anthropology

[indikah]

Immigrant Interview Valma Bass

The person I interviewed is a woman from the first national women olympics team, Valma Bass, also known as my aunt. She originated from St. Kitts and migrated to the U.S. Virgin Islands to get a better life and to be a part of what, at the time, was known as the “American Dream”. My family wanted to remain in the islands but still have the benefits of being an American Citizen. Education in America was easier to work with than the Eastern Caribbean standardized courses and my aunt received a better education and scholarships which essentially led her to get accepted into LSU and compete in the Olympics multiple times. A few blockages my family had when moving to the US Virgin Islands was the process of gaining the correct legal documentation, the process was costly and my family had money saved up but it wasn’t enough to cover all essential needs and wants due to the difference in currency value. At the time the Eastern Caribbean dollar to the US dollar was $2.50:$1 ($1 being the US dollar). Another blockage my family had during this process was that my grandfather, also known as my aunt's father, was an entrepreneurial immigrant and was working as a self employed mechanic to save up more money to exceed the US dollar which wasn’t what he was used to, though he is always able to adapt and persevere. 

From a personal perspective, I’ve met lots of people in St Thomas who are from St Kitts, which gives me the idea that there’s a chain migration and cumulative causation aspect of living in St Thomas. ST Thomas is still so close to home while not having to move to the states. My family’s immigrant story is a bit different than others but still completely valid. I even learned about my own family through this interview. What I've concluded from this interview is that there should be more hometown associations for the people in St Thomas who have moved from St Kitts. This should be a universal aspect of migration

[indikah]

Social Status - Marx, Weber, Bordieu

I believe I could survive off of $2 a day if I die by Tuesday. $2 a day would be sustainable if I’ve stocked up on groceries for a while and have put a sufficient amount of gas in my tank. In the case that i’m not able to stock up before hand, $2 a day would not be sustainable for me. If i had stocked up, I know that I wouldn’t last longer than 3 weeks for sure, considering that feminine care products is a $7-$10 bill each month. It is almost crazy to think that you kind of get charged a small bill each month just for being a woman. Society can be strange. 

Marx’s theory insinuates that a person's state of employment or role in the production market determines the social ranking that they hold in society. This article gives specific examples of how this proves Marx’s theory but it still is proof of how biased society can be. Janitors were ranked at the lowest in society in the examples provided in the article with a ranking of 22. Janitors are more necessary than they seem to be because most people, especially within Gen Z do not believe in cleaning up after themselves and places like schools and restaurants would be a mess and with the janitors it makes everyone’s life easier. Marx’s theory is proved in this article because it states that people such as corporate leaders have power over even the working class. They are the highest up in power because of their working status in society. 

229885170_Domestic_Property_and_Social_Class

Weber's Theory makes it evident that ownership of assets and property indicates social status. This makes sense in some ways but not all cases. It doesn’t make sense because a house can be handed down to you from parents that were homeowners and you can be working as a cashier at McDonalds. It makes sense because homeless people do not have many assets, not even a home and most people who are homeless don’t work jobs of any sort which would essentially make their social status almost bottom tier. Though owning a home can bump your social status up because you would have more funds available to spend freely, you can become a business owner which will also raise your social status. Essentially, Weber’s theory is justifiable in some cases but it depends on the circumstance at hand. 

Social Class and Education: ✓ Sociology ✓ Relationship ✓ Inequality ✓ Social Factors ✓ Examples ✓ StudySmarter Original

Bordieu’s theory supports the ideology that education is almost equal to social ranking in society or it at least broadens the opportunities to raise social status. This theory isn’t exactly 100% correct because most times, social status determines ones availability to education. Education doesn’t always mean you will be able to network yourself properly to get to the status you would like to be at. Also, with the newer age we’re in, it’s easier for people to get rich/famous or move up in their social status through the internet, which requires no education for usage.

[indikah]

In class Economy map 4/20

[indikah]

From the questions I asked, I've came to a general conclusion on a few topics.

- Polygamous marriage is not ideal for most people because it gets quite sticky. Most people want a person that can provide their love and partnership to one person. A love that is divided is not emotionally appealing for most people.

- People who do want to get married have a subjective standpoint, meaning they see themselves getting married but they don't see a problem with people who disagree.

- The people who I interviewed are proud of the relationships they've accumulated with people and they see them in their future as possible Godmothers and Godfathers for their children.

[indikah]

In class survey 4/4/2023

[indikah]

Both sides of my family come from different backgrounds. My mother’s side of the family is from Virginia and France. My father’s side of the family is from the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, St Kitts, and St Croix. My father’s side still mostly remains in the Virgin Islands, except for a few of my aunties, uncles and cousins. My aunt moved from St Thomas to China for a while and she got to experience a different cultural world. My aunties and uncles live all throughout America now, from California, Hawaii, Atlanta to New York. My mothers side of the family mostly resides in Virginia still, except for my mother who currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

My mother’s father was an Ethiopian man which is part of the reason my mother is intune with African Spirituality. I can’t say that either side of my family embraces American Nationalism, at least not intentionally. My fathers side of the family embraces their Caribbean heritage and culture entirely more than how they acknowledge American Nationalism, although the Virgin Islands are US territory. My mothers side of the family embraces American Nationalism by celebrating the fourth of July. It isn’t in a way that intentionally promotes American Nationalism but it is more of a reason for my family to gather and celebrate together. 

