The Self as Decentred - session 6

I found this a hard session.  I did not really understand the reading - by Kodwo Eshun about Afrofuturism.  Complicated language which was unpicked to be more understandable when simply phrased (!) and a couple of really strange videos.

We had a debate about intersectionality, which is where people occupy more than one place of minority status which increases the likelihood of unfair discrimination, e.g. being gay and black, or disabled and female.  Increasingly I am considering how the framing of a situation impacts on the reading of it.  I had colleagues who really did not understand how being white, male and straight gave them huge advantages, simply because they were unable to comprehend how their framing did not acknowledge the difficulties presented to less favoured people.

My class had an exercise to identify categories of diversity, then classify them whether they were biological or social/cultural.

Age - Biological
Race - B and SC
Language - SC
Education - SC
Sexuality - B
Literacy - SC
Class - SC
Upbringing - SC
Parentage (born/adopted/fostered) - B/SC
Urban/rural - S
Disability - B/SC
Faith - SC
Caste - SC
Nationality - SC
Blood group - B

We were asked whether we could see Museums and Galleries representing a wide range of categories listed above.  One (left wing) class member rather snottily said she felt she would be really sad if she needed to go to museums to look at diversity.  I zipped my mouth and reflected that I often went to museum exhibitions and noted when diverse people were represented.  When I started going to the NPG Portrait competitions, c 30 years ago with my Mum, the majority of people represented were 'white respectables'.  Over the years, more diverse people have been portrayed, for example, a heavily tattooed Southampton football fan, a Belgian man with a learning disability, a man from Auschwitz, lesbian daughter and partner, a man with a port wine birthmark, a black South African woman, the artist's mother just after her passing.  I believe this evolution is a good thing.  Exhibitions not overtly about representation have also shown diversity - the NPG Arts & Crafts exhibition included work by May Morris and explained how it was attributed to her, and also had a piece about Edward Carpenter, a homosexual, sandal wearing, man (whose sandal I drew).  I think the class member who sneered at the question, missed the point that it is by the content of museum exhibitions that the policy decisions can be identified, and it is the policy that needs to be fair, and implemented.

Stuart Hall is a key writer on multiculturalism.
Multi-cultural - adjective - common to life today.
Multi-culturalism - strategy and policy to manage problems of diversity.