Writing Assignment Annotated Bibliography (AB)Due Dates (by .docx

Writing Assignment: Annotated Bibliography (AB)
Due Dates (by 11:59PM):
Rubin AB entry:
1/30
AB Draft
(3 entries):
2/25
OPTIONAL:
AB Final Draft
(5 entries): 3/ 10
AB Revised Draft:
3/17
Mechanics: 6 page minimum (including 5 AB entries and a
Literature Review with CRQ), double-spaced, 12 point, 1”
margins, MLA (or other) format
Explanation
Annotated Bibliography is a genre of writing in academia that
works to show your awareness of what others have written about
a topic. The work done in an AB, including introducing the
authors with brief intellectual biographies; explicating the main
claims and concepts; tracing the argument and its evidence;
evaluating the source; and discussing its stakes and implications
gives some context to the course reading you choose to research
and situates the course reading into a research topic by
indicating the intellectual conversations you are entering. The
point of this assignment is to practice research skills but also to
dig a little deeper into 4 of our readings using research. For this
assignment:Writing Task

1. Compile an Annotated Bibliographyof five scholarly sources,
including one entry for Gayle Rubin’s “Thinking Sex” and 4
more scholarly sources based on researching sources that are
connected to one (the deep dive) or more of our course
readings. See the next page for the specific AB entry format.
· Sources
· “Scholarly” means peer-reviewed articles from academic
journals or chapters in books written by experts in a field and
not wikis, encyclopedias, newspapers, popular
magazines/media, blogs, websites, etc. (see the Library Guide
on what constitutes a scholarly source).
· “Connected” means that each of your researched, scholarly
sources must be connection to a course reading in some way.
You can either find a source that engages or discusses the
particular critical essay or cultural text from the course calendar
or you can do research on a topic or theme that is brought up in
or similar to the course reading. Whatever you decide, you’ll
explain the connection in your quote analysis.
· “Deep Dive” means you may also include more than one
researched source per course text. You can, for instance,
research two sources on a critical essay and two on a cultural
text or even include 4 sources that are all about one essay or
text to give some in-depth engagement with one course reading.
Alternatively, you may also include 4 sources on 4 different
course texts.
· Focus
· If you’d like, you canfocus your research within a broad topic,
on a field of knowledge, or on a really specific object of
analysis within that topic. For example, you can produce an AB
based on a specific topic (like racialized hypersexuality, the
sex/gender/desire matrix, or a particular sexual stereotype) or a
specific discipline (for instance, focus on the sociology of sex)
or an interdisciplinary one that pursues a critical research
question through multiple fields of knowledge (for instance,

focused on how sociology, cultural studies, biology,
psychology, etc. engage questions about transphobia and sexual
violence).
· You can also not worry about a focus and research the texts
that interest you and then figure out how to connect them when
you’re done. Good research has been done in both ways.
2. Write a Literature Review paragraph that asks a Critical
Research Question and frames your AB with a discussion of
some connections you see between your sources and our course
readings. Your Literature Review should synthesize the ideas in
your AB entries by discussing some “threads” of connection you
see developing in your research. Part of this review should also
discuss your research’s connection to a class text/concept,
which can be anything but must be articulated by you. Include a
CRQ that indicates the focus of your Annotated Bibliography.
This can be a broad or a more specific question and you can use
or adapt a CRQ from your or another student’s
WAQs.Annotated Bibliography Format
To do a substantial, comprehensive Annotated Bibliography,
follow all of the four steps below closely for each entry.
1. Cite each source.
Begin with the MLA (or other) Works Cited format of your
source at the top of the page.
2. Write a précis that introduces and summarizes each source.
· First, introduce each source with a) the full name of the
author, b) a brief bio, c) the full title and disciplinary framing
of the chapter/essay d) the book/journal that contains it, and e)
the date of publication. Then give a summary of the essay’s
argument as a whole.
· Then, summarize each source by processing the information in
the entire source down into a paragraph that discusses in your
own words and using no quotes the main claim of the

essay/article/chapter, any subclaims and/or important concepts,
and the source’s evidence, including the way it uses that
evidence to support its argument. To do this well, read the
source carefully both 1) conceptually for meaning to understand
its main intervention/claim and to discuss a few of the main
point(s), and 2) rhetorically to trace the argument briefly by
discussing how the main points are made and how the article
progresses using its evidence.
· Analyze one quote from each source that engages our course
essay or text in some way or analyze one quote to explain how
it relates or connects to our course readings or topics.
3. Evaluate each source
Then evaluate each source’s credibility by using the Library
Guides: Evaluating Sources page (link on Canvas) to discuss the
source’s:
· Currency: When was it published? Has it been
revised/discounted by then?
· Relevance: For what topics might this essay be useful? Be
specific in naming 1-2 possibilities. What ways of thinking does
it offer? Who is the audience? What is its scope - how much
information or history is it trying to cover?
· Authority: Is it scholarly (by an expert in the field, in a peer-
reviewed journal, with a bibliography)? Who is the author (give
a brief bio)? What are the author’s credentials? Who is the
publisher?
· Accuracy: What is the evidence given? Does it have enough
evidence to make its case and is the evidence handled well? Are
there unsupported claims or misuse of evidence?
· Purpose:Why was it written? What are its intervention (and
into what disciplines/fields)? Is there bias (this means obvious
agenda, not just a focus on one claim/argument)? What kinds of
biases are apparent? Is it objective? Is it an opinion or a

reasoned argument?
4. Discuss the stakes and implications of each source
Finally, end each entry by discussing the stakes of each source
and elaborate on its particular implications for your research
question. Discuss the stakes by articulating why this source is
important and for whom. Why is this essay/concept important?
What new ideas are offered? What disciplines or areas of study
might use this essay? Who might this essay/concept be helping?
Discuss the implications by offering some thoughts and a
specific example or two of how this essay or a particular
concept or interpretation in it are useful. How can you use this
essay/concept to think about sex, sexuality, race, gender, etc. in
America? How can you use the new ways of thinking it offers to
convince people of how sexuality is a form of racial and/or
gendered power?
Fair Warning: Annotated Bibliographies are always more work
than they seem because you need to take some time to find
relevant sources, process the information in them, and then
write the précis and evaluation.
Running Head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
8

Annotated Bibliography
Name
Institution
Annotated bibliography
Bailey, M. M., & Stallings, L. H. (2017). Anti-Black racism and
the metalanguage of sexuality. Signs: Journal of Women in
Culture and Society, 42(3), 614-621.
Bailey and Stallings explore the concept of sexuality in all
dimensions that can be used to understand it. Sex is first
denoted as the act of being male or female. The concept of
sexuality has been both problematic and helpful in
understanding the complexities of this subject. This is because
it is quite wide and refers to various subjects. Apart from the
idea of being male or female, the quality of being sexual is also
covered under sexuality. This means being homo, hetero or
bisexual. Through this research, the authors have analyzed the
sexuality and the keywords that define sexuality (615).
According to this research, authors have for a long time avoided
discussing sex openly. Black sex is particularly one subject that
cannot be discussed openly. Many factors have been attributed
to this, the major one being the painful story of slavery and rape
that the African women have had to endure for a long time. The
black bodies have been subjected to so much sexual violence
that they find it hard to discuss sex openly. Many authors have
addressed this issue and have been able to change the African
mentality about sexuality.
This research looks at the origin of the word sexuality and how
this concept has been constructed over the years to what it is
today. It also addresses the many factors that have been used to
construct sexuality for example medical, scientific, religious
among many other factors. It borrows largely from the work of
Foucault who analyzed the history of sexuality to understand
how sexuality has been shaped over the years. It goes ahead to
show how sexuality has compelled studies to redefine and
expand the concept so that it can be more understandable (618).

