6 Dark Matters
Themes:
Race, Construction of Race, Racism, Whiteness as Protection, Poverty, Intergenerational Trauma
Disciplines:
Motion Picture Arts, Fine Art, Art History, Canadian History, Law, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Global Stewardship, Public Administration, Communication, Business
Guiding Questions:
- What is the difference between “craft” and “art”? What factors contribute to how each are perceived and received by the dominant culture?
- How do you define “art” juxtaposed to “cultural artifact”?
- How does the lens of race determine (or contribute to) our interpretation of events, actions, and behaviours?
- Discuss an event or incident in the news where race was a factor (or was not made a factor and perhaps should have been). Consider the context of the event from both an individual, cultural, and historical perspective. How much of this context was considered/covered by the media? Consider if the event can be understood without the discussion of race. Consider what else you might like to have understood about the situation in order to get a fuller sense of the event.
- Can context (cultural and personal) be removed from our interpretation of any single event?
- How often do you witness and/or experience racism? What does racism look like to you? Examine your answer: What does it reveal about your own experience of privilege or lack of privilege?
- Do the Privilege Walk: Discuss the outcome. How did it make you feel? What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about each other? (*Privilege Walks take several forms. Here are two resources to begin your research into them:
- A. https://www.buzzfeed.com/dayshavedewi/what-is-privilege
- B. https://opensource.com/open-organization/17/11/privilege-walk-exercise
- They are, in essence, a social experiment. Are they effective? How would you critique them? Make them better? What are the flaws and dangers in them? How else could we examine how privilege works in our society?
- Discuss the criminal justice system and the media in terms of each’s ability to fully understand the multiple (and hidden) forces that played a role in both shaping an event and shaping our perception of an event.
- What is the “social purpose” of a GoFundMe campaign?
- What is your “worldview” or “view of the world”?
- How does Elliott interplay between “dark matter” facts (science) and examples of racism? Why does she do it?
- “[D]espite over forty-five years of vigorous research since 1973, we are much more certain what dark matter is not than we are what it is” (p. 62). Is Alicia speaking about dark matter? Racism? Or Both?
- “I wondered how something could be so pervasive, so all encompassing, responsible for the world as we know it and still not be able to be clearly seen” (p. 67). Is this statement speaking about Dark Matter or racism or something else altogether?
- “Racism, for many people, seems to occupy space in very much the same way as dark matter; it forms the skeleton of our world, yet remains ultimately invisible, undetectable. This is convenient. If nothing is racism, then nothing needs to be done to address it” (p. 70). How can we address racism if we believe it is nothing?