Intersectionality and Perspectives project
The goal of this project is to allow us to view the world from different perspectives by closely analyzing texts from different lenses.
About the Intersectionality and Perspectives Project
The work we have done in class has all been done to help us gain perspectives from people of all races and cultures. The first step was to look at ourselves, which were our identity maps. In these identity maps we took a look at ourselves and answered questions about what we thought of ourselves, what we thought others thought, our families, history, languages, etc. Then using our identity maps we took pictures of ourselves and wrote on the photos, we wrote things that defied our stereotypes and empowered us. We also read pieces from authors to gain new lenses to read our books with. We read James Baldwin and Gloria Anzaldua pieces, and we also read poetry from different poets that spoke on different issues. Finally we actually researched these critical lenses. We took a look at many different lenses, the first being psychoanalytic. Psychoanalytic readings take a look at how the character's make their decisions by analyzing their backgrounds and creating parallels between the book and real life cases. Critical race theory which looks at the relationships between races in different societies. Feminist theory looks at the oppression that women feel from men and the solutions to have no gender discrimination in society. Postcolonial theory which looks at the effects of the colonial age and how it's effects are felt today. Finally, we have readers response, which comes from the authors ideas of the book they read, it can use any of the other theories in it's analysis. We then read novels that could be read from any of these lenses. I read Homegoing by Yaa Guyasi, a novel that follows the lineage of two families, how the worlds of each person have developed, and how the characters respond the their world. The author doesn't carry the narrative in her voice, she carries in in the voices of her characters. Her characters are what carry the story forward, which makes this book a very enjoyable read. I learned that people's stories come from the stories that came before them, this has helped to think about who people are, and what makes them who they are. I will write my essay from a critical race lens, so I can take a look at the aspects of the story that intrigued me the most, the treatment of black men and women in the United States and in Ghana. I want to study this so I can gain a perspective on race that I didn't have before.
We also listened to the podcast Serial, so we can learn about and discuss the American justice system. Is it flawed? Is it corrupt? To learn deeper we watched the documentary "13th", which is about a loophole that was found in the 13th amendment that banned slavery, but allows it to be used as a punishment. The documentary focuses on racially biased decisions and advances by the U.S. government to imprison many black individuals as possible. After watching 13th we listened to Serial and analyzed the case of Assad Said to determine if he really was guilty, or the state's case against him. We learned how the same story can be told over and over again, but we can never really get the truth. Memory is our weakness, and it shows in Serial, as the host scrambles to piece a story together about something that happened 15 years ago, we see the story from many different perspectives, and we never really know which one is true.
We also listened to the podcast Serial, so we can learn about and discuss the American justice system. Is it flawed? Is it corrupt? To learn deeper we watched the documentary "13th", which is about a loophole that was found in the 13th amendment that banned slavery, but allows it to be used as a punishment. The documentary focuses on racially biased decisions and advances by the U.S. government to imprison many black individuals as possible. After watching 13th we listened to Serial and analyzed the case of Assad Said to determine if he really was guilty, or the state's case against him. We learned how the same story can be told over and over again, but we can never really get the truth. Memory is our weakness, and it shows in Serial, as the host scrambles to piece a story together about something that happened 15 years ago, we see the story from many different perspectives, and we never really know which one is true.
Our Writing Process
A part of our project we had the choice to make documentaries or write short stories based off interviews we had with people. These people couldn't be our peers, but an adult with a story that interested us. I interviewed my U.S. history teacher, Joanne, and a friend of our family. The interviews were personal, and they went into detail about many things. I used these details as 'nuggets' to write my short imaginative non-fiction story. The process was straight-forward, we wrote drafts, got critiqued, and fixed our errors.
ReflectionsAt the beginning of this semester I wanted to gain new perspectives about life, and how people experience their life, and I feel like with this project I was able to accomplish that. By reading Homegoing I was able to empathize with people with different backgrounds than I. It has helped me to connect with my peers, and I am proud of it.
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Honors
We had the option to take an honors course alongside our project, and I took the opportunity. We would get articles or excerpts from books that would have us dig deeper into topics we were discussing in class. We would have to annotate these articles, write a 150 word response to the piece, then reply to two other classmate's responses.