3-Part Blog Assingment due prior to our October 15th meeting

1. As you view the film Stuart Hall: Race, the Floating Signifier, choose two quotes by Hall that you found either compelling or contentious.

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the class was unable to view this film, therefore, this question cannot be answered.

2. Choose one exercise, assignment of piece of advice offered in Chapter 8 of Fox's book, When Race Breaks Out.

The exercise I chose is entitled All Our Ethnicities. The exercise contains small groups of students who share their ethnic and family backgrounds, some influences that have shaped who they are, and/or their concept of "home". Bringing them into the classroom, a few would discuss the most interesting things they learned. This would allow the students to learn about the backgrounds that they and other students have and bring the different ethnicities together.
I think that this exercise is a good idea to try in a class that has multicultural students. Through discussions and questions, children would be able to learn about the other culture or religion, opening up the two worlds and sharing stories and facts about the other child. This would 'break the ice', as one might say, to the history and culture of the other student, possibly enabling the students to bond.
However, I think that this is a little bland, as the activity allows only a few students to gain the opportunity to share their history. True, the students start in smaller groups, but those that were not in the same group as the students not speaking do not get to learn about that culture. In order to make this a little more opened, perhaps the teacher could get one student from each of the small groups to share what they learned of each student in the group. This would allow everyone in the class to learn the cultures of the classroom.

3. After reading the Forward, Introduction and Chapter One of The Great White North?, choose two questions posed at the end of Chapter One and respond to them on your blog.

a) In what ways did/has Whiteness entered your life in Canada as either privilege and/or oppression?
Well, my Whiteness, when I was a child, was always pointed out to me, as I was raised in the Bahamas, however, once returning to Canada, I found that it was not so obvious. Upon living in Canada I am much more privileged than I was in the Bahamas. With more money than we had in Nassau, my family is able to afford a house, rather than rent, have 2 cars rather than a broken down one, and we have computers, televisions and phones. It is obvious to me, rather than the younger children of my family, that we are more privileged as White people in Canada than in the Bahamas.

b) In what ways can you and your students/clients/family work to articulate and transform the authority of Whiteness at the individual, societal, community, and institutional levels of the local and national levels of Canada?
Unfortunately, this is a very hard question to answer as the idea of Whiteness is seen everywhere in a society such as Canada, after all, the majority of the people in Canada are White. However, when authority is in question, one must always keep in mind the aspect of another's culture or heritage. These may alter the ways that people of another culture may be affected by our White authority. In schools or offices, the principal or manager must be aware of the different cultures he has below him and take them into account when the time for discipline in needed. Teachers and assistants would also do well to know what cultures they have in their class and address the rules and authority in way that all the students would understand. Slowly, the schools and offices will begin to transform themselves into a multicultural place of authority, not just one of Whiteness.