This research implicates that sexuality shapes our morals and
consequently determining our humanity. For us to be able to
understand sexuality, we must liberate our minds and be free to
view this subject in all dimensions. It is important to rethink
black sexuality and move away from the white theories that tend
to define black sexuality because most of them are stereotypes.
The understanding of sexuality requires a revolution and
decolonization that will ensure that black people will not
continue to live according to the definitions of whites.
The theory of sexuality in Africans has been constructed
through imagination. Colonization, slavery, and imperialism
have been greatly used to define sexuality and it is time to
break this imagination. This research will help us understand
how the concept of African sexuality has been defined and how
it has been constructed over time. This will enable us to
reconstruct this concept by getting rid of the stereotypes that
are associated with black sexuality. This will, in turn, help us
understand how racism and sexuality are interconnected (620).
Carby, H. V. (1987). Reconstructing Womanhood: The
emergence of the Afro-American woman novelist. Oxford
University Press on Demand.
Carby's book addresses the ideologies of womanhood during the
time of slavery. It focuses on the black woman's sexuality and
the stereotypes that are associated with her. To understand the
ideologies of the black woman's sexuality, it is also important
to understand the ideologies of the white woman's sexuality.
This is because the two ideologies are interdependent with the
white woman's sexuality ideologies shaping the black woman's
sexuality ideologies. Carby, therefore, produces the opposing
definitions of motherhood and womanhood for black and white
women through the representation of slave and mistress. The
main focus of this research is to understand how black women
writers addressed these ideologies (25).
This research analyzes both dominant ideologies and literary
conventions to understand the stereotypes associated with the
black woman. These ideologies and conventions indicate that

stereotypes do not actually a reality or social relationships. It
also analyzes how racism and black sexuality leave the black
woman writer with the dilemma of whether to write about her
experiences or to write about only what is within the beliefs
about the black woman's sexuality. There are basic
characteristics that defined the African woman and by which
she was supposed to abide. These were domesticity,
submissiveness, purity, and piety.
Carby's work focuses on the struggle of women to gain
relevance since as early as 1820. The distinguished rights of
men and women are clearly represented and were well defined
since the woman was young. Men were entitled to much more
than women were. The image of womanhood is not adequate to
describe the typical woman because of the many stereotypes
that are associated with it. The notion of the slave and the
mistress describe the black and white woman respectively. The
black woman had to go through a lot to get over these
stereotypes. It has taken many feminists and female writers to
clear the stereotypes associated with the black woman's
sexuality. This research may be helpful to understand the
struggles of the black woman with sexuality and every
traditional aspect that was used to define them. The evidence
provided in the research is adequate to understand the concept
of reconstructing womanhood as presented by Carby. It will
help us understand how and why sexuality is a form of racism
(36).
Chopin, K. (1893). Desiree's Baby.
In her fictional story, Chopin addresses the concepts of both
sexuality and racism. She tells the story of Desiree who falls in
love with Armand. The story begins with Madame Valmonde on
her way to see her daughter Desiree who has just given birth.
She recalls how Desiree was left behind as a child by travelers
and how she had seen that as God's way to give her a child since
she could not conceive. She is marveled at how fast the baby
has grown and Desiree announces that her husband is the
happiest man especially since the baby is a boy. This shows how

male children were held in high regard, unlike female children
(1).
Things are good between Desiree and her husband until the
husband begins to notice that their baby is not white. Armand
notices this before Desiree and starts treating her coldly. By the
time Desiree notices that her baby is not white, her husband is
already mad at her for bringing shame to him. He accuses her of
not being white. She calls her mother who asks her to take her
baby back to her home. This she does because even she is not
certain if Desiree is white since she is not her biological child.
Nobody dares think that Armand could be the problem. When
Desiree asks her husband if she should leave, he asks her to
leave (4).
Later when going through his letters Armand comes across a
letter that his mother had written to his father of how proud she
was that Armand would never realize that she was from the
cursed race. So Armand had been the course of their son's color
after all yet he sent his wife away. There is an extreme
representation of racism in this work in that black people are
seen as cursed. It also helps us understand the issues that
women had to go through and how sexuality was so much
programmed to exploit women. Nobody dared think or accuse
men of making a mistake and any mistake was a woman's doing
(5).
Chou, R. S. (2012). Asian American sexual politics: The
construction of race, gender, and sexuality. Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers.
In his book, Chou addresses sexual issues in Asian America. He
talks of how villains use cultural stereotypes to choose their
victims. He gives an account of an occurrence two white men
and one white woman kidnapped, raped and sodomized Japanese
women intending to videotape the whole thing. The perpetrators
tortured two different groups of Japanese women in this way
where one of the groups was made up of students. They claimed
to always go for Japanese women because women are known to
be submissive. This shows how racism has been used by villains

to pick their targets (56).
The Asian woman has been constructed as a docile human who
is vulnerable to sexuality. This book, therefore, looks at how
these constructions affect the lives of Asian Americans.
Feminists have for a long time argued that the sexuality of
women is shaped in such a way that it pleases men. Asian
American sexuality is shaped in such a way that it holds the
whites especially white men in high regard. Chuo examines how
the sexuality of Asians is stereotyped to ensure that the
sexuality of the Americans remains relevant.
African American men and women have been stereotyped as
hypersexual but for Asian Americans, the case is different.
Asian American women are seen as docile and submissive while
their men are seen as sexually inactive. It is important to
control these stereotypes about Asian Americans to ensure that
we see things as they are in reality. Sex and sexuality have
become so intertwined that it is difficult to tell the difference.
Although race does not have to play any part in defining
sexuality, it has become so much a part of sexuality that one has
to understand race first before they can understand sexuality
(99).
By studying the sexual politics that revolve around Asian
Americans, we can understand the role that racism plays in
matters of sexuality. The stereotypes attached to the Asian
bodies are a new form of racism that needs to be countered just
like black people's sexuality stereotypes. The feminist theory
about sexuality should be broadened to incorporate the use of
racism to define sexuality. This research will help us understand
a new form of racial sexuality and how we can reconstruct the
idea.
Foucault, M. (1990). The history of sexuality: An introduction,
volume I. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage, 95.
This article analyzes the history of sexuality from as early as
the seventeenth century. According to Foucault, during this time
sexuality had not been well defined and people could talk
frankly about matters sexuality and there was no illicit. But

then this evolved and in matters of sexuality, secrecy and
silence became most important. The decency of words started
being encouraged. A person who discussed sexuality openly was
seen as abnormal and all efforts would be done to curb those
traits. The subject of sex still remains regressed and prohibited.
In this regard, the act of speaking about it is seen as
transgression (6).
This research shows the connection between sex and power in
that a person who talks about sex openly defies the law. This is
an ideology that has been planted in us for a long time such that
even our tone when speaking about sexuality can tell that we are
doing the wrong thing. Foucault, therefore, analyzes the
relationship between sexuality and power. The connection is
seen as repressive and that it is historical. In his research, he
raises three doubts concerning this repression that he terms as
repression hypotheses. One of the doubts is whether social
repression is an established historical act, the second one is
whether power belongs to the category of repression and lastly
does the regression act as a roadblock to a hitherto
unchallenged mechanism? By exploring these three hypotheses,
Foucalt can analyze in detail the history of sexuality and its
repression (31).
The research outlines the four operations that were covered in
the concept of power concerning sexuality. One of them was the
condemnation of adultery and the subordination of sexuality in
children. The other operation was the definition of the acts of
sexuality that were punishable for example sodomy and
homosexuality. These were unacceptable sexual behaviors.
Thirdly, the concept of power demanded constant and insistent
observation. The last operation was to apply a hierarchy to the
concept of sexuality. This research provides a broad history of
sexuality which is very helpful to understand the concept of
sexuality. By learning about the connection between sexuality
and power, we can understand why matters of sexuality are
treated the way they are (43).

