Professor Arola's proposition of using the concept of regalia for online identity, is quite interesting and I enjoyed reading some of her points. The idea of mixed-race people is something I cannot comment on personally myself. I never really had any friends who were biracial, except for now in college, I know... one person. It is definitely an insightful experience they have and a very conflicting one. Who is to say what race they really are? I'd say it's honestly up to them. However, there is the common issue of the want to identify as the "white" part of them (if the biracial person has a white parent), because it is considered in society to be "better". This is not to say every mixed-race person has this thought, though. I had read some stories online from mixed-race folks who said their siblings prefer to identify as white rather than their other race, simply because it's easier to fit in.
Anyways, to use this concept as an online identity is plausible. Online, we can be fluid as possible, but there is a fine line between someone who is obviously one race, who claim to be another race. Typically these arise from fetishistic/stereotypes of the race. Mixed-people definitely suffer from self-identification. Online it's fairly similar. How many times have we established personas? In fact, right now I seem all cordial and serious, but that is just one of my many personas, my educational one. If I had to use my true self (regalia) I'd be more passionate and perhaps even typing in caps right now.
Gender and sexuality are also a very important topics to talk about. It's primarily through online communities where people learn about the fluidity of these concepts. Hardly (if ever) through school we learn of asexuality, bisexuality, transgendered, genderfluid, etc. people. But online there are communities of people who identify as these. They use the platform of access to other people online to learn more about themselves and feel less lonely in the world.
One thing I would like to comment on is Arola's beginning statement that a regalia is NOT a costume. It takes time to make and it is culturally bound. It is, however, not limited to one race. This does NOT mean that everyone can wear it as they please because they find it "cool" or "pretty" and not understand the true meaning behind it.
For example, when I see someone wear a 旗袍 (qi pao), who is not of Chinese/Taiwanese descent, I give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe someone who is Chinese/Taiwanese gave it to them to wear because they want them to. A gift. Then that's totally cool. But sometimes you just see them wear it with no consideration for the people behind that iconic and culturally tied outfit.
To put it in one perspective. They call us Ching Chongs, slant eyed, chinky, and exotic. They made fun of us as people, but wear our clothes because it's pretty. It can also be seen as the ever trending "big butts", "large lips", and dreadlocks. Black women and men have historically be caricatured into unsightly people with animal-qualities. They poke fun at these futures. But now (mainly white women) plump their lips, draw lines outside their actual lips, go to the gym and get big butts, and white people get dreads even though their hair is not meant to be worn that way.
To take a race of people, stereotype them (Indians smell like curry, yet we love wearing bindis; Latino/Latinas are illegal immigrants, but we love their sugar skulls; Native Americans were savages and we committed genocide against them; but we love their headdresses), but then take their culture and wear it without meaning. It's awful.
Friday, February 13, 2015
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It’s interesting that people will so thoughtlessly culturally appropriate items and customs which are not their own. It is so easy to take such a costume off and be safe from the negative aspects of such identities. I find it interesting how the majority of people who do so are those in the dominant racial group, they can personify a caricature but know nothing about the struggles that people go through living as an “other”. You pointed out a very interesting point about how it is the “in” style to have plastic surgery performed to increase lip volume as well as working out to achieve large rears. This in contrast to the need to be pencil thin everywhere else on the body, making the distorted body images all the more apparent. It seems to me that as long as the groups who are appropriated have no power and are “invisible” the dominant racial group can take and discard what the please. In order to end such appropriation would mean bringing these cultures to the forefront, which would bring out such hate as to say the black women have animalistic features or that Native American’s are savages. In the real world I noticed this first hand. When I first attended this university there were very few people of color, with so few African Americans we could all fit into one room. My presence seemed to be tolerated, seen but not seen or heard. Since the campus has begun to diversify I have been met with hostility and suspicion by my Caucasian counterparts who do not know me personally. To me this shows that if a submissive group is in small number and out of sight those negative reactions and behavior diminish, but if such a group expands in number and presence such hostility begins to be displayed again.
ReplyDeleteGood post I found your second paragraph interesting about the mixed-people suffering from self-identification. This is because it is true that an individual with a mixed racial background will often find difficulty in identifying, expressing, and revealing their true identity. In addition, you mention the idea of personas and how they might be used differently. For example, you talked about using your “educational” persona and how if you were to use your true ‘regalia’, you would behave differently. Similarly, I find that we all have an online persona that changes according to the platform wether it be Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Lastly, I believe the people we choose to associate ourselves within those platforms, further influence a particular persona.
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