Create a new blog post and answer the following questions:
- Reflect on the privilege walk video, shown under section 2.2: Privilege. Using those questions, how would you talk about your own sense of privilege? Are there questions that weren’t asked that you feel as especially important?
- Given your responses to the question above, what factors do you feel make up your concept of intersectionality?
There are plenty of essential questions that the people in the video did not ask:
What are the causes of privilege? What creates privilege in the first place?
Why do we consider race synonymous with (or at least closely linked to) privilege or the lack thereof?
What is race? Is a concept of race justifiable, i.e., how is a concept of race being used and why?
Suppose the leading cause of privilege has to do with resources or the lack thereof, viz. Internet access, welfare, free healthcare, proximity to art, literature and music – if these are core to privilege, what are we doing about it?
How does the problem of cultural inequity/skewed representation in media spill over into the material causes of privilege previously outlined?
Supposing intersectionality – the complexity of identity – to be linked to privilege, exactly how far back must we trace our ancestry to determine the full extent of privilege? Or viewed another way, which influences out of class, ability, history, geography, culture, religion and upbringing count the most?
Further, ‘privilege’ is used here as ‘special’ was used in Week 3 – to create a division.
My concept of intersectionality:
In relation to history – born into a family in Australia, of German descent.
In relation to religion/upbringing/culture – brought up in a Protestant Christian atmosphere – the Bible and church attendance were the main features of my family’s religious identity.
In relation to class – my father bred poultry independently of commercial chains, travelling often with my family to adapt to constant financial pressure and self-employment.
References
Storyblocks 2022, People of different cultures smiling at the camera, Storyblocks, viewed 21 December 2022, <storyblocks.com>.
