Week 10 - Ivan Yang A02

Throughout this course while learning the different intricacies of systemic institutional oppression based on different identities such as gender and race, the question of how we could combat all these forms of injustices in real life has always lingered in my mind. I felt that this week’s reading was the perfect concluding piece for this class as it clearly summarized all the different ways that we could resist the hierarchical power structure in academia after such invisible barriers have been elucidated. One other lingering question I had throughout this course was the extent that we should jeopardize our careers and personal safety as scholars to combat such systems and what we had as scholars to protect ourselves from repercussions our concerns may bring upon us from the higher ups. One of my biggest takeaways from this reading is to not underestimate the small acts of resistance that we perform in our everyday roles within the academic institutions, as well as just how wide a range resistance can take form in. The other important message that I got is the need to build a solidarity culture and community that actively demands and presses for the rejection of the current abusive academic hierarchy and the advocating of a more horizontal, egalitarian power dynamic that provides more space for critical research such as ethnic studies that would normally be marginalized. We, as people of color, are in a unique position in the academy where we are able to experience the detrimental effects of deliberate racialization of knowledge and the idea that some knowledge is highly frowned upon by academia due to its potential of disrupting the current white patriarchal status quo has highly corrupted the spirit of truth seeking in our academic culture. We should all rise together as a “woke” mass and use our power as a mass to overturn this toxic academic culture, because this system may have a lot of leverage over one individual who has the courage to stand up, but will be more likely to back down if an overwhelming majority goes against it. 

Question 

How do we pass on this “wokeness” and spirit for change onto future generations to sustain this fight, as well as be better prepared for other social engineered barriers that inevitably will be hurled at us?

References
Dariotis, W. M & Valverde, K. L. (n.d.). "Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance, and Being Woke"

Photo retrieved from: https://www.ucpress.edu/blog/37649/at-asa-what-it-means-to-be-a-scholar-activist/