Today in class, we learned that no matter what is the color of our skin were all the same as human beings. My professor made our class play a little game online of how to differentiate the racial types. The categories were based on American Indian, Asian, Black, White and Hispanic/Latino. The concept of the game was putting a bunch of pictures with different races and put them in the right category, based on our answers. It was surprising to realize how many we had gotten wrong. I found it to be pretty difficult to differentiate between people who were White and Hispanic/Latino since they looked similar by the color of their skin, hair type and facial features. These traits make it hard to distinguish humans.
Reflective Essay
Before I came to Kwantlen, I had the basic knowledge of Sociology. After taking Soci 1125 it really opened my eyes to what really occurs in the world. Through the videos, lectures, class discussions and social events. This class has made me prepare on the decisions I will make in the near future. I am able to see the familiar & the unfamiliar and view things in a positive perspective. During this class, I’ve learned scientific core concepts. The concepts include The Sociological Imagination, The Global Sociological Imagination, Bracketing, Debunking, Ethnocentrism and Obvious.
At the beginning of the semester when I saw the word “Debunking”, I found it to be intriguing since I’d never heard it before but after some further explanations. I came to realize that this word had an impact on my life. The definition of “Debunking” is defined in our workbook, “Social Structure and Process” as “looking at both the obvious and surface – level and the less obvious and deeper explanations for social behavior”. In simpler terms, “seeing the familiar in the unfamiliar and vice versa”. (10)
Debunking has played a major part of my life in understanding the core concepts and issues we covered in class. It’s helped me realize that we lived in a world with pros and cons. As kids growing up all we’ve ever wanted was our needs and necessities given to us on a silver platter. The example that stuck in my head throughout this course has been when Dr. Quist-Adade referred to how babies don’t care if their mother’s are tired as long as their needs have been met. It amazes me since no one would ever think babies would have that in mind. At a young age we believe we can get away with anything based on our egocentric attitudes.
Another topic I found to be helpful with debunking was race and racism. This topic can ignite great deals of discussions and can be delicate, especially if that person has dealt with it in their own personal experiences. By debunking racial situations, I’ve realized that some people who discriminate are ignorant and don’t know the effects it can have. As people were all made up of the same characteristics but the fact of the matter is we shouldn’t have to be judged or excluded because of our skin tone. That doesn’t justify our social status.
All in all Sociology 1125 has made me grow as a person. I remember in the beginning of the semester, Dr. Quist-Adade told our class that after taking this course we all will have a broad perspective on life and question everything we do. He was certainly right, as of now I’ve never had to deal with situations without using my sociological imagination. I will debunk in any situation that I am in analyzing the facts that will lead to my final conclusion. I am pleased and happy in my last four months of Sociology. I’ll always remember the life lessons and friendships I’ve shared in this course.
Illustration # 6
Androcentricity is defined by men thinking they are superior and should be the center of the universe. I found this concept to be quite interesting for many reasons. First, we still live in a society where men feel they should dominate rather than women for example. employment positions or skill ability, even though women are just as the same. Second, men have this mechanism or ego to feel the need to be always right in any type of situation, they despise having to be the underdog. I feel as if men were born with this gene of being better at everything that they do. It’s a problem that most men deal with on a regular basis since it’s a widely stereotype. In this world, gender is not an issue to feel superior or the need to be on top we happen to be all the same despite gender differences.
Participation # 5
In class, our professor made us go into our small groups and discuss the word “Obvious”. My group said it is something that just states the right answer, which happened to be the same answers as the rest of the class which was wrong. The term actually means that hides/conceals/ distorts something else or “being in the way”.
Illustration # 5
The term “Blase Attitude” means being non chalent towards things and avoid sensory overload. An example he shared in class was when was at the beach and he noticed many beautiful women in their bikinis. The natural instinct would be to stare at them all the women, but since there were a vast amount of them it would be entirely impossible. Knowing deep inside you would want to stare, but your forced to pretend not to. I found this to be a bit intriguing since I never knew there was a coping mechanism such as this. In most cases, people would rather use the term being “creepy”.
Exploring Sociology Journal #13″ The Danger of a Single Story”
Video: “The Danger of a Single Story”
Chimamanda Adichie
Journal method: Paraphrastic
Chimamande Adichie grew up in Nigeria. At the age of 7, she began to have heavily impressions and influences by English Literature. The one downside was except the fact her own writings and imaginations were stereo typically English stories. Chimamande began to notice that parts of her life and others were only limited conceptions and how it affected their own opinions and actions. One example that had me amazed was when she her American roommate from when she was in university, didn’t expect she could use a stove. It goes to show how extreme effects of a single story can have. A saying that stroked me the most at the end when she said was although a single story may be a true story it flattens the whole experience. Single stories create stereotypes, not they are untrue, but incomplete.
Five Sentence Segment:
“It is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power. There is a word, and Igbo word, that I think about whenever I think about the power structures of the world, and it is “nkali”. It’s a noun that loosely translates to “to be a greater than another.” Like our economic and political worlds, stories are too defined by the principle of nkali; How they are told, who tells them, when they’re told, how many stories are told, are really dependent on power.”
Paraphrase:
In our world we use power as an advantage source into thinking higher of others. If we lived in a world with no type of sense of power everyone in our economic and political world would be at peace and no one would have to have misconceptions of everybody.
Why I chose this segment:
I chose this segments to paraphrase because it illustrated the fact power is the medium control when it comes to “telling stories”. Media is a source of power, and we constantly see poverty and disease as a stereotype image of Africa, that lead us to believe that Africa is like that. However that is only one side of the story. The media has completely brainwashed people in just one portrayal. If people had the sense to look beyond of what they see they would seem less ignorant. We must accept others and live equally.
Reference: Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story [Video], (2009), Retrieved October 22, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg
Exploring Sociology Journal #12 “Race- The Power of an Illusion”
Video: “Race- The Power of an Illusion”
Christine-Herbes Sommers
Journal method: Dialect
| What question did the text/chapter raise? | How did the text answer this question? | How does the answer match our own ideas and experiences? |
| How does one recognize race? | No one can identify a human being based on looking at their genes, like skin color, eye shape, hair shape in which it is their whole perception. The idea of race is particularly within the inner and external complexities for example, athletic, musically talented and artistic. It is solely based on the idea of race is actually real. | I think the way people recognize race’s are the exact same preference as the video, sometimes in society we consider someone’s physical appearance as a way to change because they’re multi-racial. In no means do I believe genes define race. As an example, in the video, students explored the biology of human variations, resulting two people from different races shared the exact same DNA, showing race is not a biological trait. |
