Double Consciousness and Its Present State

Native Americans believed that we are and should be one with Mother Nature. Many believes stem from them being so Intune with the wind, ground, tress/plants and animals. They believe that everything is connected and to be fully connected they needed to have these special ceremonies. These ceremonies included peyote and strong tobaccos to reach true enlightenment and to become one with yourself. Also in these ceremonies you typically are on a journey to find yourself or see things you need to strengthen within yourself. Since I have started mediating and looking further in depth about meditating, I have learned that many feel that you cannot reach true enlightenment in ordinary consciousness. I believe that this “ordinary consciousness” is somewhat

Resulting from the dominant white culture in the United States, these authors express that their own ontology is an echo of what society projects onto them—hindering them from creating their own identity. Du Bois explains that the voices create “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others” (887). Meaning that his own identity has been molded by the constant awareness of what he is perceived as by the dominant culture. Furthermore, mirroring and further expanding upon the impact of the societal voices, Anzaldúa explains that “ambivalence from class of voices results in mental and emotional states of perplexity” (839). Anzaldúa explicates that the voices impact her way of being in the world so greatly that it creates “mental and emotional states of perplexity” (839). Both Du Bois and Anzaldúa acknowledge that the dominant culture has largely been the culprit for dictating how they view themselves, and that the voices have been extremely debilitating. As Anzaldúa explains, “like all people, we perceive a reality that our culture communicates” (839). Both authors agree that the dominant culture largely defines how they perceive

He explains an encounter where a teacher told him, “‘Sit in the encounter until you learn English’”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg32). This quote shows that even in the first grade Castro realized that racism was alive and present, and it was wrong. He believed that it was wrong for the school to be treating him a certain way (badly), simply because of his culture. Through the testimonio, these early encounters show us how Castro’s identity and core values were shaped. Furthermore, Castro’s testimonio allows him to tell a fuller story of social activism. For example, Castro vividly recalls the Watts Riot that took place in Los Angeles. The Watts Riot was the result of the community reacting to allegations of police brutality against an African-American motorcyclist. Castros explains, “If you lived or worked anywhere near Watts, located south of the downtown area, you saw and smelled the smoke from the burning cars and buildings.”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg131). This demonstrates how the testimonio gave us a different view of social activism that was occurring during the time period. It is portrayed to us through a personal response of someone who experience it first hand. As the Blowouts progressed the Chicano students attitudes changed. A student explains after the movement, “‘were the first time that we began to develop consciousness...It was very affirmative. Thats where you began to have an identity’”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg 322). The Chicano

In the research novel, “Keepin’ It Real” written by Prudence Carter, a large group of African American and Latino students are asked questions and are shadowed to better understand the culture and the struggles they face every day. The students are asked questions about their family and their opinions on life. Carter shadows them from time to time to experience what they do to get a better understanding of their life and struggles. Based on the research of Carter, African American and Latino youth struggle to achieve the “American dream”.

Nella Larsen, a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance, explores the nature of racial identity and double-consciousness in her novella Passing. W.E.B Du Bois’s theory of double-consciousness is characterized in The Souls of Black Folk as a sense of “twoness,-- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body” (Du Bois 2). Irene and Clare, Larsen’s novella’s primary characters, both lack a “dark body” which allows them to oscillate, by choice, between playing the part of the white “American” and the “Negro”. The appeal of racial passing lies in how it provides disenfranchised minorities access to otherwise unattainable

Critically assess Du Bois’s conception of double consciousness. Can double consciousness be dissolved and, if so, how?

There has been a significant rise in non-religious people, this rise can be seen within the millennial generation, which is different from prior ones who were predominantly Christian. What is it that the millennials can be aware of or, influenced on, that causes this non-conformity towards religion?

It’s hard to live in the United States and be oblivious to the extreme segregation of races that has consumed their nation for decades. Not even a Brownie troop of ten year-old girls can remain unaffected. These stereotypes have left a lasting impact on even current generations, altering their perception of how they see themselves and others. Told through the eyes of a naïve young girl, “Brownies” is a contemporary short story by ZZ Packer about the harsh realities of the world, the struggle to find individual identity, and the longing to be part of a group. An important theme in this story is that societal values and ideas often shape individuals’ opinions and play a part in formulating their perception of not just themselves, but others as well. It demonstrates the power of peer pressure, influencing one’s better judgment. ZZ Packer’s short story “Brownies” is a story of naïvety, double standards, and ignorance, demonstrating the wide-reaching effects that racism and human nature have on how individual perceptions are shaped.