References
Bailey, M. M., & Stallings, L. H. (2017). Anti-Black racism and
the metalanguage of sexuality. Signs: Journal of Women in
Culture and Society, 42(3), 614-621. Retrieved from
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/689627
Carby, H. V. (1987). Reconstructing womanhood: The
emergence of the Afro-American woman novelist. Oxford
University Press on Demand. Retrieved from
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PXM8DwAAQ
BAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP8&dq=hazel+carby+reconstructing+woman
hood&ots=2Yv-3BUq6q&sig=YipxCdigZqZmfk5eqU3tiKgjBLU
Chopin, K. (1893). Desiree's Baby. Retrieved from
https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/132722/
Desirees_Baby_(Kate_Chopin_1893).docx.pdf?sequence=1
Chou, R. S. (2012). Asian American sexual politics: The
construction of race, gender, and sexuality. Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers. Retrieved from
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FaouIMuKoFoC
&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=chou,+rosalind+asian+american+sexual+
politics&ots=HCdLK676ny&sig=YPQjM_ihwXJG14stSSni5HJx
GAs
Foucault, M. (1990). The history of sexuality: An introduction,
volume I. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage, 95.
Retrieved from
https://queertheories.uark.edu/files/2019/05/Outline_of_Michel_
Foucault_The_History_o.pdf

Arts & Culture Remain Less
Important To Younger
Generations (DATA) - Colleen
Dilenschneider
Data suggest that audiences do not “age into” greater concern
about
arts and culture. If organizations want people to care, they need
to
work to change people’s cause priorities.
Data continue to suggest that the idea of millennials and
younger
members of Generation X “aging into caring” about certain
causes –
simply as a function of aging – is false. At IMPACTS, we call
this
phenomenon cause durability. I’ve shared data about cause
durability before, and boy is this finding still inconvenient for
those
of us working with cultural organizations!
I was reminded of the topic of cause durability while
conducting a
recent lecture for Harvard University. A thoughtful student
asked a
popular question regarding engagement within cultural
organizations: “Is there data indicating whether or not
millennials
show more interest in cultural organizations as they age?”
Yes, indeed there is data on this very topic – and it’s time for
an
update to see how things may have (or have not) evolved since
my
original sharing of these data in 2015. There is (still) not much
reason

to believe that folks in our digitally-connected world are likely
to
stop caring about certain causes and start caring about others as
a
byproduct of aging.
In a less connected world, it may have been more difficult to
empathize with causes that did not directly relate to an
individual.
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Stories related to the circumstances of others were less
accessible, and
if they weren’t on the front page of the daily newspaper, a
person had
to actively look for them. Individuals were connected (digitally,
at
least) to far fewer people. There weren’t viral videos about
causes,
and people did not have ready access to the same amount of
information at their fingertips as they do nowadays.
Today, we live in a different, more connected world. And this
may be
exactly what cultural executives are forgetting about when they
say,
“People will grow into caring about arts and culture. Just wait
until
they get older.”
You don’t have to have your own child in a local school to
share

concern about the local education system, and one may not
default to
supporting a local cultural organization instead of one across
the
country that they believe is more impactful. As more
organizations
respond to globalization trends, locality increasingly matters
less
than effectiveness. How we communicate is different than in the
past,
and the changes in how we connect and communicate may have
changed a whole heck of a lot about how we discover and
prioritize
causes – as well as the durability of these causes.
Let’s look at the data update for three causes over the twelve-
year
duration from April 2006 to April 2017: marriage equality, the
environment, and arts and culture. Then, we’ll dive into what is
happening in these charts in terms of cause durability and
prioritization. These data come from a study of 5,896 English-
speaking adults who are demographically representative of the
US
population. The different colored lines alone do not indicate
different
generational cohorts (i.e. millennials)! They represent the level
of care for the
cause for people in each age bracket over time. (As a friendly
(or
unfriendly) reminder, we human beings age year over year and,
if
we’re lucky, we experience all of the age brackets in our
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lifetime.) When I talk about generational cohorts in this article,
I’m
not necessarily talking about one line. I’m looking deeper at
what is
happening.
For us cultural center folks, the cause prioritization of arts and
culture is the main event, but I think that observing what is
happening in regard to other cause priorities provides helpful
context
for what is occurring – and how we can potentially work
together to
bump things up.
Remember: Uninterpreted data is frequently misinterpreted data.
The analysis following these charts may be more important than
the
charts alone. Without analysis, these data are particularly ripe
for
misinterpretation. (“Oh no! We are losing Generation X!” Not
so. I’ll
explain.) I mention this because the lack of arts and culture
cause
prioritization is alarming, and you may notice that immediately.
I’ll be frank: These findings aren’t good for those who work
tirelessly
for causes related to arts and culture – but understanding what
is
going on is important. As usual, I think that knowledge is power
and
we can keep working to make meaningful strides in arts and
culture
cause prioritization.

With that in mind, let’s charge forward…
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Cause durability in action
(What is happening with the 35 – 54 crowd?)
Cause durability is the greatest take-away from these data – and
cause durability is what you’re seeing in the major shifts taking
place
in this age bracket. Millennials and members of Generation X
are
not changing their cause priorities… they are taking them with
them as they mature into new age cohorts. Remember that those
between the ages of 25 and 34 in 2006 weren’t all millennials!
In fact,
the oldest of the millennial cohort were only 26 years old in
2006.
Today, the entirety of those between the ages of 18 and 34 are
millennials. Interestingly, cause durability does not perfectly
align

with millennials alone and cause prioritization may align more
with
those who grew up in the computer-connected information age
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rather than full, digital natives. In other words, folks: While
millennials are super-connected, they certainly do not “own”
web-
based connectivity, nor are they solely responsible for the
entirety of
the market trends that have evolved alongside the development
of
our connected world.
The year 2014 represents an overall turn in cause prioritization
for
those between the ages of 35 and 54. It was in 2014 that the
cause
prioritization scales tipped and enough folks with differing
cause
prioritization had aged into the 35–54 age cohort. The sharp
increases
(in marriage equality and the environment) and the decrease (in
arts
and culture) in 2014 weren’t due to some major event that year.
As
enough folks with cause durability aged in to a new bracket,
they
took their cause priorities along with them and it tipped the
cause
prioritization measurement of the entire age bracket!

While cause durability is seen in full force among millennials
throughout these charts, it actually developed its stronghold
among
members of Generation X. The oldest of the millennials were
only 34
when cause prioritization shifted among the 35-54 age cohort in
2014.
(This seems a good time to remind everyone that while we may
not
give them their fair share of generational conversation,
Generation X
is not chopped liver.)
2014. This, readers, is where an old world meets a new world in
data
form. It is a shift in how we think and prioritize causes captured
in a
chart. It may not be until there is another major shift in the
information age that we see a dip/spike like the ones depicted
here.
How flipping cool is that?!
Newer connectivity meets past perspectives
(What is happening with the 55+ crowd?)
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You’ll notice in each of these charts that the 55+ crowd’s cause
durability is moving in the direction of younger generations. In
fact, a
Pew Research Center update on public attitudes about gay
marriage

by generations noted that year 2017 is the first year in which
the
majority of Baby Boomers (56%) support gay marriage.
The reasons for this may be threefold: First, like other
generations,
those 55+ have access to more information, stories, and causes
than
ever before, and this may be allowing for introduction to new
cause
priorities. Second, new age cause durability may be moving into
this
age bracket as younger boomers – and recently, older members
of
Gen X – age into this cohort. Third, the 55+ crowd may be more
influenced by younger generations than previous generations
aged
55+ were in the past.
There is compelling evidence that the attitudes and beliefs of
younger
generations inform and influence the attitudes and beliefs of
older
generations. A 2013 study published by researchers at the
Centre for
Environmental Policy and the Department of Life Sciences at
the
London Imperial College assessed the influence of childhood
environmental education on the knowledge of their parents and
household behaviors. The study demonstrated that households
exhibiting improved home water management behaviors had
children who had received related environmental education.
In introducing their study, the researchers cite:
“The commonly held view is that parents teach

their children, inculcating their knowledge,
values and beliefs. However, a growing body of
literature provides evidence for bi-directional
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influence between parents and children.”
A decade earlier, a landmark study published in 2003 by
researchers
at the University of Wisconsin examined the hypothesis that
children
transfer learnings and principles to their parents. Interestingly,
the
study suggested that children’s knowledge and principles
influence
not only their parents, but also the macro community. The
study’s
authors theorize that “parents learned from children and both
groups
transmitted course information to neighbors (control group)
resulting
in an increase in control group learning.”
But is this a new phenomenon? In many ways, yes. Millennials
are
thought to be the first generation to “influence up.”
Why millennials aren’t aging into arts and
cultural causes
(What is happening with the 18 – 34 crowd?)
With scalar variables under 45 for millennial cause

