Atenello's "Leading Outside of One's Community" presented some of the more striking ideas to me, mainly because I grew up Honduras and was in touch with the realities of Latina women, like the ones Atenello organized and led. I empathized the internal conflicts she experienced at some point during her activist role in Unidad de New Brunswick. Her interactions with the Latino women reminded me of my first semester at Colgate when I decided to volunteer for the Mohawk Valley Latino Association, an organization that celebrates hispanic heritage. Their mission is to educate community members and immigrate, and to improve their lives conditions. I signed up for this program mainly because I closely identified myself with the community in terms of race and language. Would I have done it otherwise if I didn't speak Spanish or grew up in Honduras? I would like to believe I would have done so, despite the differences I would encounter. I loath the fact that Atenello suggested that she couldn't play a leadership among these women because she did not identify herself with them at any level: race, language, ethnicity, class status or education. She said, "I have no shared experiences to connect me to those needs, I was unfit to serve as a leader." To support her argument she explained, "I was reproducing exploitative power structures by acting as a white, educated authority speaking for a minority group." For some reason, I get the feeling that she wouldn't have said the same thing had she been presented with the actual agenda she thought she was going to get: Be the leader of Unidad de New Brunswick in order to combat rape and address Latina women's lack of resources...food for thought indeed.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Instigating social change
All three readings for today celebrates women's activism in the world and presents only a small portion of the women's role in instigating social change. I felt the three authors joined hands together in activism, be it political, social or religious. I got a sense that their desire to become social activist was mainly sparked by a sort of almost life changing incident during their lives - a friend's comment, their upbringing, or the classes they took in college.
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Shanshan,
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to read your post and your personal experience that is similar to Atenello's—only difference is that you didn't let your physically appearance (that is than associated to a race) paralyze you from supporting a community that didn't look like you, however you closely identified yourself with. Atenello's experience show how identify has often been confined to just race, gender, socioeconomic status, and education. On the other hand, your experience signifies how identity goes beyond how you look, your descendant background, etc. but it also is about where you grow up, the people who influenced your life, etc. Your experience show how the multiplicity of identity is often ignored and we often focus on the surface, more obvious parts of one’s identity. Also, you bring up a good point about how maybe if the organization was fighting for Atenello’s agenda (violence against women) then maybe she wouldn’t have seen race as an impeding factor and I agree. I think Atenello’s excuse justifies the concept that you can only fight for groups that your physical appearance aligns with. For examples: women issues are not a men’s problem, the rich shouldn’t help the poor because they deserve to be poor, etc. It excludes the notion that we are fighting for human issues and not just for the subgroups that make up our society. In a way Atenello’s experience implies the privileged groups in women issues—what and who gets attention and the help needed to address the issue.
I agree with Jia, your personal experience was really interesting to hear and how it is similar to Atenello's. I further agree with Jia's point that Atenello's excuse justifies the concept that you can only fight for groups that your physical appearance aligns with. Because the way society is ran it is hard to lead certain groups that you do not fall under because the followers have a hard time respecting you as a leader. This idea applies to many situations and not just race or gender. For example, when a person is not as experienced is placed in a management position, the followers who may be more experience, have a hard time being under the leadership.
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