Today in class we listened to a
radio segment featuring a couple from South Africa. The two were white affluent
and upper middle class. They decided to go live in an impoverished
predominantly black neighborhood for a month to “experience what the people lived
like”. The fact that they were only in the community for a month makes me doubt
that they gained any life changing “experience”. You can’t really integrate
yourself into the community in four weeks. I think it also is an example of
privileged people exoticizing the lives of real people and minimizing the
quality of their lives because they don’t have any money. They received much
criticism from their friends and family as well as people following their blogs
and twitter. It frustrates me that they didn’t actually do anything to try and
improve the community. They just went into the community to observe how
“terrible” it was and then went back to their nice homes. This makes it seem
like all they wanted to do was have a cool story to share with their friends
and family. It would have also been better to hear from the community itself.
As people who are not in the community by any means, it is really not their
place to speak for that community.
Observation: My social justice teacher said she was telling
a story and told her friends it was about a white man. Her friends asked her
why she mentioned that the man was white.
I agree with you. A month in the life does not even begin to provide an experience equivalent to those who have lived there for years if not longer. Not to mention the fact that they had something they could look forward to since they knew they were only doing it for a month. That provides hope that others don't necessarily have to pull them through the arduous days.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that the "adventure" this couple went on had multiple flaws, if they actually wanted it to serve the purpose they said they wanted it to. Also, that's an interesting observation, I find myself doing that sometimes to. I wonder why.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your observation, it’s interesting how overt discussions of race are treated in this country, especially when referring to white people. It seems to play into this social understanding that, with white being the majority, there should be no need to openly discuss a person’s race unless they fall outside this group.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely.
DeleteAbout your observation, I think that is very interesting. We had to do a case study for one of my classes, and our teacher pointed out that only one of us mentioned race. I think that our culture is so uncomfortable talking about race in general, I mean, even in a class of future social workers we were uncomfortable bringing it up.
ReplyDeleteI agree that in one month the couple could not have experienced all of the struggles faced by the community's members, however I don't think that what they did was such a bad thing. For my social justice class we have to take the SNAP challenge (spend a week eating and drinking on a budget of $4.50/day). I don't believe that I will know exactly what it's like to need food stamps to feed my family, but I will have gained a greater understanding of what it is like. I think the couple also gained a new perspective and a greater understanding of a life they once knew little to nothing about.
ReplyDelete