The theme of the final week, Week 10, is “Wokeness and the Future
of Higher Education and Activism with Asian Americans.” The reading returns to
a full circle from the first reading which called for people to “Fight the
Tower.” The final reading summarizes the important revelations and insights
that was unveiled throughout the quarter. These include the false notion of
academia as a merit-based system as well as the toxic academic culture that is
riddled with bullying, hazing, and silencing. The reading also discusses how
the term woke and its meaning has been diluted by its diffusion into popular
culture and the need to reclaim the term in the academic world.
Now that it is the final week for this course. I can begin to see
how the SAPSA project relates to the material and readings. When I first
attended this class, I didn’t understand why there was a video project to learn
and investigate a topic concerning the Asian American community. I took this
course to learn about contemporary issues facing Asian Americans, and the project
initially felt like I was searching for the issues myself. However, the final reading
made a clear call to action to rally people to fight the imperial academic
system. This is similar to how our SAPSA videos are a call to action on a
certain issue. The first and last readings mirror what was required in the
project. The project also pushed us to be sort of an activist in pointing out
an issue and addressing it as well as offering up a solution/recommendation to
tackle the issue.
Question: What
are ways in which we can reclaim the term woke in an academic context when it
has been overused in mainstream culture?
References:
Rustagi, T. [Image] Retrieved from https://www.artculturefestival.in/art-marrying-social-causes-art-activism/.
Valverde, C. Academics Awaken:
Power, Resistance, and Being Woke.
Super excited you got it before the quarter ended. Usually students stay mad for years before they say, "Oh, now I get what Prof. Valverde was trying to say."
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