either.
Jane, good blog, in class and in the reading something similar to this really stuck out to me. The fascination that people have with other cultures is normal and very present in our world today. Yet it seems as though many issues come about when white people try and break from what is traditionally considered white culture and try and put themselves into black or Hispanic culture, among many others, without really knowing too much about it.
ReplyDeleteI see this a lot in all forms of the media today. Firstly, white culture is often being made fun of. When I had twitter, I used to follow an account called “Things White People Say” which just showcased a lot of stereotypical white things and phrases. Often similar to the humor found in dad jokes but was meant to be making fun of them. People of all races and cultures enjoyed that page and it didn’t present any immediate issues. But it made people not want to be that stereotypical white person, because it made fun of them and made them seem lame.
Stuff like this is what I think led to people wanting to branch out of white culture, and to do so they would try and become a part of other cultures.
A thing that I heard often in high school was this idea of “phases.” For example, some of the people that I knew in high school would self-proclaim certain phases that they’d go through throughout their lives. “When I was in middle school, that was my ‘black phase.’ But know I’ve grown out of that and I am less black then I used to be” is an example of what some people used to say. I have also heard people talk about how black they are, even though they are 100% white. For example, saying they are 25% black just because they act a certain way, even though their DNA says they are 100% white.
Mainly just an interesting thing that I remembered, and the reading and class made me think about. Interesting to hear if any one has any thoughts or experiences similar to this, and to hear about how they feel about this and how big or small of an issue they see this.