For this week blog post, I decided to choose option 2 which is about Rachel Dolezal’s identification as a black woman. I think it is very interesting topic to learn and discuss. To be honest, this is first time that I know people actually change their races due to their references. Therefore, this topic actually got me open my mind to something that new. The question that I choose to answer is the second question: Using any combination of articles/videos listed above and below answer these questions: What visual cues do we use to determine someone’s race or gender? And, what has shaped your ideas of race and gender that inform how you perceive someone’s racial or gender identity?
How do we actually identify a race? Their skin color? Their hair? Their heritage? To be honest, when it comes to race, I believe that it is biological and physical traits that being passed down from your ancestor. There are a lot of visual cues that we can use to identify a certain race. The first one is skin color. In Malaysia, we have three main races which are Malay, Chinese and Indian. Chinese have the fairest skin color compare to the other two races while Indian a have dark skin color. As for the Malay, our skin tone is more in between – more to brown-like color. Other than something that we born with, according to Freeman et al.(2011), there is growing evidence that race can be cued by nonphysical characteristics as well. Traits like knowledge of whether a person has been incarcerated, impoverished, or has died as a result of a homicide can all influence the race to which a person is assigned (Freeman et al., 2011). This led to other cues which are the dress code. Every race has their own traditional clothes that they wear to show the identity of their races. The picture below shows traditional clothes that you can find in Malaysia according to their race like “baju kebaya” for Malay, “cheongsam” for Chinese and “sari” for Indian.
I believe the surrounding and the way of your parent teach you that shaped me to the ideas of what race and gender is. Living in the multicultural country, I can easily see the different of each race and their uniqueness. I have friends who are Chinese and Indian back in my home country, and I have learned a lot from them. This shows how surrounding effect our ideas of what a certain race is and what difference between each race. When it comes to education, I believed parent is our first education. They are the first person that we learn from. My parent taught me a lot about Malay culture since we are little. From that, I can easily identify how my own race are. I think it is very crucial on how we teach about other race to avoid any racism to happen. Luckily, my family never fond of racism.
In Rachelle Dolezal’s case, I can see there are the idea of intersectionality. From this week lecture, intersectionality is a way for us to acknowledge and address the multiple influences on our health (Week 5 Lecture). In this case, we can see the picture on difference when she a teenager and now. First, her skin tone is darker than before. Other than that, her hair has different color and style. The change that she made and changing her race actually effect herself. Not a lot of people accept her decision on changing her race. This can cause disadvantages and also discrimination toward her. In my opinion, her decision to change her race is non-sense. Like I mention in the beginning, race is something you are born into and it not something that you can change because you think that you belong to another. For me, it sorts of disrespect to your origin. However, that it just my opinion.
Freeman JB, Penner AM, Saperstein A, Scheutz M, Ambady N (2011) Looking the Part: Social Status Cues Shape Race Perception. PLoS ONE 6(9): e25107. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025107
Week 5 Lecture 1
Hi Afiah,
I appreciate your blog post and let me start by saying, I really don’t agree with Rachel Dolezal in the slightest, but I do want to comment on how we think of race. The Freeman et al piece discussed visual cues about what we associate with different races but after reading your post and thinking about the interview with Dolezal, I am wondering what environmental/upbringing has to do with our identity. I noted in my blog post my friend who was born in Korea and adopted as an infant to a white American family. She tells me she feels incredibly disconnected to her Asain heritage and feels like a phony if she identifies in that way. As you noted , your upbringing had a lot to do with how you perceive your identity and while I don’t think that publicly trying to be the voice of a POC group like the NAACP is a good thing for physically white people to do, I wonder if her upbringing really did impact her thoughts about her identity. At the same time, this is a situation where someone with inherent privilege is attempted to put themselves into a position of less privilege. I just wonder if the tables were turned, how this situation would be seen as if a POC decided to identify as white. Just a curiosity! But thank you for your post.
I like how you brought up that race can be observed through non-biological and cultural expressions of traits. A lot of times I think we focus so much on the fact that we are different that we don’t take the time to figure out what makes us all different, and maybe not so different. I also liked that you included the pictures of the different types of dress, that really helps with visualization and is really appreciated.
Hi!
I like how you used your own personal experiences to bring your thoughts and opinions together. I agree that your race depends on mostly biological factors. However, your post made me think of how race and cultural background are different. Do you agree? Families can be created many ways, including adoption. I have a cousin who was adopted from Korea. She is one-hundred percent Korean, but was raised in a primarily white community and school. This did change the fact that she is Korean. She still knows that is her race. But, culturally, she was not raised a traditional Korean environment. What do you believe the difference is between someone identifying as a different race versus a different gender? I agree that it seems nonsensical for someone to change their race, but is it that much different than someone changing their gender?
Hi Atiah!
You make some interesting points in your blog post! Quite honestly, I didn’t even know that changing your race was a possibility or a thing. I guess if you really think about it, race is a social construct that humans have created, just like gender. Both gender and race are associated with various social traits and characteristics, that go past just the color of skin or someones anatomy. So, can we use the same logic about accepting transgender people, with people who also want to change their race? It seems like an odd concept to “change your race”, but if you break down what race really is, it’s a social construct, just like gender, so does that mean we’re allowed to change it?
When I read “What Makes a Woman” by Elinor Burkett, she made some interesting points about transgender women that got me thinking. She argued that there is a historical context behind what makes a woman, a woman. So her article questioned whether or not transgender women just want the ability to be feminine, or are they actually willing to accept the social consequences of what it means to be a woman? She makes some really good and thought provoking arguments!