tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post3832424719973246603..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Intersections: On Annoyances, Mistakes ... and PossibilitiesCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-84169852693570524602014-09-08T21:10:16.302-04:002014-09-08T21:10:16.302-04:00@Steph: Thanks so much for chiming in here! You ar...@Steph: Thanks so much for chiming in here! You are so right that this whole discussion of (strategic, contingent) disclosure in the classroom implicates everyone: students as well as the instructor. This question of disclosing (imperceptible) disabilities is an important one, and your comment makes me think so much more about how my own body emerges as a text in class. There is a deal of risk and vulnerability in opening yourself up to that kind of attention, and I like to think that being mindful to these social dynamics sends a signal that you're trying to create a shared, safe space.Jonathan Hsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214201468052661183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-25126683872443763812014-09-06T21:58:59.901-04:002014-09-06T21:58:59.901-04:00Joining the conversation--this discussion about di...Joining the conversation--this discussion about disclosure and the ways that making a particular aspect of one's identity perceptible in the classroom is really valuable, particularly in thinking not only about how others might orient to information about ourselves that we reveal but also about the ways that we become (often painfully) aware of ourselves and the ways we move in the classroom. <br /><br />I'm also thinking about the ways in which instructors' identities (especially those parts of themselves that are not necessarily immediately apparent, and thus need to be openly remarked upon or disclosed in some way) matter to the way students process and engage material. Jonathan suggests that casual references to one's partner, openly engaging course content related to gender/sexuality/queer bodies might be disclosures that invite students to more openly engage those topics themselves--they might otherwise feel those topics are taboo or off limits, or simply be uncertain about how a professor might respond or take up such lines of inquiry. Similar observations have been made about faculty disclosing disabilities. <br /><br />However, I'm thinking too though about the complicated ways that such disclosures also invite students to explicitly/openly orient to the instructor's body/self as a text in the class. I think part of the point here is that the instructor is never absent, that their body is always there, right, and thus always being read/interpreted/oriented to in some way. But I'm also thinking about the many motivations behind *not* revealing some identity that would possibly shape or direct or influence the subsequent/ongoing interaction. . .Stephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15362416560472026151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-49551956470506806422014-08-27T22:28:23.722-04:002014-08-27T22:28:23.722-04:00Comment from Miriamne Krummel
(posted here by her ...Comment from Miriamne Krummel<br />(posted here by her request)<br /><br />I have often reflected on the invisibility of Jewishness. To you (and many other medievalists), it has become a given that I'm Jewish, but I am not obviously "Jewish" by name or look. I look more like my one non Jewish relative (whose name I bear: Krummel) and "Miriamne" is not an immediate give away either, like Racheal or Sarah, for instance. In college I had to out myself in conversations about, say, Merchant of Venice or I could remain invisible. This invisibilty poses an interesting problem that Asians and Blacks and Latinos/Chicanos don't have. That issue involves having to out ourselves as an Other (sometimes an act that involves courage) and on the other hand happily pursuing the pleasures of assimiliation. The personal issues are legion.<br /><br />Also: take a gander at Gish Jen's Mona In the Promised Land. Great fun. Great read.Jonathan Hsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214201468052661183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-64633619950546439212014-08-27T22:07:41.784-04:002014-08-27T22:07:41.784-04:00@MKH: Thanks so much for your kind comments -- I d...@MKH: Thanks so much for your kind comments -- I do hope this one was helpful and encouraging. And I'm so very glad that we've had this series of posts -- as you note, it is often uncomfortable and awkward talking about these things but we need to do it (and must KEEP doing it!). Very honored to be part of this transformative co-blogging assemblage with you!Jonathan Hsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214201468052661183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-66594246369198726922014-08-26T12:41:00.916-04:002014-08-26T12:41:00.916-04:00Jonathan, this is so incredibly helpful to read. ...Jonathan, this is so incredibly helpful to read. I'm finding these posts remarkably generative as I retool syllabi and approaches to try to create a more open and diverse classroom. It's hard to talk about these things -- but deeply, deeply important, as this series of posts has illuminated.Mary Kate Hurleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14892991966276345782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-14889145661132703782014-08-23T17:30:04.510-04:002014-08-23T17:30:04.510-04:00BY THE WAY folks there's an excellent conversa...BY THE WAY folks there's an excellent conversation happening now over on twitter about the "apolitical" whiteness of Digital Humanities. A very timely convo indeed: https://storify.com/adelinekoh/the-digital-humanities-and-race-and-politics-or-thJonathan Hsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214201468052661183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-25647918133451220562014-08-23T15:48:11.719-04:002014-08-23T15:48:11.719-04:00And....just