I got to talk to Tari-san at our class dinner last week. We talked about her upcoming shows, her past performances, and traveling through North America. Something she said that was particularly relevant to our class was about performing in front of students. I asked her if this was her first time performing at a university with students as her main audience members. She said she has performed before, and that she had most recently performed at International Christian University in Tokyo (a famous private institution in Japan). Thinking about the characterizations we have been drawing of Japanese youths in class, I asked Tari-san if she found reactions from students in the US different from that of students in Japan. (more…)
April 11, 2007
Category and Bias
This is a recapitulation of my reaction to Tari’s performance last week.
To make it short, I realized my own previous bias toward the people categorized as “lesbians.” I had thought about the difference between the words “lesbian (English)” and “rezubian (Japanese)” as Lauren pointed out. I had also imagined that both words put certain negative views on the people that the words designate. Question occurred are following: who created these words, and what “images” are attached to them? Are the images changeable? What has Tari thought about the categorization? Yet, what was lacking was the reflection of how *I* had received those words and images.
As Nori earlier pointed out that the Internet is a double-edged sword, so are “names” (also, categorization and following isolation or discrimination). The parallel might seem strange here, but the bashing of Nori occurred using certain names and categorization.
I cannot exactly say what biases I had had against “lesbians” before Tari’s performance, but Tari’s was such a “bias-freeing” experience for me. She did not emphasize herself as a “lesbian” more than as an individual. The message I got was, thus, there are various individuals among the single-labeled “lesbians” and it is those labels that can easily trap my thoughts and keep certain images of the labelled people and things. The playing with the audience with the rubber tit was, as discussed and discovered in class, actually a question-posing to the audience: how have you seen “me” so far and how do you interact with “me” from now on?
As an (future) academic, it is like a dangerous confession (that labels can trap me), but it is at least vital to realize one’s own bias and also the importance of experiencing and learning.
Noriko
Hyde Park, or as I will call it in 50 years, that wonderful breeding ground
Professor Field mentioned the other day that we’ve neglected to discuss the context of Tari and MASA in our neighborhood, so here’s a very belated Welcome to Hyde Park, Tari and Masa. It’s a great place to be and you’re very welcome here, because there’s a lot happening.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, “Rubber Tit” was a great addition to the neighborhood. It was breath of fresh air in the face of the rancorous political climate of Hyde Park, where there are those who are at war with our very own government and doubt the democratic process precisely in these windows of opportunity, the 2008 election being the breeziest, and precisely when the oppressed rioters in China can only dream of the opportunities and rights we enjoy. This aside, Tari’s performance showed in a very creative way how we might begin to explore the emotional labor involved in activism.
But what do we walk away with? Was it good for you? The danger, as I mentioned earlier, is that we’ve got to walk away with something, and if you walked away with a sense of closure then I’m going to hit you next class because my people still have a long march ahead (no I won’t really hit you). But I’m hoping more than anything else that “Rubber TIT” was noncathartic.
The performance joined us in a very important time in Hyde Park. Some of us are going to graduate in June and we’re facing many roads in life. In any case, we’re standing on the shoulders of giants—with the Hyde Park experience. Think about how much happened and is still happening in Hyde Park. Actually, I was studying abroad last year, but we managed to rally up all the expats in China and mail in our votes. Don’t you think the 2006 elections were a success? MY CLASSMATES: THANK YOU FOR VOTING. Not to mention the 2004 elections. I thank God every morning that there is a woman like Barbara Boxer who will stand up against Condi and RAISE SKEPTICISM, because if you’ve been watching the news, then you know that right now the stakes are high in Washington, the stakes are enormously high. Then I came back to campus and saw the Darfur protests, and the conversations (the most important, right?). And now there’s a dance marathon that’s going to give money to children affected by HIV/AIDS. Who could forget the vivid “Sex Education Activists” meeting—such a simple message, put on a condom!!!
Then the other day our classmate Makiko sent out an e-mail petition from the Pan Asian Solidarity Coalition, which I don’t actually agree with but I like to see people getting out and in my face. My point is that even as I type this entry, it’s all at my fingertips—a simple facebook search shows that there are many activists meetings each day, often overlapping and conflicting times.
Personally, I like to think about my best friend Maomao, who is going to become a cancer researcher. I hope very very very soon she’ll walk out the front door of this building with the cure in her hands. I hope to see this happen tomorrow morning. CURE CANCER!!! I’ve got another friend, one of those “econ” nerds who everyone scorns because he worries all the time about his GPA, who just got a job with the World Bank. I mean… wow. Let’s end world poverty. I want to see poverty in Africa end within my lifetime, by the time I reach the age of 60, but the question that I’m going to ask myself right now and right here is what can I do, or what will I do to change the world? Of course I don’t have to anything; I’ve got the right to pursue happiness in any way I want, right? Well let’s just hope that next I-Banker will do something like the Gates Foundation—in many ways a $1 million dollar donation can do more than anything I can imagine…
But more than anything, Hyde Park and people like Tari and the activists (there seem to be a bunch flying into Midway each week) and lectures on campus have instilled in me a sense of responsibility for the global mission. This place has made me care about voting in elections and writing to my senator, has made me realize that even a bouncing rubber breast can get the movement going, get the ball rolling. (Yes I make jokes here and there…)
So that’s how I think Tari, and Nori, and everyone else on our program fits into the context of the great things happening in Hyde Park. So in 50 year from now, this blog is going to go in the library under the heading “Hyde Park–Activism Breeding Ground”—right?!
And wouldn’t it be nice if we could get the title “Most Student Activism” from Princeton Review? We can do better than #12!
—Patrick
P.S. There’s a lecture coming up on Iran and nuclear weapons… I forgot the time >_< But in the meantime, check out this awesome “Human Rights Film Festival” April 9th – 13th, 7PM, various locations (more…)
Maroon on the Celebrating Protest series
Thanks to Sara in my pop culture class, we got nice coverage on the series.
Norma is quoted in the article!
-Tomomi
