Reflection

Upon starting this class, I was a bit hesitant about writing blog entries from the perspectives of the different people we meet in the readings. However, throughout the quarter, I came to enjoy and understand the usefulness of this exercise for it challenged me to look through the perspectives of these figures in the readings and make sense of everything I read for the week.

Of all my blog entries, I think that my favorite one is the letter from Helga Crane of Quicksand to Hazel V. Carby. I tried to convey Helga’s ambivalence with her identity as a migrant mixed raced, black-identifying woman and a middle class woman of color, how the conflict of identity might relate to Carby’s article about migrant black woman and their divergent image from middle class black women. Also, I enjoyed writing this blog entry because of all the literary readings, I enjoyed Quicksand the most, particularly because of the way Nella Larson navigates through that ambivalence of Helga’s identity by retelling her physical and emotional journeys. However, I would have liked some more closure on Nella Larson’s Quicksand. I think that even though we discussed at length what the endings of each of her stories might mean, I still feel as though I do not have much of a grasp of what to take away from these stories. I still don’t quite know what Larson is trying to say by ending the story with Helga in Alabama and I would like to better understand how this might have been reflective of Larson’s own life.

Overall, the theme that interested me the most in this class and what I wish we had more time to discuss was Mexican immigration and the formation of Mexican American identity. I felt that we spent quite a bit talking about the formation of white identity, but Mexican American identity was placed on the back burner. I would have liked to see more discussion on the differences between Mexican immigration and Irish immigration, and the current “fears” of Mexican immigration along the border. For me, this topic is especially interesting when situated in today’s context with the advocacy for the DREAM Act and Comprehensive Immigration Reform, as well as the backlash against Arizona’s various anti-immigrant laws, particularly SB 1070.

In addition, I think that one theme I would have liked to explored is Stanford’s own history with racialized policies and ideals. Studying the history of racial identity in America, in general, is very necessary, but bringing it home, per se, to Stanford would have generated interesting, poignant discussion. I would have wanted to learn more about Leland Stanford’s exploitation of Chinese railroad workers in more detail, David Starr Jordan’s (the first President of Stanford) eugenicist ideals, Stanford’s “playing Indian” with the mascot and what that says about our university’s priorities, and even discussion on Stanford’s institutionalization of ethnic theme dorms.

As I look back on the first few weeks, I am glad that I have been able to be in this class because it painted a fuller picture of my understanding of race. It introduced topics like passing that I had previously been unable to explore. In addition, while I knew about racial performance, I had been unable to explore this topic in an academic setting. The topics we had been able to cover in this class truly provided me with a comprehensive race framework through which to analyze history as well as contemporary issues.