RR2

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School

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee *

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Course

104

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Anthropology

Date

Apr 3, 2024

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pdf

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Anthropology 104 | Reading Response 2 1 Anthropology 104 Reading Response 2 | What Is White Privilege, Really? This material is the intellectual property of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. All rights reserved. Getting Started Welcome to your second reading response assignment for Anthropology 104! Please add your information to this template (above), rename and save it in Microsoft Word .docx or .doc format. Make sure the filename includes your name and the name of the assignment (RR1). (Example) RR1 Wendy Liu.docx Submission: This assignment template contains all the instructions and questions you need for this assignment. The reading itself (“ What is White Privilege, Really ” by Cory Collins), is available on Canvas. https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/fall-2018/what-is-white-privilege-really Background Despite consistent efforts over the last century by scholars to counter the inaccurate belief that races are biologically real, race has remained a powerful framework through which many people see human diversity. Imagined categories of race shape cultural institutions – schools, places of worship, media, political parties, economic practices, etc. – in the U.S. and elsewhere. Anthropologists study the ways racism is embedded in the structures of society. In other words, they look at the norms, patterns, and policies that create and reproduce access to power, resources, and opportunities in ways that systematically disadvantage people of color. Related to racism is a system that equally contributes to racial inequities. That system is white privilege. White privilege is not something that white people always do, create, or enjoy on purpose. Rather, white privilege is a structural feature of U.S. society that emerges from the racialization of groups of people. In this exercise, we’ll consider some of the ways that white privilege and racialization work. Cory Collins writes as part of the Learning for Justice program to give a historical and contemporary view of how white privilege and racialization operate in the United States. For this assignment you will read the article and reflect on it. Reading Response 2 | Cory Collins ’s “ What is White Privilege, Really ” Instructions & Expectations Before you begin this writing assignment, read “Body rituals among the Nacirema” (available as a PDF on Canvas). Read the article and reflect on it by answering the questions below. Each answer should be written using full sentences and should be 100 – 200 words . DUE DATE: This assignment needs to be completed by 11:59pm the day BEFORE your Discussion Section in Week 2 . 1. The author writes that “white privilege is both a legacy and a cause of racism.” Explain and give an example that is NOT already presented or discussed in this course/textbook/lecture.

Anthropology 104 | Reading Response 2 2 White privilege protects any white individual from discrimination. White privilege is another cause for racial inequalities on a daily basis because it revolves around ignorance if not acknowledged. Examples of white privilege can be seen in numerous ways through the eyes of a person of color. A simple example that can be given is that white individuals do not need to be taught about how they might be discriminated against when they go out. Many people of color at a young age were either directly or indirectly taught about how they should behave in public and what to expect from other people. However, another example would be something personal to me. I went on vacation with my white counterparts to Greece, and the man knew they were all from America but kept asking me about where I actually came from which made me uncomfortable , but my white counterparts were unphased by it and didn’t help me. 2. What did you find most interesting, important, and/or confusing about this article? What I found most important in this article was a specific phrase, “it’s also the power to remain silent in the face of racial inequity.” It emphasizes that white individuals can simply just be bystanders to inequalities amongst people of color. They get to choose if they want to acknowledge their privilege or not, they can simply be able to go from one to the other. I liked how the article put in a lot of examples to get the reader to understand how white privilege is seen everywhere and how large or little it looks. It’s not an attack against white people but rather wanting white people to recognize the effects of white privilege. 3. How useful do you think this article is as a tool for education about race? What might the author have been trying to get readers to think or feel? I think this article is a good tool for education about race, especially for those who are ignorant of this subject. The author doesn’t bash white individuals for having white privilege and he doesn’t assume that white individuals' accomplishments are unearned, but he rewords it in a way that white privilege is simply an advantage. Though I know some white individuals will take it defensively, this is why the article does a good job first with explaining what white privilege is not in order to get the reader's attention, especially to someone ignorant. I feel like the author may have been trying to get the reader to think deeply about how one’s white privilege can be seen in many ways in their life that they never realized before. 4. How might recent events relate to the topics in this essay? Recent events that I know of would be in 2020. Police brutality was very high and is still prominent in the United States. White privilege is seen as they would not have been stopped or let off by police at the protests or riots. They are able to stand in the middle of issues because of their skin color which protects them. Not only that but a 2020 event of the Kenosha shooting can be one as well. Kyle Rittenhouse was let off easily because of his white privilege of having a good lawyer. He also was wearing nice clothing, making him seem innocent in the eyes of the judge. 5. How does this article connect to concepts discussed in class (i.e. in the lectures, discussion section, or textbook)? This article connects concepts discussed in class in many ways. White privilege is an extension of colonialism which placed the idea of a hierarchy of race. Because this hierarchy of race was in place for so long, it deemed white individuals to be the key race. This evolved into whiteness, race separation, and white supremacy, which negatively impacted people of color. Because whiteness was established, it meant that other skin colors did not have the same number of privileges as them, leading to white privilege. White privilege shows that there is a clear divide among people of color and most white individuals especially when it comes to the wealth gap. White privilege is the result of the construction of race. 6. Have you ever had an experience that made you think about your own “race”? What about that experience brought this aspect to light? How might other experiences have hidden the ways in which racialization might actually be operating? Yes, all the time. Though I am a person of color, I question my own privilege with other races. Though I do not have the advantages of wealth and knowledge unlike my other white counterparts, I do acknowledge that my lighter skin color might have an effect on other people. I will not be comparing my own hardships of race with other races,

Anthropology 104 | Reading Response 2 3 but I do know for a fact that I have not experienced certain things, unlike other people of color. I think other experiences hide the ways in which racialization might be actually operating through a comparison of each experience. Comparing experiences can lead to desensitization or making one experience does not seem important as the other.

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