Week 1--Christopher Hiura

Christopher Hiura
A01
Week 1

In this week's reading of “Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia,” by Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde, I am fascinated by how America's institutionalized educational system affects people on all levels: including students, teachers, and administrators. The reading retells the harrowing journey Professor Valverde went through to essentially reclaim her tenure from UC Berkley. Although I found the whole ordeal shocking and profoundly sad, I would like to focus on the elements behind the situation that led to such an event. It is frustrating to see that the reason she was losing her tenure was not because of inexperience or lack of ability, but because of the color of her skin. Even then, the worst part is how internalized Professor Valverde's oppression was. At one point in the reading, Professor Valverde commented that she was so deeply institutionalized by America's educational system that it took her months of "deprogramming" and self reflection to see the true nature of her situation--something that was unjust and even dehumanizing. She mentioned how she felt isolated and alone, where someone even said that her situation was only "one in a million". She was an outsider in her own university, in her home-away-from-home. I can only imagine how suffocating it must've felt to be the only one in a battle against an institutional Goliath who unjustly wrested away her merits. In the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire, he mentions how "the interest of the oppressors lie in 'changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation that oppresses them'; for the more the oppressed can be led to adapt to that situation, the more easily they can be dominated". Thankfully , Professor Valverde did not stay in a passive state when she was in that situation, but fought and struggled for what was right.

Although it's always been in the back of my head, Professor Valverde's experience puts my question into focus. How internalized of oppression am I? You? I personally can't say I've experienced anything close to what she went through that entire time, and it makes me wonder if I have to personally go through something just as tragic for me to "lift the veil" from my eyes? Is thinking that "graduating from college equates to success" really just me "adapting to the situation" that "people above me" have set before me? How often do I simply adapt to the situation, and does this mean I am lacking in agency?

References:
1. Valverde, K., (2013) “Fight the Tower”: A Call to Action for Women in Academia, 12(2), 367-419. Retrieved         September 30, 2017.
2. Pauolo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2000.
3. Watterson, Bill. “Calvin and Hobbes.” CalvinandHobbes.com, Universal Press Syndicate, 2009,               www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/.