Race – Reflection on Global Citizen – Climbing Out of the Box (From the Terms of Reference from SoN around Race)

As noted in The Order of Things, by Foucault, Spanish writer Jorge Luis Borges claims that, in a Chinese encyclopaedia, the animal kingdom could be classified as:

• belonging to the Emperor;
• embalmed;
• tame;
• fabulous;
• frenzied;
• drawn with a very fine camelhair brush;
• having just broken the water pitcher;
• that from a long way off look like flies’.

As shown from this set of divisions, Foucault argues that systems of classification could make sense in a certain historical period; but seems very arbitrary and bizarre to modern reader. Racial/ethnic monitoring categories is just another example of arbitrary classification.

The notion of races appears to be a construct of Western hegemony, as thriving from trade, travel, warfare, migration, expulsion and colonialism.

The author mentions the notion of ‘grammar of identity’, stating that identities are highly dependent on this course and performative utterance. I completely agree with this point of view. For example, as I sang the national anthem of the United States, I suddenly put myself in the identities of US citizen. The singing further strengthens my identities and consequently make me proud of being American.

Frequently, individuals express their pride in their nationality or other inherent characteristics, as if they played a personal role in attaining a status that was bestowed upon them at birth. This type of identification can hinder the development of a more introspective and self-constructed understanding of oneself.

Whether we refer to individuals as “international students,” “African American,” “diabetic,” or any other category, it is important to recognize that such labels can lead to the reduction of people to a single aspect of their identity.

The author, Glynis Cousin states that, in our current era of “superdiversity,” the process of ethnic classification becomes increasingly problematic. As a result, more and more students feel uneasy about categorizing themselves into ethnic monitoring boxes.¹

This is a very good thinking to integrate into my teaching practice. I think it’s crucial that we understand the complexity of identity’s, and the fact that these classifications may not work on everyone (I am already one of them). we could perhaps use more day-to-day based grammar of identity (for example, I classify myself as a Jazz lover); and start to abandon and usable terminologies of classifications.

¹ Cousin G (2002) Counting Diversity in Journal of Further and Higher Education 26 (1)