prioritization of
arts and cultural causes, we’re looking more at disagreement
than
agreement. These numbers are under 50, so millennials are not
even
at ambivalent levels of cause prioritization for arts and culture.
While this is not great news, it’s not altogether surprising.
Cultural
organizations have what I’ll optimistically call a “millennial
opportunity.” Simply, data suggest that millennials are the most
frequent visitors to cultural organizations and also – in part
because
this generation is so large – the generational cohort that is not
visiting
at representative levels. Millennials are the ones to attract and
the
ones to keep happy. Millennials also have the most unrealized
visitation potential. If ever there were a situation to resent the
need to
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provide millennials with special treatment – this may be it. As a
millennial, even I cannot hold it against you.
That said, the need to reach millennials (and with them, folks of
different racial and ethnic backgrounds than historic visitors to
cultural organizations), is particularly urgent.
The low levels of cause prioritization may be the result of
several
different things: Nontraditional audiences feeling unwelcome at

cultural organizations; arts and culture potentially not being as
empathy-inspiring and connective as other human or animal
issues
in the way that they’ve heretofore been communicated; not
collectively considering the changing needs of connected
audiences
until late in the game; or even simply saying ignorantly for
many
years, “Just wait until they grow up…”
Well, they’ve grown up. It’s (past) go time.
But all isn’t lost! Cultural organizations can – and are –
working
diligently to turn things around. The uptick in engagement in
the 25-
34 demographic may seem small, but it’s a step in the right
direction
– and it’s likely the outcome of many organizations working
hard to
improve their reputations and operations. It’s an uptick that may
be
worth a note of small celebration, and an indicator of budding
promise. It’s certainly an uptick to watch.
These data may further underscore that millennial talk is
increasingly
“everyone talk.” Millennial behaviors and preferences often
serve as
a canary in the coal mine for broader market trends. Those
trends
that are often associated with millennials – digital connectivity,
social
media, transparency, real-time responsiveness, and social
responsibility – aren’t the exclusive province of millennials.
Instead,

these trends often serve as indicators of the direction in which
the
world is more broadly moving.
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Engaging millennials – and, increasingly, other audiences –
involves
mindset shifts within organizations. It involves integrating new
strategies rather than simply adding additional programs. It’s an
opportunity that the industry is tackling piece-by-piece and bit-
by-
bit…and perhaps that’s our best pathway out of general
millennial
ambivalence.
The good news? We can see the opportunity and we can watch
our
impact over time. It isn’t until we understand that something is
broken that we can fix it.
We may risk long-term irrelevance if we keep on repeating,
“Just wait
until those kids grow up. Then they’ll visit!” They have grown
up –
with or without care for the cause of arts and cultural
organizations.
Let’s keep moving forward creating connections, driving
meaning,
and remembering that people matter to our organizations.
Without
visitors and supporters, we do not exist. And if we don’t exist,

well…
that’s not a world that I’d like to imagine.
(What about you?)
Let’s keep moving.
Published on: 07/12/17
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Under My Skin Artists Explore
Race In The 21st Century
Mary Coss in collaboration with teenagers who wear hijabs. The
wire sculptures are
images of the girls, the work included their art work and their
conversation about
wearing hijabs
What a difference a decade makes. In 2004 the Wing Luke
Museum
held a pioneering exhibition about racism called “Beyond Talk:
Redrawing Race.” It was catalyzed by the racism,particularly
against
Arabs, that burst into the open following the World Trade
Center
attacks,. It included 12 artists showing twenty artworks, with
educational and interactive components for every work in the
exhibition; each work also asked for our responses in a journal
nearby. It also was an early example of an art exhibition with an
internet component that teachers and the general public could

access
easily. It encouraged book clubs, discussion groups, library
gatherings on race, and many other specific actions. Southern
Poverty
Law Center was a partner and the website included their
program ”
teaching tolerance.”
I analyze this exhibition in Chapter 5 “Exposing Racism” in my
book
Art and Politics Now, and compare it to the exhibition
organized by
Coco Fusco and Brian Wallis “Only Skin Deep: Changing
Visions of
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the American Self.” I suggest there that the Wing Luke with its
community based model was far more effective in penetrating
the
deep ignorance (among white people) about racism and how it
operates. They moved beyond simply representing racist
images, and
into engaging the audience in their own perspectives.
Now the Wing Luke Museum returns tothe topic of racism with
“Under My Skin, Artists Explore Race in the 21st Century.” The
catalyst today seems to be exploding (or exploring) the myth of
the
“post racial” society, And of course, post race does not mean
post
prejudice. This exhibition is less interactive than the 2004
exhibition,

but in some ways it is even more affecting, because of the
intensity of
the art works.
But it is not at all a reprise of the previous exhibition.
First of all there are twice as many artists, and consequently a
larger
range of topics and media. There is also less emphasis on the
national
and global political and cultural environment and more on
personal
experiences.
Another striking difference is the fact that two artists refer to
loss of
identity as a person of color, First there are the paintings by
Laura
Kina whose white-appearing daughter is the signature work of
the
exhibition. She represents the fifth generation in the artist’s
family in
which successive marriages altered skin colors.
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A ceramic work by Native artist Erin Genia charts the dilution
of
racial color as though on a clock face with faces losing their
color as
you progress around the clock. Genia is refering to the blood
quantum rule for racial membership in native tribes. The federal
government declared that a native person must prove 25 per cent

native blood with documentation. Obviously over time, fewer
and
fewer people will qualify.
A second and related theme, is cross cultural adoption or
interracial
families, as explored in the stunning prints by Darius Morrison,
a
young man adopted as a baby from Korea. He re imagines the
flight
of the babies from Korea even giving them a party in Hawaii a
wonderfully creative approach.
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The poignant photographs by Canh Nguyen suggest the
emotional
distance that occurs when someone is far from their cultural
roots.
His black and white photograhs include this work of his father’s
hands, holding the only photograph of himself as a boy that
survived
his trip to the US after the Vietnam war. He raised three
children a a
single parent. Another artist Minh Carrico suggests the
distortions
that occurred in his childhood, raised by a Vietnamese mother
and a
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white (Vietnam Vet) father in Arkansas: he digitally adds
frightening
masks on top of his childhood photographs.
Two artists appeared in both exhibitions: the wonderful painter
Ronald Hall who frequently bases his work on intense moments
in
African American history. His painting has become more
complex
and layered in the ten years since the previous exhibition. The
topics
addressed confront us immediately, but then the horror of them
sinks
in. They really need no explanation.
Polly Purvis, a white artist who has been living with and
documenting the Swinomish Tribal Community for ten years.
Here
she includes both photographs of a Powwow and its opposite,
racist
kitsch that stereotypes Indians.
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There are other historical works, referring to the Japanese
Internment,
in the sculpture woven or rose branches by Fumi Matsumoto,
and
Kathy Budway’s video which combines historical footage from
the
Civil Rights movement and students in her ESL class who
explode

the popular media stereotypes of African Americans by studying
outstanding African American historical figures.
Speaking of students, two other works were the result of
working
with children or young adults. Mary Coss encouraged Somali
girls
wearing hijabs to talk about their experiences ( see her wire
sculpture
portraits of the girls at the top of the blog) .
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Kathleen McHugh invited children to identify themselves
beyond
skin color in a large collaborative drawing with a single tan
color
So what else did we find in the exhibition? Real estate: red
lining in
confrontational paintings by Stefani Thronton.
urban violence in the icons by Jasmine Iona Brown.
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Naima Lowe turns the tables on white people with her 39
questions
for white people that consist of all the dumb questions people of
color are asked.

Violence against women is the big topic in the work of
Tatiana Garmendia, whom I have written about before here. Her
installation also includes works from another series called
Lamentation. These surprising images of a woman covered in
black
cradling the body of an American soldier suggest that mourning
is a
universal process that has nothing to do with race or culture.
Everyone has the same feelings when someone dies.
Garmendia has a global perspective, although her opposition to
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violence against women is based in a personal experience: she
witnessed it as a child in a Cuban prison shortly after the
Communist
revolution. She has carried a terrible memory of that with her
and
only now is able to refer to it in her work.
In looking at a show like this, the tendency is to stay outside of
the
issues represented, but actually, all of these works touch
everyone.
We are all part of a society that practices racism in so many
ways, we
are all perpetrators, whether consciously or unconsciously, we
are all
prejudiced. So the exhibition includes a discussion area that
allows
people to talk about racism and prejudice.

