One Heart Majority

"One heart with courage is a majority"

[one-heart-majority-blog]

[one-heart-majority-blog]

Glossary of Borderismos

alien

A term used by the opportunistic politicians and sleazy reporters to describe any legal or illegal immigrant, people with heavy accents and exotic clothes, and people who exhibit eccentric social, sexual, or aesthetic behavior

amigoization

Process of happy Mexicanization currently taking place in the U.S. Southwest. This phenomenon was first detected by Gran Vato José Antonio Burciaga, Minister of Information of the seeding Republik of Berkeley. The opposite of “borderization”.

Art-mageddon

The end of the world according to the art world, or the end of the art world itself. 

Aztec High-Tech, El

Undercover antropoloco, apocalyptic disc-jockey and cross-cultural salesman. Poses as a performance artist. Goes by the dubious names of “The Warrior for Gringostroika,” “El Naftazteca” and “El Quebradito.” Gringos often call him Gwermo Go-Mex Piña or Yiguermo Comes Penis. His mother calls him Bill.

Aztlán

The “original land”in Aztec mythology. According to Chicano poets it was located in what is now the U.S. South-west. Also, the name of a trucking company in East L.A.

borderígena

A citizen of the great border region of the Americas, o sea, you & I and all the pinche raza we know.

borderization

Self-explanatory. Currently afflicting the U.S. and Western Europe, this process is also known by sociologists as “Calcuttization” or “tercermundización.”

border pop

A transnational music and fashion movement that encompasses, amoung other loqueras and rhythms, punkarachi, heavy nopal, rapguango, mambop, techno-banda, huapunkgo and the bizarre Tex-Mex Banghra movement.

Canochi

An upside-down or inverted Chicano, meaning, a Mexican who has become Chicanized (or Chicano-ized?) without ever having to leave Mexico.

Chica-lango

Half Chicano and half “chilango” (a derogative term for a hegemonic Mexico City hipster who happens to believe that Mexico City is the center of the continent--even if it is true).

Chicanadians

Second generation Mexicans living in Canada and/or children of Mexican and Canadian parents living in the U.S. Please do not confuse the term with “Can-aliens,” which refers to any undocumented Canadian, inside or outside of Canada.

culti-multuralism

An esperantic Disneyworldview in which all cultures, races, and sexes live happily together. Coined by Chicano anthropoloco Roberto Sánchez, the term went out of use in 1992.

Cybervato, El

Seditious accomplice of “El Naftazteca,” media pirate and information super-highway bandito. Goes by the name Bob Sifuentes.

desmodernidad

From the Spanish noun desmadre (meaning being motherless, or living in permanent chaos). Coined bypost-Mexican antropoloco Roger Bartra.

Empty-V

After Reali-TV, the second largest media conglomerate on the planet.

Free Raid Agreement

Whoops! Just a typo, ese.

Free Taco Agreement

An innovative economic initiative designed by The Chicano Secret Service. Its main objective is the production and distribution of free tacos to the starving and deterritorialized gringo minorities. En español, “Tratato de Libre Comerse.” Favor de no confundirlo con el (intraducible) “Tratando de Libre Cogerse.”

Frankahuatl

The Aztec god of funk and night life. Alter-ego of East Los Chicano rocker Rubén Guevara.

ganga

From the English word “gang,” a term used by police departments in the U.S. to describe all people of color under 18.

gringólatra

S/he who adores gringos.

gringostroika

A continental grassroots movement that advocates the complete cultural reform of U.S. anarcho-capitalism.

Gringotlani(teca)

Nomadic Anglo tribesmen who migrated to southern Mexico and Guatemala in the early ‘70s. They are known for their colorful ponchos, stylish huaraches, and encyclopedic knowledge of Latino culture in general.

hanging chickens, los

In the 19th century, the sinister Texas Rangers and a white supremacist vigilante organization called theWhite Caps used to lynch Mexican migrant workers, who were then referred to as “pollos”. The term is still used throughout the Southwestern United States. Any other political, metaphysical, erotic or artistic, interpretations of the chickens hanging onstage during Gómez-Peña’s performances are welcomed by the author.

horror vacui

Please ask Umberto Eco or Jean Baudrillard.

jaina

Spanglishization of “honey”. Sweetheart, novia, torta, chava, chuca, mi locota, etc. 

jalapeño pusher

A petty criminal who sells chiles on the streets to intoxicate innocent American children. 

kilombo

Independent micro-republilcs created by runaway slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries. Kilombos which have survived into the present include East L.A. Pilsen (Chicago), Little Oxaca, and the Bronx.

