A very thoughtful and reflective day. Today I delivered my first paired reading (we have to do it with a partner) assignment to the Educational and Historical Foundations of Psychology class. My task was to review and help facilitate a discussion on the topic. I was given Frantz Fanon's 1952 classic Black Skins White Masks. This is a powerful, emotional, but very well argued subjective analysis of the 'Black Man' (collectively men and women) and the imposition of colonialism on him (in this case French). This book and 2 other articles really got us all thinking deeply about
race issues in the USA and everywhere - not just in our own countries
and communities, but also in our own minds.
I noted that Fanon's conclusion, despite all of his personal experiences with racism and his deep psychoanalysis of the roots of racism, insightfully finished with the following:
'The negro is
not. Anymore than the white man. Both must turn their backs on the inhuman
voices which were those of their respective ancestors in order that authentic
communication be possible.' p. 180
'I, the man of
colour, want only this: That enslavement of man by man cease forever. That is,
of one by another. That it be possible for me to discover and to love man,
whereever he may be. p. 180
We were joined by a Prof. Dann (a Professor at IU and originally from Chicago) who specialises in this area and she brought out some really good context. We recognised the role all teachers and managers of schools have to bring forward these issues in their classes. Really, it is part of a metacognitive skill we need much more in our increasingly interconnected world: perspective taking.
Off to school tomorrow.....
No comments:
Post a Comment