Near that comfortable place are large photographs that were
displayed in the Central District in an empty lot by Inye
Wokoma
working in collaboration with Jenny Asarnow and NKO. The
images
present a few of the people who live nearby. They are large
photographs, each person is dignified and self sufficient.
Accompanying this work is a series of interviews with people
talking
about the neighborhood.
There is also an online facebook, youtube and audio as part of
this
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project.
Conversation and familiarity is one key to ending prejudice and
racism.
This exhibition was very personal, there was no reference to
larger
reasons for prejudice, like the “war on terror,” or our
immigration
policies, that are locking up thousands of people in detention
and
deporting them across our country. There was no reference to
capitalism as a means of dividing people, creating terrible
economic
disparities and unequal access to education and a leading cause
of

urban and domestic violence; there was no reference to our
enormous
privatized prisons that are operated for profit by private
companies (
as are the detention centers).
But personal as it was, the exhibition does offer a way forward:
understanding experiences that are based on cultural difference,
learning of the difficulties that people face because of their
racial
identity, helps to develop at least awareness. One on one
dialogue is
where we can start. It is those big generalities about terrorism
and
war and “the other” that create unconscious fear. Fear leads to a
desire to protect ourselves, and that is the basis of prejudice and
discrimination.
I feel fortunate that I grew up in New York City, where I was
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immersed in a great mix of people not only of different racial
backgrounds, but also different economic backgrounds,
religious
backgrounds. It gave me a good preparation for understanding
that
we are all simply human beings.
Don’t miss this important exhibition, and plan to go more than
once.
Here is another review on the website of the Seattle Globalist. I
haven’t seen any other press coverage.

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A CULTURE
DIVIDED
America's Struggle for Unity
DAVID TREND
Paradigm Publishers
Boulder • London
A�tifURE DIVIDED
btiltural conformity. Indeed, to some theorists such an
obsession with
an articulated "common culture" has become synonymous with
the
integrity of national identity itself In this context then, the form
of
democracy we now face becomes "radical" in at least two senses
of
the term. Not only does it imply a fundamental rejection of
mono-
lithic party politics in favor of broader models based on identity
groupings, but it also suggests the rejection of a set of national
accords seen by many to constitute the very glue that holds. the

nation together. These two factors make possible the type of
new
spaces for engagement and new definitions of citizenship that
radical
democracy implies.
In other writings I have sought to delineate the problems pro-
duced by the binary epistemology of Enlightenment humanism
across a range of disciplinary fields: photography, film,
television,
education, music, and new media.18
The roots of this enlightenment model are perhaps nowhere
more
dearly articulated than in philosopher George W. F. Hegel's
phe-
nomenology, which mapped out a basic theory subject/object
rela-
tions. Hegel postulated an abstract dyad of the self and other,
constructed in the consciousness of individuals. Within this
idealized
rendering, the subject envisions an external object that it comes
to
recognize as different from itsel£ This difference produces a
dissatis-
faction that prompts the subject to absorb the attributes of the
exter-
nal other. He termed this process "sublation."19 According to
Hegel,
sublation was the motor force of human learning, as the subject
is
changed through the appropriatipn of new ideas and objects.
What is
important to remember is that this dialectic was a pure function
of
metaphysics. Although Hegel's fundamental subject/object

dualism
was replicated for many decades in western philosophies and
institu-
tions, it was not a model of the world--as contemporary
feminist,
poststructuralist, and postcolonial theories have made dear.
Indeed,
it is now increasingly evident that it is less productive to view
social
relations in binary "either/or" terms than in multiple "ands."
CHAPTER THREE
Belief
Faith in What?
I
N THE 2000s the topic of values reemerged in public discourse
as
a point of contention between liberals and conservatives, as
well as
a rallying call for moral absolutists. The values debate has
emerged
most strongly in debates over "good" and "evil" in people's
lives and
on the international stage. In the 2000 presidential race, George
W.
Bush ran on a platform of moral platitudes, echoed in his
victory
speech by imploring Americans to vanquish "evil" from the
world
and "teach our children values." 1 While President Barack
Obama has
expressed his values in more nuanced terms, Obama' s appeals

for
dialogue, tolerance, and responsibility convey a distinct moral
pro-
gram. All political agendas implicitly convey definitions of
"right"
and "wrong," imploring citizens to accept one set of such
definitions
over others. Framing issues of right and wrong in terms of good
and
evil intensifies the rhetoric of the discussion, evoking a
heightened
emotionalism and sometimes the specter of impending threat.
Throughout American history the nation's enemies frequently
have been portrayed as evil-and such characterizations often
have
underpinned rationales for military action and war. Franklin
Roose-
velt led the United States into World War II for the purpose of
fighting a great "evil." Ronald Reagan called America's Cold
War
enemies "the focus of evil in the world." 2 This rhetoric again
went
into high gear following the attacks of September 11, 2001,
when
President Bush labeled Iran, Iraq, and North Korea an "axis of
evil." It would be easy to dismiss these remarks as simple
political
55
56 A CULTURE DIVIDED
posturing, lest we forget that George Bush won the presidency

twice and Republicans gained the support of many in other elec-
tions. The language of good and evil resonates powerfully in the
minds of voters because such concepts are deeply ingrained in
pub-
lic consciousness.
Concepts of good and evil are fundamental to Western philoso-
phy, dating to pre-Socratic times. In both Eastern and Western
phi-
losophy, these ideas are found at least as early as 500 BCE. The
philosophies of Buddhism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, and the
subse-
quent doctrines of Christianity all hinged on a fundamental
dualism
between the good or "the way" and evil or "falseness." Indeed,
orga-
nized religion has functioned as an important institution of
moral
education throughout history. It has guided civilizations in their
pur-
suits of peace as well as war. In some systems, goodness is seen
as the
natural state of humankind, with evil entering as an aberration.
In
the biblical account of the creation of humanity, Adam and Eve
are
initially innocent, existing in a sort of blissful ignorance. A
serpent
appears who convinces the pair to disobey God and consume
fruit
from the tree of knowledge, saying, "Eat thereof, then your eyes
shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."3
Thus
Adam and Eve begin their encounters with sin. In some systems,
good and evil are transposed with notions of truth and falseness.

Socrates is remembered for his belief that certain great truths
exist
and humanity's task is to understand them. Plato, regarded by
many
as the most influential figure in Western philosophy, asserted
that
values such as absolute beauty and goodness exist in "ideal
forms"
that people can never truly lmow, but they can experience
through
copies manifest in things seen in the world. Unlike Socrates,
who
believed in many truths, Plato argued that there exists one basic
tr uth-"the good" -to which people should aspire. Because the
world we experience is but a realm of copies of "goodness,"
these
copies render understandings that are always imperfect and can
sometimes be evil.
Some psychologists argue that concepts of good and evil are
hard-
wired into our brains. George Lakoff writes that such values are
part
of the basic architecture of thinking manifest in early
childhood. In
Lakoff's view, much of the way we think is organized by "deep
frames" or fundamental concepts in the unconscious, which we
BELIEF 57
develop through repeated exposure to ideas. Deep frames
"structure
how you view the world," Lakoff explains.4 They characterize
the
moral and political principles that are so deep they are part of
our

very identities. "Deep framing is the conceptual infrastructure
of the
mind: the foundation, walls, and beams of that edifice."5 The
surface
thinking that goes with everyday experience, conversation, and
media are effective to the extent they fit only within deep
frames.
Owing to their centrality in human belief systems, concepts of
good and evil have functioned as central elements in
storytelling
throughout history. Ancient myths, prehistoric renderings, early
lit-
erature, and religious writings all depend on the simple
opposition of
good and evil in creating dramatic tension and conveying
meaning-
ful narratives. Most fairy tales and children's stories hinge on a
simple opposition of good and evil values. Characters encounter
evil
witches, giants, or monsters. Peter Pan fought Captain Hook,
Harry
Potter battled Voldemort, and Superman faced dozens of bad
guys. It
doesn't take much insight to recognize the transparent
moralizing in
myths and children's stories. Most of these narratives function
both
to entertain and to instruct. This is because the stories always
come
from adults who see them as a vehicle for instilling values in
children.
As Jack Zipes writes, "There never has been a literature
conceived by
children for children, a literature that belongs to children."6
Zipes