hours after this exchange, while pursu...And....just hours after this exchange, while pursuing another set of tasks entirely, this came into my thinking-box: http://theconversation.com/the-world-watches-ferguson-but-racial-discrimination-is-also-a-health-issue-across-the-us-30797Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01066379458312876698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-50635623717023545032014-08-23T13:50:54.471-04:002014-08-23T13:50:54.471-04:00Thank you, Karl. As you well know, we writing teac...Thank you, Karl. As you well know, we writing teachers (and all teachers) have to struggle to keep the discourse embodied and in the present moment, not so abstract and cerebral (e.g., perceived as 'objective', 'safe', etc.) The privileging of non-emotional, non-physical responses to texts really gets in the way of advancing a discussion of this type, yes? I'd be very interested in knowing more about this topic. Glad to know that it is being looked at. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01066379458312876698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-81757832088205743042014-08-23T13:32:27.099-04:002014-08-23T13:32:27.099-04:00"I'm actually having a kinetic reaction a..."I'm actually having a kinetic reaction as I type this--heart racing, flight/flight response"<br /><br />Lisa, just last night I was having dinner with <a href="http://www.healthandsocietyscholars.org/1822/16821/284143" rel="nofollow">someone</a> whose work is on just these physiological reactions to racism. I don't want to say too much, because I don't know how much has been published yet, so for now I'll underline that there's good science on this topic.medievalkarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12440542200843836794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-57178264670334208062014-08-23T12:41:21.198-04:002014-08-23T12:41:21.198-04:00Yes, these crucial questions about disclosure, sil...Yes, these crucial questions about disclosure, silence, privacy, social interaction, complicity...when to disclose, what to disclose, about oneself...these fascinate me a lot.<br /><br />Thank you for this very rich addition to this series. It will be a backbone for a lot of my thinking even though I am not actively teaching now--it will inform my thinking on urban public policy and civic engagement.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01066379458312876698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-40395723168233830972014-08-23T12:25:28.830-04:002014-08-23T12:25:28.830-04:00@Lisa: Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts he...@Lisa: Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here, and indeed it's a tricky thing to figure out how much to disclose about your own identity and relationship to the material (especially when one can "pass" as unmarked). I think a big part of this is assessing the vibe of the classroom (whatever its mixture/composition) and trying things out. It's can be a risk but it can also be rewarding; my thinking it's better to at least try and have a more informed discussion rather than depriving the class from a chance to have it at all.<br /><br />I don't think it's any person (student's or instructor's) "obligation" to be "publicly [whatever]" -- it's more that the classroom should be a space where it's safe to make those kinds of disclosures.<br /><br />Really informative to have another perspective on this...Jonathan Hsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214201468052661183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-23068777576025658442014-08-23T12:16:10.044-04:002014-08-23T12:16:10.044-04:00(and also, I should add, in empathy with the stude...(and also, I should add, in empathy with the student you described, that particular story does stir feelings of legacy trauma, if I may call it that--the ways in which the blood libel has been used to demonize Jews. One important reason I feared disclosing my identity in that room of mixed company was that I and other Jews would have to be publicly Jewish, which sometimes feels very dangerous. The well-meaning questions about Jewishness begin, or the really, really astonishing question, "but didn't the Jews deny Jesus" etc...Explaining to non-Jewish people why exactly the story is so harmful and so painful is, in itself, triggering. I have, perhaps, a cellular response to being accounting for and asked to explain myself in public. Note that I began this p.s. in parentheses. I'm actually having a kinetic reaction as I type this--heart racing, flight/flight response).<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01066379458312876698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-28110800670503412292014-08-23T12:07:17.722-04:002014-08-23T12:07:17.722-04:00What you say about secular identity and Jewishness...What you say about secular identity and Jewishness rings true for me. Increasingly, I understand my position in the world as passing for white at times. When I taught the Prioress's Tale in high school, I was interested in the central question of Chaucer's own stance - is he commenting on racism in the Church, especially since he has sketched the Prioress as vain, superficial, and self-absorbed? Is he simply (my position) faithfully recording a type of story that was often told, as an ethnographer? And, if the latter, is his "just the facts" approach a kind of silence and submission to the story's weight in his culture? Was he casually or actively anti-semitic?<br /><br />I found, too, that in teaching it myself, I was increasingly and personally uncomfortable during discussion. Should I discuss my Jewishness or leave it out of the discussion. How would my Jewishness change that discussion? What (as a person who can pass) would I hear if I did not disclose my Jewishness?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01066379458312876698noreply@blogger.com