Krishnahuatl

The Aztec god of karma, in exile in the Bay Area.

Latinos Alpinos

Latino settlements in the Swiss Alps and the Rocky Mountains. Also, the name of Chilean postpunk band.

maquiladora art

A model of production often used by cultural organizations based on the United States side of the border: Mexican and Chicano artists provide raw talent, white gringos administer the operation.

ménage à trade

Synonymous with NAFTA.

Mexkimo

A popular Mexican. Mexkimo settlements are found in what used to be Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and British Columbia. First identified by Chicano poet Carlos Cumpian.

Miki Mikiztli Califas

Náhhuatl for “California, the house of death.”

NAFTArt

A cultural initiative of all three NAFTA countries in which art is is utilized as a form of conservative diplomacy, and also to create conflict-free national images in order to seduce foreign inverstors and cultural tourists.

othercide

The murder of otherness.

pene-trading

The act of trading with a smaller and weaker country. It also refers to the act of trading male genetalia.

performear

Spanglish for “to piss on your audience.”

performantli

An Aztec tradition of involuntary performance art discovered by artist Maris Bustamante. Famous performantlecas include Los Xochimilcas, El Sup (Subcompandante Marcos) & the EZLN, Tin-Tán, Irma Serrano, Gloria Trevi, Selena, Ima Sumac, Superbarrio, and Fray Tormenta. (Dear reader, if you don’t recognize any of these names, you are an incurable ethnocentrist.)

pocho

S/he who bastardizes the Spanish language and Mexican aesthetics. Infamous pochos include members of Culture Clash, The Chicano Secret Service, René Yáñez, Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Rubén Martínez, Nao Bustamante, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña.

post-CNN Chicano art

A new techno-rascuache aesthetic that fuses epic rap poetry, performance art, interactive television, holographic radio, and  computer art, but with chicanocentric perspective and a sleazoid bent.

pus-modernity

The infected modernity, according to chilango, anthropolocos Rogelio Villareal and Mongo.

Saint Frida (Kahlo)

Holy Patroness of ethno-feminists and NAFTArt dealers. 

sexual democracia 

A Latin American version of democracy in which political decisions are made according to sexual desire.

Spanglishization 

A continental infection for which there is no cure.

Supermojado

Border hero, conceptual carnal of superbarrio, champion of undocumented workers’ rights, and archenemy of Migrasferatu and Pito Wilson.

television

White people’s freedom of speech.

Vatoman

Chicano Batman. Colleague of Supermojado and lover of Batichica de Mexicali.

virtual barrio

The Chicano Inter-neta.

white list

A secret list that includes the names of the opposition tot the New World Border, as well as militant monoculturalists.

[ithelpstodream]

[democraticnonsense]

[takealookatyourlife]

This is hilarious in the darkest way because this tree is holding the dead corpse of one of the other trees

[dreamglamsquad]

[c86]

David Wojnarowicz at ACT UP’s FDA Action protest, 11 October 1988

Photography by Bill Dobbs

[poc-creators]

South Africa: 7 year-old author Michelle Nkamankeng named in global top 10 list of youngest writers - This Is Africa

A seven year-old South African grade two learner, Michelle Nkamankeng has made history making it onto the global top 10 list of youngest writers. The budding writer is making waves with her first published book, which was recently launched entitled “Waiting for the Waves”. We applaud the budding writer for the remarkable achievement.

[newwavefeminism]

Beautiful

[othersociologist]

Around the world, 70 million girls were married before they reached the age of 18. The “value” attached to child brides refers to the cultural and economic issues underlying child marriage. Young girls are married off according to dominant beliefs about preserving women’s “honour” (that is, ensuring virginity before marriage), as well as the costs of raising girls. Child marriage has been linked to people trafficking in extreme situations. In most other cases it maintains the status quo in poor or underdeveloped areas, where economic deprivation is used to justify men’s dominance over young women’s reproductive and life choices. 