points that children, when left to their own devices, often do not
cre-
ate stories of menacing bad guys who are overcome by virtuous
fig-
ures. Instead they recreate other forms of play in their
narratives.
Keep in mind that children not only don't write most children's
sto-
ries, but they also don't frequently select and purchase the
books,
CDs, or videos. The choices come from the well-intentioned
adults
who make the decisions for children and hence create the
cultural
realm their children inhabit.
The moralizing in children's culture helps create a good versus
bad worldview that sets the stage for a binary understanding of
the
world. But it would be a mistake to attribute this black-and-
white
worldview to fairy tales alone. Underlying this binary
worldview are
deeper philosophical structures that undergird human
consciousness
itself Before the Western enlightenment that emerged at the end
of
the Middle Ages, the opposition of life and death was manifest
in the
dualism between God and humankind, between heaven and
earth,

expressed in human experience in the division of man and
woman.
Plato wrote of the opposition of the corporeal and the spiritual.
In
the 1500s Nicolas Copernicus and Francis Bacon drew
distinctions
between science (fact) and religion (belief ). Two centuries later
Rene
Descartes formulated his famous mind/body dualism, writing
that
"the mind is completely distinct from the body: to wit, that
matter,
whose essence is extension in space, is always divisible,
whereas the
mind is utterly indivisible."7 Later philosophers parsed the
various
kinds of realities and images that the mind could formulate, as
dis-
tinctions were drawn between perception and imagination,
reason
and emotion. Dualism could not have grown to such a large
concept
if it did have a use and importance. From early childhood
through
adulthood, the concept of opposing ideas, concepts, and values
forms the basis of people's ability to see difference, draw
distinctions,
and engage in critical thought. It underlies legality and
illegality,
knowledge and ignorance, progress and the lack thereof Many
see
dualism as the essence of humanity and human thought.
But dualism has in fact been the rascal of human consciousness.
Its apparent ubiquity and universal applicability have led people
and

civilizations to believe it is the only way of viewing the world.
To
many people, knowing the difference between good and bad is
the
very essence of traditionalism that passes ethical values from
genera�
tion to generation. Inabilities to make clear, black-and-white
distinc-
tions in decision making and assigning value often have been
seen as
failures in judgment, insight, conviction, even courage.
Knowing the
difference between right and wrong is viewed by many as an
essential
element of adult consciousness and civilized society. What this
tradi-
tionalist perspective fails to realize is that duality is in fact but
one
way of viewing the world. It is in many ways an abstraction or
even a
fiction conceived about existence. T here are many degrees of
value
that lie between truth and untruth. T here are many shades of
moral-
ity and immorality between good and evil, just as there are
many
kinds of people. Admitting the shades of light and dark that
exist
between black-and-white distinctions obviously requires a more
complex thought process, one that recognizes ambiguity and
partial
answers to questions. President Bill Clinton was criticized by
politi-
cal conservatives for his resistance to dogmatic beliefs, and his
presi-
dency even was termed a "gray era" for this reason.

BELIEF 59
But in the post-Bush years, shades of gray seem to be making a
comeback. Recent elections have shown both Democrats and
Repub-
licans stepping over each other in efforts to stake out centrist
posi-
tions, keeping voters nearly evenly divided in many races.
Media
critics have noted the decline of traditional "good" and "bad"
charac-
ters in TV and movies, and the rising popularity of "antiheroes."
Most frequently cited is the family man and mafia kingpin at the
center of the long-running cable series, The Sopranos. Viewers
never
could decide whether to love or hate Tony, who strangled
another
mobster while touring colleges with his daughter. Jack Bauer of
24,
Don Draper of Mad Men, Patty Hewes of Damages, and Dexter
Morgan of Dexter all manifest similar blends of heroism and
selfish-
ness, virtue and dishonesty. Joshua Alston wrote that the Bush
presi-
dency "primed audiences for antihero worship, that in the midst
of a
war started with faulty intelligence, suspected terrorists sent to
black
sites and a domestic eavesdropping program, it's no wonder we
would be interested in delving deeply into the true motives
underly-
ing the actions of powerful people. "8 Is this emerging pattern
in
media preferences evidence of changing public attitudes-
perhaps a

new moment in American consciousness--or simply another
pendu-
lum swing in popular taste?
Absolutism and Relativism
"Absolutism" is the belief that there are concrete standards
against
which moral questions can be judged, and that certain actions
are
right or wrong, regardless of the context in which they occur.
Abso-
lutism is often contrasted with moral "relativism," which asserts
that
moral truths are contingent upon social or historical
circumstances.
Absolutists believe that morals are inherent in the laws of the
uni-
verse, the nature of humanity, or the will of God. From this
perspec-
tive, all actions can be evaluated as either inherently moral or
immoral. For example, an unprovoked war might be deemed a
moral
act by an absolutist.
Relativists eschew absolute black-and-white answers to
questions.
Rather than applying a fixed set of good or bad definitions that
always apply in judgments, relativists often argue that new
answers to
questions must be created for every situation. What is true in
one

situation might not be true in another. For example, an
absolutist
view of the family might say that only conventional nuclear
families,
gender roles, and childrearing practices are universally valid,
and that
single-parent families, working mothers, or extended family
models
aren't good. A relativist approach would say that different kinds
of
families work in different situations. Some people criticize
relativist
views, especially when it comes to families, as too tolerant.
Oppo-
nents to relativism say that such thinking allows important
standards
to be abandoned and leads people into undisciplined lifestyles.
By
some accounts, the origination of relativism can be dated to
Protago-
ras (481-420 BC), who took issue with popular beliefs of the
time
that human beings should aspire to godlike ethical perfection.
Argu-
ing for a more flexible approach to morality, Protagoras wrote
that
"man is the measure of all things."9
Nearly eighty years ago, C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud
famously
debated moral absolutism versus relativism. Much of the
discussion
involved a disagreement over the existence of God and the
impor-
tance of science. Lewis, born an Irish Christian and the author

of the
seven-book Chronicles of Narnia (1949-1954) series, asserted
that
science could not adequat<;:ly explain the mysteries of the
creation
and workings of the universe. 10 Lewis wrote, "We want to
know
whether the universe simply happens to be what it is for no
reason or
whether there is a power behind what makes it what it is." 11 To
Lewis, the only answer is that there must be a God who made
the
world and gave people the principles of moral law. Lewis
believed
that certain truths are hardwired into human consciousness, evi-
denced in the way codes of behavior-including abilities to
discern
right from wrong-replicate themselves from culture to culture
and
throughout human history. Freud, whose parents were Moravian
Jews, contended that God was a mental fabrication that
obscured the
fact that moral conventions emerge from human experience. To
Freud, morality is made up by people for practical reasons.
Human-
ity discovers moral laws the way it came upon mathematics,
through
observation and reasoning. People are born as blank slates.
Moral
precepts are passed from adults to children through educational
processes. Both Lewis and Freud argued about German Nazism.
Lewis argued that the Nazis had mistakenly adopted an alternate
reality in which they strayed from God, deceived into forgetting
a
BELIEF 61

morality they had originally recognized. For Freud, the Nazis
proved
that people could learn evil rather than goodness. Freud argued
that
the solution to Nazism was not religious virtue, but a superior
system
of reason.
Idealism, Realism, and Pluralism
Further insights into the debate over absolutism and relativism
are
found in the philosophies of idealism and realism. Idealists
resemble
absolutists in embracing tradition as a central value-a kind of
anchor. Idealism argues that we perceive the world from an
enduring
perspective that transcends all other points of view. Idealism
holds
that reality is mind-correlative or mind-coordinated. To
idealists,
tangible objects are not independent of the conscious mind but
exist
only through processes of intellectual operations. The everyday
world
of things and people is not the "real" world but a representation
as it
appears to be. Late eighteenth-century idealist Hegel argued
that an
internal spirit guides all perceptions, including human reason.
Hegel
described a "world-soul," existing through all history, which
emerges
from a process now known as the Hegelian dialectic. A
contempo-

