Identity-- where did it come from and where will it go

I found it interesting that the targeted identities that hold our attention are often the dominant ones which go unexamined. This made me reflect on the identities I focus on my own life.

-Woman

-nontraditional student

-disability

These are facets of my identity that I tend to focus on, yet I never look at the fact that I am white, what that means, or the advantages it has afforded me.

According to the book, my lack of exploration is basically equal to “ignoring socially enforced and imposed racial identity.” I took that to be similar to the old cliché, that if you are not part of the solution you're part of the problem. And, by not exploring where identity comes from one becomes a passive participant in maintaining the socially constructed system of inequality.

Is a difficult truth to swallow, knowing that society decides whose privileged and it is society that defines difference. Each of us plays a role in maintaining the status quo, whether we realize it or not. The fact is that real social change is difficult, simply because most individuals lack self-awareness needed to change their own belief structure and simply internalize the concepts created by the culture in which we live.

Throughout this reading I kept asking myself what do I do that maintains the status quo as well as what can I do to erase “isms”. So that I can play a role in creating more equal than just world. I think the answer is more than just self-awareness, but more of an unlearning of differences that society has taught us, so that our response to differences are no longer a series of subconscious reactions.

Another important component of change is education. Not only do we need to educate ourselves through exploring our internal landscape and asking ourselves where our beliefs came from. This can be done simply by focusing on what we all have in common and minimizing the things that make us different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eHIkgh1K_0&feature=related