The practice of child marriage transcends religion, ethnicity and nationality, as it is found in every region of the world. It is, however, a highly gendered practice that overwhelmingly affects girls. The United Nations finds that the rate of child marriage has dropped over the past 40 years. Nevertheless, in 2011, 20% of young women in 39 countries had married by the time they were 18 and in an additional 20 countries at least 10% married before age 15. As the UN graphic shows (on the right), child marriage is most common in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Mali, Mozambique and Nepal, where over half of all young women had married before they turned 18.

Sociologists have shown that child marriage leads to other social problems that require regionally-specific solutions. Child brides are denied the right to education and their health and quality of life are significantly compromised, as they face a high risk of violence, contracting HIV, premature pregnancies, and various birth complications such as vaginal damage (obstetric fistula). Young brides are more likely to die during labour than older mothers.

Sociologists make clear that in order to eliminate child marriage, communities need to be shown practical examples of how delaying marriage increases everyone’s welfare.

Addressing poverty is critical. Improving the enrolments of girls in schools requires better facilities in close proximity to rural and urban-poor communities, including qualified teachers who can inspire learning. It is not simply enough to educate girls. Education has to have local applicability. Communities need to see concrete examples that education leads to jobs and practical skills that increase everyone’s quality of life.

Microfinance schemes might be one way to support girls and their families to delay marriage, by providing loans, subsidies and cash. Such economic incentives might help women establish their own businesses and generate other employment opportunities.

Read more on my blog: http://othersociologist.com/2012/10/22/child-marriage/

[one-heart-majority-blog]

A white feminist - short film by Hannah Sasaki and Marie Asminn

[one-heart-majority-blog]

A white feminist - short film by Hannah Sasaki and Marie Asminn“

A White Feminist” is about an international hierarchy that exist among feminist practice. The three women are supposed to represent multiple feminist practices, as they all three walk down the hallway independent, confidant, and proud. But when met with hardship, the film seeks to portray the imbalance in the internal relationship among these feminists. As two of the women are pushed around the white feminist choses to ‘help’ the women by inflicting them with her own perspective on female empowerment. In that way she dominates the feminist practice among the three women and undermine the other two practices.Feminist theory is interested in analysing films because popular cinema can link stigmatizing representations to the public’s consumption and reproduction of these representations as cultural affects. In “Transnational Feminism in the United States” (2013) Leela Fernandes describes how popular cinema contributes to a circulation of cultural objects by creating films that produces certain affects like fear, compassion, love, oppression, desire, or hate. These affects are connected to specific representations of nations, genders, jobs or ethnicities and they can therefore produce and reproduce stigmatising images that oppress minorities. In regard to feminism, popular cinema tends to idealise Western values and portray especially Middle Eastern women as the victims of an oppressed system. In that way affects, regarding the view on other forms of female actions such as wearing a headscarf, is reproduced and produced in popular cinema. “A White Feminist” reproduces this view, but by doing so, also seeks to challenge it. In that way the affects are repeated, but meanwhile placed in a context that criticises them at the same time.

https://vimeo.com/192415452 

[one-heart-majority-blog]

They do Exist

       In week 8 of our class, the readings for our facilitation groups focused largely on terrorism and the image of brown bodies. It was an interesting discussion on how brown bodies have become synonymous with terrorism and domineering women. Upon researching transnational feminism definitions, I came across an article written about female terrorists. It caught my attention because it is not something we have mentioned in class nor is it circulating the media. Therefore, I thought it would be useful to explore this topic as a compliment and contrast to our week 8 discussion themes of feminism and war on terror.

           Finn argues that unlike how the media portrays male terrorists, there is no single profile of a female terrorist. She explains some of the reasons females join militant groups are to escape oppressive family dynamics, to reunite with family, to increase confidence and experience through intelligence gathering or even to be in an environment perceived to be free of gender-based rules. However, she notes that often women can be forced into those terrorist positions through physical force, abduction, gang pressure and so on. The public discourse on female terrorists are divided. Some narratives display their acts as benefitting militant recruitment and idealize beauty, intelligence and heroism, while others narrate women as social outcasts, manipulated or carrying a family burden. This mixed representation leaves confusion as whether to see these female terrorists as hero warriors breaking gender norms or as dangerous and feared bodies, much like the male brown body.