The results from the data were spread out and allowed for me to draw from many theoretical frameworks in the field. Through the four themes of double consciousness, cognitive dissonance, and spatial theory results were drawn from the data.

Finding a norm to break was pretty hard, but once I did I realized the norm itself was also a little strange. People ride the elevator because they wish to get to their destination in the building quicker than they would walking up and down the stairs. At Berkeley City College there are only five floors; riding the elevator is not an absolutely necessary thing. My school is a pretty diverse campus, although I rarely see the diverse people in the same classes I choose for myself. I see people of all age ranges on a daily basis, some friendlier than others. I decided to do this violation throughout the school week(s) at BCC since I couldn’t test this theory out at Laney College. I chose to test how would people react to me riding the elevator incorrectly or if they would have a reaction at all; doing so I would compare this act to W.E.B Du Bois 's theory of double consciousness.

Bell’s article begins with references to several other African American writers – Du Bois, Baldwin, among others – to show readers that, while Morrison’s novel is very well written, she was not the first to write about “double consciousness” and/or remembrances of the past in African American’s lives. Bell asks how African Americans can be expected to handle all the difficult things they face because of racism and bias, and then he spends the rest of his article fleshing out how they deal with it and whether that is healthy for their psyche.

About 10 years before Brown vs. Board of Education, a girl named Sylvia Mendez, who is an American citizen of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, spoke and wrote perfect English, but was denied enrollment to a whites-only school. Children at school will say “Go back to the Mexican school, you don’t belong in here!” This story introduced the reader the story of how Mendez and Her parents took action by organizing the Hispanic community and filing a lawsuit in federal district court. Their eventually able to bring an end to the era of segregated education in

An interesting dynamic in the school system that covertly guise colorblindness is the conceptual language to describe whiteness and blackness (Kumasi, 2011). Society For instance, non-discriminatory language such school achievements, intelligent, beauty etc., represent whiteness, whereas, language like gangs, welfare recipients and, basketball represent the marginalized youth of color (As cited in Kumasi, 2011, p200). These words are created through the social construct of how America operates, as individuals are categorized. This is manifested through false media representation, negative labels, false stories, and what constitutes a favored racial identity (Kumasi, 2011). This is another barrier that stripes youth of color of their humanness,

Double consciousness is different for everybody. Some people may be very self-conscious about themselves and how other people view of them. Other people may not care as much or aren’t even aware. For the people who are a bit more self-conscious and insecure about themselves may always be thinking in the sense of ‘double consciousness.’ The other bunch of people may not think in ways such as insecure people do. But, in some measures of ‘double consciousness’ I believe is inevitable. No matter what, society has always made us, humans, believe that looks matter or how you put yourself across matter. There is always going to be that little voice is the back of everyone’s mind that says, ‘Was I funny enough?’ or ‘Am I pretty enough?’ Our society

This piece highlights the ways in which diverse identities are erased under the guise of a homogenized national subject. This project imagines multiculturalism and assimilation politics within a dystopian lens, which calls “proper” citizen subjects into question by engaging them in the very structure that sustains power in “proper” sites and bodies. I found reciting the test excited thoughts of my own history in relation to citizenship, as I was reminded that my parents had to successfully complete this exam. This project boldly unmasks how representational tactics fail to engage with the diverse and varied backgrounds of those it claims to support, and instead creates a grotesque amalgamation of normative immigrant identities that works to reinstate the model assimilated minority. This is explored within Gloria Anzaldua’s work as she highlights that one of the crucial steps in reimaging the postmodern subject is unlearning the implicit ways that reality is shaped by dualisms (Anzaldua, 9). The use of dualistic thinking in understanding cultures, bodies, spaces, and lives remains one of the ways that duality maintains structural racism, xenophobia, and exclusionary