rary of Hegel's, Immanuel Kant, wrote that the mind shapes our
per-
ceptions of the world to take form in both time and space. Kant
believed that all we can know are mental impressions of an
outside
world. Such mental impressions may or may not exist
independently
from the "real" because we can never access that outside world
directly.
Idealists view people as governed by universal truths to which
they should always aspire but can never achieve. T hese
transcenden-
tal values exist for all time and apply to all people, regardless
of their
historical circumstance or cultural heritage. In social terms,
idealists
tend to put their emphasis on behavior, attributing human
success
or failure to attitudes people bring to their exercise of free will.
T hus
values like paternal authority and marriage are held up as goals
to
which everyone should subscribe. Idealists see a fundamental
cor-
rectness in existing arrangements but fear its enabling values
are
eroding. T his is the logic that argues that job discrimination,
sexual
harassment, and unfair housing practices really aren't that much
of a
problem, and the government programs to rectify them provide

inegalitarian preferences upon which "minority" groups become
dependent. Great importance is afforded to cultural issues, as
mani-
fest in controversies over literary canons, artistic censorship,
and the
labeling of records and video games. Culture is seen as the
embodi-
ment of these timeless values, not the reflection of everyday life
or
work. Idealist culture manifests itself in chosen lists of" great
books"
and masterpiece artworks housed in special preserves of
aesthetic
contemplation. Separated from the exigencies of daily life, art is
seen as devoid of political content or implication. Ironically,
rarely is
any consideration given to the corrupting influence of a market
that
emphasizes competition, greed, and wealth as measures of
human
worth.
Realism assumes that reality inheres in everyday experience and
that its functions can be accessed and known. Attending to
immedi-
ate circumstances in this way, realists often embrace relativism.
Because what we know derives from the here and now, realism
relies
on descriptions of objects and environments. Realism
recognizes the
importance of ordinary observations and events. It tends to
reject
idealistic views of the heroic and transcendental. In the early
1600s,
realist philosopher Descartes asserted that knowledge derives

from
the senses, and that we understand abstractions by relating them
to
our actual experiences of the world. Writing in the latter half of
the
seventeenth century, John Locke likewise asserted that a
perceivable
world exists "out there," which has certain qualities that
underlie our
broader understandings and knowledge.
Realists see truth emerging from the lived experiences of human
beings. As such, realists recognize that values develop
differently
from culture to culture and from era to era. Rules about gender
rela-
tionships or family structures are not permanently fixed but
need to
be evaluated in the context of changing social needs. Realists
are
often critical of a society they believe is emphasizing greed and
com-
petition rather than social justice. As a consequence, realists
promote
government programs to correct the inequities produced by
market
forces. Rather than attempting to manipulate people into
adopting
social norms, realists seek ways of broadening society to be
more
indusive--more tolerant of diversity and difference. Instead of
blam-
ing people in need for their circumstances, realists are more
likely to
favor a fundamental redistribution of wealth through such
measures

BELIEF 63
as assistance programs, government subsidies, and progressive
tax
legislation. Arguments that some people might lack motivation
or
require forms of moral education are rejected as biased. This
funda-
mentally redistributive program has made realists (who
generally
ascribe to liberal social politics) vulnerable to the charge that
they
simply want to throw resources at problems. As realist Molly
Ivins
jokingly stated, "This may sound simple, but the real problem
with
poor people is that they don't have enough money. " 12 To
realists, cul-
ture is found in many places from the gallery to the classroom
to the
street. Because culture is found in the daily encounters people
have
with one another, it can be used to educate citizens and improve
their living conditions. Because it is tied to daily life, culture
always
bears political implications.
In their postures of mutual exclusion, both idealist and realist
camps hold part, but not all, of the means to understand social
prob-
lems. The inadequacy of such polarized thinking became
apparent in
the 1990s with the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe
and
the evaporation of the Soviet threat. The George W. Bush years

sig-
naled a return to black-and-white reasoning. Yet as the 2008
elec-
tions demonstrated, Bush's failure to acknowledge a more
nuanced
vision didn't dick with the voting public. Approaches to politics
that
would separate issues into neat categories-like the separation of
economic structure from cultural behavior-no longer seemed
viable.
One way to reconcile idealism and realism is through the
doctrine
of pluralism. W illiam E. Connolly writes at length about this
distinc-
tion, argµing that although realists reject the idea of a single
doctrine
that applies to all people, they eventually must make dear
choices in
specific situations. 1 3 Hence, a realist who opposes the
general princi-
ple of capital punishment might accept the death penalty for an
espe-
cially heinous crime such as terrorism. In contrast, pluralists
always
keep multiple options in play and would not necessarily practice
an
idealist "eye for an eye" approach to evil. Pluralism is difficult
to
practice because it requires the energy and restraint to maintain
mul-
tiple perspectives in one's mind. Moreover, pluralism cannot
eter-
nally vacillate between options. To do so would render it unable
to
take any action. Instead pluralism strives to maintain an

awareness of
options before, during, and afi:er an action takes place. As
Connolly
writes, pluralism "encourages us to embrace certain things in
this
particular place, to be indifferent to some, to be wary of others,
and
to fight militantly against the continuation of yet others."14
But not all versions of pluralism are created equal. The impetus
for pluralism has historical roots in the liberal discontent with
large
government bureaucracies. Historically, this difficulty was
exacer-
bated by the social diversification and class stratification
brought
on by industrialization. In the post-World War II era, theorists
in
Europe and the United States began to argue that forms of
plural-
ism that pitted individuals against the state oversimplified the
idea
of citizenship. Specifically, this thinking failed to consider
differ-
ences among people based on issues of gender, race, national
origin,
age, or sexual orientation. Perhaps more importantly, postwar
plu-
ralism failed to recognize the permeability of the categories
public
and private.

Poststructuralist theorists of the 1990s saw this dumping of
ideas
into either public or private domains as a return to one-
dimensional
modernist thinking. Not only did postwar U.S. pluralists
reinforce
conventional public/private categories, but they also were
incapable
of recognizing the subjects of politics as anything besides
members of
discrete groups; Postwar pluralism marked a significant advance
over
unreconstructed liberalism in carving out a larger role and a
more
complex arena for citizens to act politically, but it did so only
within
existing understandings of civic roles. Ernesto Ladau and
Chantal
Mouffe proposed what they termed a "radical democratic"
reconcep-
tualization of the citizen unencumbered by old categories of the
modernist self Rather than a unified and autonomous member of
a
particular group, within this formulation each person belongs to
numerous overlapping groups and multiple intersecting
identities. As
Mouffe explains, "It is not a matter of establishing a mere
alliance
between given interests, but of actually modifying their identity
to
bring about a new political identity."15 In this "poststructuralist
plu-
ralism" individuality is maintained because of the relatively
unique
mix of associations within each person.

Although it remains to be implemented in contemporary
politics,
the poststructuralist approach to pluralism has become manifest
in
the growing influence of advocacy groups in politics-enabled in
the
2000s by decentralized technologies such as the Internet. By
opening
BELIEF 65
new realms of public discourse, this networked pluralism gives
fresh
vitality to the impetus for democratic principles. The
politicization
of social spaces formerly considered neutral makes apparent the
often
unacknowledged power relations in everyday activities. In this
way,
such "off-limits" territories as popular culture, education, and
the
family become sites of critical investigation and emancipatory
con-
test. Rather than diminishing political involvement, radical
demo-
cracy helps people see political opportunities everywhere.
Obviously the task ahead is far from easy. The polarizing
effects of
conventional "liberal" versus "conservative" views of politics
make
life difficult for alternative thinking. This dualistic view is
encour-
aged by an electoral process that produces a rhetoric of
mandates and

landslides from narrow margins of the vote similar to those put
forth
in recent presidential elections. Our current winner-take-all
process
yields little understanding of the important relationship between
minority and majority stockholders in participatory government.
This encourages a strange denial of oppositional possibility.
Perhaps
the time has come to recognize that the majoritarian visions of
both
major political parties ends up devaluing human diversity. In
their
desperate efforts to claim majorities, differences with parties
are
viewed as obstacles to be suppressed in favor of a broader
consensus.
This is how vague appeals to populism can really represent an
elit-
ism of their own. To achieve their own visions of national
identity,
both liberals and conservatives have assaulted-in admittedly
differ-
ent ways-multiculturalism or identity politics as divisive.
Ignoring
historically entrenched power asymmetries, the big political
parties
have argued that "special interests" subvert the potential of a
national
accord. Promoted instead is a monolithic definition of
citizenship,
which dismisses the specificity of human variety as either
irrelevant
or selfish.
The antidemocratic implications of this pseudo populism

become
apparent in the way extreme political attitudes become
naturalized in
partisan discourses. Take education, for example. Republicans
and
Democrats seem incapable of reconciling their political appeal
to a
mainstream identity and an educational appeal to uniform …
UC Santa Barbara
Journal of Transnational American Studies
Title
Emerging from the Shadows: The Visual Arts and Asian
American History
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/28q3p1nv
Journal
Journal of Transnational American Studies, 1(1)
ISSN
1940-0764
Author
Chang, Gordon H
Publication Date
2009-02-16
Peer reviewed
eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library

University of California
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/28q3p1nv
https://escholarship.org
http://www.cdlib.org/
Portrait of T'eng K'uei with dedication
to Mark Tobey, 1926. Courtesy
University of Washington Libraries,
Special Collections, UW 23723z. ©
Mark Tobey Estate/Seattle Art Museum.
Courtesy Mei Yun Tang Collection.
Below: Chang Shu-chi, Messengers of Peace, 1940. Mineral
pigments and ink on silk, 64 x 140 in. Courtesy Franklin D.
Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, NY.