Finn, M. (2011). Terrorists, female. In M. Z. Stange C. K. Oyster & J. E. Sloan (Eds.), Encyclopedia of women in today’s world (Vol. 4, pp. 1448-1449). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412995962.n83

-Pheonix

[one-heart-majority-blog]

The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

http://www.ted.com Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authen...

Chimamanda Adichi’s danger of a single story addresses the issues that come up when groups of people are always represented by a ‘single story’. This means that the narrative used when describing a group of people never change, because of this that single story becomes the one, real story to the audience. In the video Adichi discusses going to university in America and finding that her dorm roommate was amazed that she, a black women from Africa, could read, write, and speak English.  Adichi realized that her roommate’s ideas about Africa were always told through a single story, she believed that all of Africa was uneducated and tribal; because that was the single story she had always been told.

           This concept of a single story is very important in combating racism. It highlights the ways that our ideas about groups of people are not always the full truth; that sometimes the representation of groups of people by popular media is representing a single story. This concept can be used for many different scenarios. With the topic of migrant workers and illegal immigrants, a single story that is portrayed in western media most predominantly is that migrants are bad people coming to the west to steal our jobs. Many people believe this single story, but the stories of mothers leaving their children behind so they can earn money to send home to them, of unsafe and abusive working conditions, of exploitation and human trafficking, are unfortunately not always represented in that single story. We must understand that the single story is not always the true story, and opening our eyes to this will be beneficial to those in the story, and the audience.

 Posted by A.P

[one-heart-majority-blog]

The Queer Migrant

        This is the invisible subject. Migrants are grouped into a homogenized category, and at best there is the division of gender. In mainstream discourse the queer migrant, gay or trans, is not a subject of focus, even if these populations are at the greatest risk. It’s not enough these queer migrant are fleeing repressive communities in which heteronormativity prevails, but how these same attitudes also prevail in the country they seek out; these desires are often shaped by the idea of “imagined communities;” Benedict Anderson theorizes imagined communities as the idealization shaped from fragments of images and information that actually differ from the realities.

Transgender studies theorists suggest that the queer migrant has to move across two borders: the physical geographical and also the confined border of sexual and gender identities. These two forms, the literal and metaphorical movements intersect. It is thought that in order to cross one border the other might have to be closed or reversed because in order to move across state lines, the “othered,” body must conform to binary logics or face estrangement and danger. A transnational feminist lens, in my opinion, would rely on the focus of representation (if any), and the material conditions (if they are even known) of queer migrants. The neglect within this field has been enabled by a lack of representation within academia – the lack of visibly queer and trans people – and the fact that universities are entrenched in hierarchy. The decisive lack of representation on the material realities of queer or trans migrants accounts for a nearly complete cultural invisibility, and suggests that these populations are not in any real danger, unlike the idealized migrant and its popular representation.

I am personally interested in this perhaps emergent area. The topic of migration is not a small field, as economic and environmental migrants increase and so does attendant academic research to go with that. The growing field of migrant research again generalizes experiences and leaves out intersectional analyses. I hope to shed light on the areas that have had little attention, as a student within relevant course work, but also as a researcher who has an opportunity to work on such a field. I want to provide new disorientating perspectives which go against the liberal and normative tides that currently dominate the discussion and research output.

J.

[one-heart-majority-blog]

Fallen angels

The sky bruises at the same time each day in Angeles City. Then the rain comes. The weather is so similar – steamy heat, then rain and evening relief – that it can seem as though time is circular, and the same day recurs. It can seem that life in this Philippine city is lived on a vast wheel of actions without consequences.