My aunties and uncles from St. Thomas continues to practice their Caribbean culture by keeping up with traditions such as cooking fancy meals on Sundays and not cooking on Fridays. My family also code switches and we maintain our accents around each other, although, the longer we live in America, the easier it is to get American citizens to understand our dialect better. We also send barrels of food to our family in St. Thomas, so they can have an abundance of snacks and food for a few months. This helps a lot because there aren’t as many stores in St. Thomas as there are in American cities and St. Thomas has more natural disasters than the cities have migrated to. 

As I reflected on my nationality and culture, I've realized that my ethnicity has merely become a part of me, as well as my African American culture. They are both equally responsible for creating my habits, behaviors and beliefs. My 'American Nationalism' can be seen as African American culture rather than just simply American Nationalism.

[indikah]

The image above is from the 2023 Oscars. Based off of visual perception of the winners races, i’ve counted a total of 12 people belonging to the minority group in North America. From a personal standpoint, I feel that many creatives were robbed of winning an oscar because of this very setup. Black and brown people produce most of the popular movies and shows that make a huge impact on the world. Jordan Peele, Quinta Brunson, Ava Duvernay, and the list goes on. This can be an example of many things but I feel it closely relates to Nativism. Most people of color are not accepted even when their credit is due. These select few black and brown people included in the image can easily only be there for Oscar creators to uphold an image of “fairness”. It’s the bare minimum.

[indikah]

What is it like being a black person in China?

Arriving in China may seem like a huge thrill and also a break from your own reality. Arriving in China as a black person, before seeing any tourist attractions, you will become the tourist attraction. The man in the pic above traveled to China and received quite a bit of attention because of the color of his skin and his height. The people of China never leave their home areas much so seeing a black person is like seeing a celebrity for them. This can be an example of intersectionality because of the unintentional categorization the Chinese people have attached to the Black people arriving on their homeland.

[indikah]

Chris Brown is one of those celebrities who expresses himself in ways that aren't as acceptable to the level minded people of society, yet his fan base remains loyal. Chris Brown was recently put on blast by Tokyo Vanity after he denied dark skin women a chance to come into his VIP section. Although he is entitled to his own section, denying a woman a chance into a section because of the color of her skin is a true form of racism within the black community. Some will say black people logically cannot be racist but I feel racism is a very broad term. Chris Brown has power because of the impact he can make on people and the power his voice has. He was prejudiced towards someone who is technically beneath him on the social caste system of America. A woman who has less money, social status and who also happens to have darker skin than him. This was a form of racism and a microaggression but it is considered simply just an aggression because of his power.

[indikah]

Code switching is a very broad subject. Code switching isn’t just removing the heaviness in your accent when you clock in for work. It can be as simple as going to a white club as a black person. Black people have a certain ‘swag’ to them when they dance. There’s lots of hip movements, arm movements and quite a bit of footwork. As a black person there’s a sense of comfort when it comes to dancing if you’re around more black people because there’s a mutual unsaid understanding of culture. A black person will sort of dim their light when dancing with white people. There’s no dougie going on, you might rarely see them doing the jerk. It is mostly “oontz, oontz, oontz” and a few arm and hip swaying movements. Code switching can be physical too.

[indikah]

The song “All Falls Down” is a story told by Kanye West through lyrics and melodic talent. In this song Kanye describes the life of a woman who seems to have a lot of contradicting aspects of her life. Before he says the lyric “single black female, addicted to retail” there is an unspoken thought that the women he is describing is a black woman. This can be an example of racial assumption. Kanye brought out a safe space for black women with this song, he appealed to the emotions of young women and also raised awareness to this certain demographic. This song is also an example of protesting. It is very minor and may not have made a direct impact on racism but this song could never be considered detrimental to the black community. Kanye spoke about how the crime and despair int he black community causes money to fall right into the white mans lap.This song was specifically made for the black community. Gatekeeping is okay sometimes.

[indikah]

Season 3, episode 9 “Rich wigga, Poor wigga” There is a poor character who is biracial but at school he only makes his whiteness apparent to his peers. Now that it is time to graduate high school and pay for college, an organization offers to pay for the tuition of all the black students if they can pass a “black people test”. The biracial student gets every question wrong on the black people test and after all his rich white friends go on to college, the student is still stuck at home and falls into the street life, also known as the stereotypical life of a black man who is raised in the hood. He becomes a promiscuous trouble maker to insinuate that trying to suppress a certain part of you will only make that part of you come out in the worst way possible. This is an example of internalized white supremacy. The student felt that whiteness was more accepted so he only took on the persona of whiteness to be accepted by white people.

[indikah]

After completing this activity, I realized that everything in my room had to be created at one point. I’ve always known everything comes from somewhere, but it’s a strange feeling of material sonder knowing that each small thing in my room was made by someone one day. I pray for the physical and mental health of all of the creators of the items in my space.

This assignment also showed me that I have quite a few random things but most of them can be considered needs for the sake of my mental health. For example, my microphone, art supplies and tripod are all considered wants but without them I would quite literally lose my mind. No creative outlet would send me into a void of scrolling on my phone or just simply, boredom. This assignment gave me a sense of gratefulness and appreciation.

[indikah]

I figured that informed consent should go first for my list, my group came to the agreement that 'do not harm' should come first. I agree with both but I still feel that consent is more important because harm without consent is worse than harm with consent. Both are wrong but there's one that's makes it a bit less unethical.

For the most part we came to a general consensus