Right: Chiura Obata, Setting Sun: Sacramento Valley, ca.
1925. Hanging scroll: mineral pigments and gold on silk,
107 1/2 x 69 in. Courtesy Gyo Obata.
ARTS
'This Is Reparations:' S.F. School Board Votes to
Paint Over Controversial High School Mural
By Sam Lefebvre Jun 25, 2019
A WPA-era mural by Victor Arnautoff depicting slave
ownership and Native American genocide is part of a new
controversy at George Washington High School in San
Francisco. (George Washington High School Alumni
Association)
The San Francisco Board of Education voted Tuesday to paint
over a mural series
showing George Washington as a slave owner and promoter of
the United States’
genocidal westward expansion, acknowledging decades of
complaints about the
depiction of a dead Native American and enslaved African
Americans inside
George Washington High School.
The unanimous vote instructed district staff to develop a plan to

paint over all 13
panels of Victor Arnautoff's "Life of Washington" mural, which
is expected to cost
some $600,000 and take more than a year to implement. In the
event of "undue
delay," according to the amended motion by commissioner Mark
Sanchez, the
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school board retains the option of covering the mural
temporarily with paneling.
"This is reparations," Sanchez said, dismissing concerns about
estimated costs.
It was a decisive moment in a protracted debate, one propelled
by the nationwide
referendum on public monuments to racism, that found the
school board going
above and beyond district staff's recommendation to obscure the
mural with fabric
or paneling, and instead heeding community members' demands
to "paint it
down."
Paloma Flores, program coordinator for the school district’s
Indian Education

Program, joined with local high school students, recent George
Washington
graduates and Native American parents to oppose the mural
during public
comment Tuesday. “It’s not a matter of offense, it’s a matter of
the right to learn
without a hostile environment,” Flores said. “Intent does not
negate lived
experience.”
Sponsored
A Mural That Doesn't Age Well: The Debate Over the George
Washington Murals in S.F.
Mural Critiquing Slavery, Manifest Destiny Draws Controversy
in
San Francisco
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The plan is still contingent on an environmental impact report,
and appeals or
legal challenges are expected: Lope Yap Jr., vice president of
the high school’s
alumni association and an outspoken mural supporter, said the
group will sue to
halt the mural destruction.
“We’ll use every tactic available,” Yap Jr. said, adding that
there are “several
grounds” for litigation.

A WPA-era mural by Victor Arnautoff depicting slave
ownership is part of a new controversy at George Washington
High School
in San Francisco. (Courtesy George Washington High School
Alumni Association)
Arnautoff, a Russian-born social realist, painted the 1,600
square-foot “Life of
Washington” mural in 1936, showing the nation’s first president
in various periods
of his life. Two of the 13 panels are primarily at issue: One
shows Washington
among his slaves at Mount Vernon, while in another he directs
white men with
2020/3/15 22:43
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guns westward, over the body of an apparently slain Native
American.
Asked if the board's decision would apply to all or only parts of
the mural, district
spokesperson Laura Dudnick on Tuesday said "the options to
cover the mural are
for the entire mural."
According to Arnautoff’s biographer Robert Cherny, the artist
intended the mural
as a “counter narrative,” or a corrective rebuke to the nation’s
founding mythology.
Supporters of the Works Progress Administration-funded
frescoes cite the
communist artist’s progressive motivations, decrying efforts to

remove the
artworks as censorship and a betrayal of history stemming from
a lack of
understanding and interpretative context.
“Political artworks like Arnautoff's must not be confused with
historic monuments
such as Confederate statues, which are intended to send a clear
racist message,”
reads a recent statement from the National Coalition Against
Censorship, echoing
sentiments from New Deal scholars and Russian American
organizations as well as
local arts figures polled by the San Francisco Chronicle.
However, critics of the artwork, a camp including many
students and Native
American parents, have recently, as well as in decades past,
argued that the
depictions of slain and enslaved people of color have no place
in a school lobby.
They believe the artist’s intentions are irrelevant in light of the
harm to young
people of color daily confronted by images of their ancestors
debased.
“Kids don’t see these images as helpful or powerful, they see
them as insulting and
demeaning,” George Washington High School student Kai
Anderson-Lawson, who
is Native American, said at a June 18 school board meeting. The
notion that young
indigenous people are at risk of forgetting their own history,
Anderson-Lawson
added, is offensive: “Generational trauma follows us."

Barbara Mumby-Huerta, a San Francisco Arts Commission
staffer who is Native
American, pointed out at the same meeting that, for all the talk
of historical
accuracy, the mural actually shows ignorance of indigenous
cultures. “To portray a
Native person face down, dead, you are trapping their soul so
that they can not
move on,” she said.
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(The San Francisco Arts Commission has not officially taken a
position on the
mural's removal.)
The demographics of the opposing camps seemed to influence
the board’s decision
to paint over the mural. School board member Gabriela López
noted at the June 18
meeting that the mural supporters offering public comment
skewed older and
white, saying they generally weren’t “representative of the
people affected.”
Although the controversy dates back to the 1960s, it escalated
beginning in 2017
amid a nationwide referendum on public monuments, in
particular Confederate
statues, to racism and exploitation. That year a preservationist
nonprofit
recommended George Washington High School for landmark
status, a process the

school board scuttled out of reluctance to enshrine the mural.
For guidance, the district convened a Reflection and Action
Group, which held four
public meetings before approving, by a vote of 10-1, a
recommendation this past
February to paint over all thirteen panels of “Life of
Washington.” The committee
referenced Cherny’s interpretation of Arnautoff’s work when it
wrote that the
“impact of this mural is greater than what its intent ever was;
it’s not counter
narrative if it traumatizes students and community members.”
Yap Jr., the lone dissenting Reflection and Action Group
member, said he's
disappointed the school board declined to further consider the
alumni
association's proposal to provide more context for the mural,
and accused his
critics of incivility. "Anything less than whitewashing for the
opposition would be a
compromise," he said.
It is a long-simmering issue: In 1968, according to the landmark
application,
George Washington High School students voted 61 percent in
favor of
supplementing the mural with positive depictions of black
people. Daryl Thomas,
then president of the Washington Afro-American club, called
for “recognition of
the great contributions of black people to the sciences and
history.”
The Afro-American Club proposed that Dewey Crumpler, a

young black artist,
paint what has come to be known as the “response” mural.
Crumpler’s "Multi-
Ethnic Heritage: Black, Asian, Native/Latin American" works,
completed in 1974,
show empowered people of color rendered in a fiery, sunburst
palette near the
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Arnautoff mural.
But Crumpler, now a painting professor at the San Francisco Art
Institute, has
emerged a seemingly unlikely champion of the mural that
prompted his own. He
recently appeared in a video analyzing controversial imagery.
“Without Arnautoff’s
murals, my murals are irrelevant. And without my murals,
Arnautoff’s murals are
irrelevant,” he said. “They are one thing.”
SPONSORED
Some of the same community members successfully campaigned
for the removal
last year of Civic Center Plaza statue "Early Days," which
critics also called
historically inaccurate and degrading to Native Americans.
For arts stories you won’t read anywhere else, come to KQED’s
Arts and Culture desk.

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