Sex tourism is an industry work billions of dollars, with millions of sex workers involved worldwide. The practice can be legal or illegal, depending on the place and laws, it can involve women, men and often times, children. I think what strikes me most is when I typed ‘sex tourism’ into google the third link to come up was a clickbait type article with the bio “These 5 places are renowned for their sexual debauchery and readily availability of things every man dreams of.” Other links include the most popular countries for sex tourism, the worst countries for sex tourism, the new sex tourism destination,… You get the picture. It seems, that though many people are aware of the dangers and abuse sex workers endure when they engage in this market, it is still being glorified by the Western tourists who seek it out. It is upsetting, as a woman, to learn of the human trafficking and the men who seek out young women and children to use as they please. In 2011 the US ambassador to  the Philippines, states that 40% of males tourists visit the country for sex and no other reason. This was a controversial statement and was eventually revoked, but those who live in a place like Angeles City had no doubts that he was correct. In Angeles, the town consists of a brothel and it’s support system, Western women are no where to be seen. It is the most infamous sex destination in the Phillippines, and advertises that one price pays for everything. This place is a cesspool of sexual hunger, anger and loneliness. But Angeles City is comfortably simple as well, it aims to fill the void with whatever you want. Men talk about Angeles city as though it were a religious experience, achieving some kind of sexual enlightenment that they cannot get in their regular lives. This is the danger in sex tourism, this the the most terrifying part.

Rationale: I chose to do this blog entry on sex tourism because I think it is vital we not let this industry be swept under the rug. It is not something that is prevalent in Western societies, but it is Westerners and First World travellers who are the indulgers when they go over seas. I think sex tourism has been glorified by mainstream media, and many do not understand the repercussions it has left on these women. Children of sex workers grow up without fathers, or have fathers who don’t even know they exist. It is a sad reality of our sexualized and emotional removed world and I think sex tourism is an industry that is particularly devastating yet still portrayed so casually through Western eyes.

-hk

[one-heart-majority-blog]

Gabriel Hill is a commercial photographer who has embarked on a personal mission to photograph refugees with their most precious possession. Having lived by a center for refugees, while working as a photographer for prominent figures in the pharmaceutical industry, some of the wealthiest people in the world, he was touched by the refugees who escaped their countries with next to nothing. He was touched by the refugee crisis and decided to help in the best way he knew how: portraiture. And thus “ImPORTRAITS” was born. Each refugee has a bio about when and where they fled from, tales of their perilous journeys and the struggles they endured. The portraits allow the refugees to be humanized in a new way, as many people do not see these people are three dimensional. Their stories are touching and heart wrenching and Gabriel’s project shows compassion and love.

rationale: I chose to use this source because I thought Gabriel Hill was an extremely innovative and caring artist. He says that he does not want to make viewers sad with this content, but rather show refugees authentically without getting political. Sometimes, we can generalize the groups of refugees in the media and the individual people can get lost in this. These portraits also challenge viewers to think about what they would take with them, if they were in this situation. He as well wants to publish a photo book and donate the money to refugee centres so I think it is a very honest and humanitarian project to shine a light on these people that are so often cast aside in darkness.

-hk

[one-heart-majority-blog]

Think looking after turtles in Costa Rica for three weeks is good for your CV? Think again

It's time to recognise the difference between 'deep' and 'shallow' volunteering.

In this article, the phenomenon of ‘voluntourism’ is explained and criticized. The commercial volunteer tourism industry is now worth 173 billion annually and an estimated 1.6 million people worldwide choose to volunteer overseas. By there are different types of voluntourists, one that is ‘shallow’ and one that is ‘deep.’ Deep volunteers tend to embark on longer trips, live in poor conditions and have no communication with the outside world. On the other end of the spectrum, shallow volunteers are those that are spending their own money on one-week projects, where they seek a fun experience in an exotic location without a long-term commitment to a project. It is unfortunate that a few days spent meeting impoverished children is more marketable than working to combat real poverty, but many tourists are not interested in difficult physical labour in a third world country. Voluntourism allows individuals to consume poverty as an enriching experience that makes themselves look good, which can be harmful for the communities they think they are helping. There are better options, such as WWOOF and Workaway which pair eager volunteers with community projects in exchange for food and accommodation. Volunteers who demonstrate their social conscience and strength are recognized, whereas volunteers who pay to have their conscience inflated by a shallow experience of being helpful may not get as much fulfillment.

Rationale: I chose to use this article because I think it paints a very real portrait of the issue of volunteer tourism and the negative effects it can have. I think it is a very obvious example of privileged Western people seeing impoverished and poor places and communities as a way to boost their only self esteem and add credentials to their resumes. Volunteers being separated as shallow and deep is a great way to differentiate the types of tourists, one who goes to actually help, and one who goes to help themselves. In the 21st century, I know many people who have embarked on these shallow volunteer tourism exhibitions and it is surreal to learn that often projects are torn down so that they can be rebuilt by the next group.

-hk

[one-heart-majority-blog]

Our refugee system is failing. Here's how we can fix it

A million refugees arrived in Europe this year, says Alexander Betts, and "our response, frankly, has been pathetic." Betts studies forced migration, the impossible choice for families between the camps, urban poverty and dangerous illegal journeys to safety. In this insightful talk, he offers four ways to change the way we treat refugees, so they can make an immediate contribution to their new homes. "There's nothing inevitable about refugees being a cost," Betts says. "They're human beings with skills, talents, aspirations, with the ability to make contributions -- if we let them."

In this Ted Talk, Alexander Betts highlights the tragic contradictions and inequalities that surround Europe’s refugee systems and he blames all of these inequalities not on the populations lack of care, but their politicians lack of vision of how to adapt the international refugee system created 50 years ago, for a changing and globalized world. He asks, why is the system not working, and what can we do to fix it? But he highlights that the system isn’t broken because the rules are wrong but that they are not being applied adequately to this changing world. He goes on to list the options outlined for refugees who are not able to return home: moving in an encampment, relocating to an urban destitution, or making the perilous journey to another country. He then suggests 4 ideas in which the paradigm of refugees can be transformed and all of them have a commonality: where we take the opportunity of globalization, mobility and markets and update the way we think about the refugee issue. He suggests providing an enabling environment, where refugees are given the ability to flourish. As well, he brings up the idea of economic zones, in which the employment integration of refugees is possible. The third idea is that of preference matching, where they give the opportunity for refugees to rank where they want to go and as well the states can rank the types of refugees they want, what skills are needed or language criteria and allow those to match. The fourth option is that of humanitarian visas, which were beneficial in Brazil, and allows refugees to travel directly to seek asylum, so the deaths of 3,000 people on Europe’s borders and within Europe, would have been avoided. He explains that refugees should not be thought of as a burden that will always rely on humanitarian help but rather that they should be seen as people capable of success and prosperity.

Rationale: I chose this video because I think the recognition of the skewed refugee system is important but the new options and ideas Betts offers are all viable and would be easily applied to todays world. His sentiment about the refugee system being outdated for todays changing world is  easily recognizable and believable, as it was developed after the second world war, and the wars today are starkly different than the past. I really enjoyed his idea about  the fact that there needs to be opportunity for human flourishing, especially when it comes to refugees, and the all of his suggestions on how to improve the refugee system were very thoughtful and compassionate, but most importantly, they were viable.

-hk

[one-heart-majority-blog]

Feminization of Migration

In the United Nations Instraw report of the feminization of international labour migration, they aim to define and show the network of oppression, power and capitalism that have caused gender to be seen as a “basic organizing principle of labour markets in destination countries, [that] reproduc[es] and reinforc[es] pre-existing gender patterns that oppress women (UN, Instraw).” It is explained that the most evident component of female migration is the extent to which it is based upon global capitalism’s continued reproduction and exploitation of gender inequalities.

I found this report very accessible and it covered the multiple facets and frameworks that combine to explain why women migrate and the experiences they have as migrant labourers. They touch on different destination countries, such as Switzerland, Spain, and Canada and different stresses that cause women to move. The report is extremely diverse in it’s theories, for instance explaining that migration  can increase women’s self esteem as they are able to be economic providers for their families but that the same time the portrayal of women migrants as constantly self sacrificing and harder workers than their male counterparts for the well-being families, and the idealization of them as better managers of remittances only bolsters this very gendered construction of women and thus causes more oppression.

(http://www.renate-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Feminization_of_Migration-INSTRAW2007.pdf)

-hk