CR #5: In the Face of Oppression, we Overcome and Become
Iris Marion Young and Ada Isasi-Diaz go into a deep analysis of those who are structurally oppressed, and as a result, become impoverished as the categories of oppression pile on top of them. The term “oppression” has gone through several meanings over periods of time where, during Biblical times, it meant “the exercise of tyranny by a ruling group”, and during colonials times it carried “a strong connotation of conquest and colonial domination”. To those who may feel disconnected from social justice issues, these definitions may be what they refer to in terms of oppression. However, to those who have felt weighed down by different faces of oppression may object and delve into a more concrete and visible way of explaining oppression. Oppression of social groups, defined as “a collective of persons differentiated from at least one other group by cultural forms, practices, or way of life (Young, p.51)”, is a structural obstacle that has
“embedded in unquestioned norms, habits, and symbols, in the assumptions underlying institutional rules, and the collective consequences of the following those rules… It refers to the vast and deep injustices some groups suffer as a consequence of often unconscious assumptions and reactions of well-meaning people in ordinary interactions, media and cultural stereotypes, and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies and market mechanisms” (p.50).
Many social groups can be distinguished as oppressed, and many factors contribute to being seen as oppressed. Young expands on the faces of oppression that “describe the oppression of any group”: Exploitation, Marginalization, Powerlessness, Cultural Imperialism, and Violence.
In a brief overview of each of the categories given, Young provides an examination of each face of oppression so those who question whether a group is oppressed or not have evidence and context regarding the group’s history as a subordinate. Exploitation refers to “ a steady process of the transfer of the result of the labor of one social group to benefit another” ( Young, p. 54). This results in a power dynamic where the one producing the labor is abused for the advancement of the privileged. Those who often serve the privileged are part of the marginalized group of people that leads to the second category: marginalization. Those who are marginalized are “racially marked” that suffer through being “expelled from useful participation in social life and thus potentially subjected to severe material deprivation and even extermination” (p.53). As a result of individualistic ideals held in America, basic human rights become stripped from these peoples and are instead held against them, making their access to resources difficult to attain because of stigma surrounding their own detriments. The next category of oppression is powerlessness where nonprofessionals have difficulty claiming autonomy over their work “and allow persons little opportunity to develop and exercise skills” and described the powerless lacking “the authority, status, and sense of self that professionals tend to have” (Young, p.55). Cultural Imperialism is the “experience of how the dominant meaning of society renders the particular perspective of one’s own group invisible at the same time as they stereotype one’s group and mark it as Other” (young, P. 56). To be seen as a stereotyped, yet still marked as invisible, brings the oppressed with a multifaced struggle. With this the case, the system doesn’t quite see them unless it is in a bad light, making the oppressors further perpetuate the negative connotations of the oppressed. Lastly, is Violence, where “members of some groups live with the knowledge that they must fear random, unprovoked attacks on their persons or property which have no motive but to damage, humiliate, or destroy the person” (Young, p. 57). To simply exist as a member of a marginalized social group is to already know the hardships you may face before you even get to the age of knowing why it occurs.
It is very easy to notice what intersectionalities are involved when discussing the faces of oppression. Many groups seem to overlap with one another, and it has been historically proven that social groups face more than one or all faces of oppression. When looking at these faces of oppression, one can see how the experiences overlap to become part of lo cotidano, or the way we go about our day determined by the time and space, looking at our embodied experiences to make decisions. In Ada Assai-Diaz’s essay “Mujerista Discourse: A Platform for Latina’s Subjugated Knowledge”, the exploration of oppression towards a liberation movement is analyzed through the lens of a Latinx womxn to catalyze community. Lo cotidano reflects our “practices and beliefs that we have inherited, and with those habitual judgments that are part of our ‘facing life’ of how we face and what we do with our reality” (p.48). Assai-Diaz sees herself as oppressed and impoverished because of her middle-class Latinidad allows her to see the advantages she has a woman of color along with the oppression she faces for being such, regardless of her economic status. She essentially refers to those oppressed and impoverished as those “who are conscious of their oppression and who struggle for their liberation, taking into consideration their communities” (p. 47). For the oppressed to reflect on their struggle is to open up their cotidiano and work with it against the system that fuels oppression for their own or related communities. Lo cotidiano is becoming conscious, educated, resistant, and an advocate through questioning and reflection today or at any given moment we would typically let pass by.
My cotidiano experience began at family parties. Women in my family are dominant but we still do what is “expected” of us. When we gather for parties, the women fix up the food in the kitchen while the men sit in front of the tv and talk about the latest soccer game. In my view, the children were fed first, followed by the grandparents, then the father, and lastly the mother. The adults would sit and talk at their own table, and once everyone was finished, the children (daughters) would help clean up with the mother and continue the conversation in the kitchen as they used this time to connect and gossip. I used this space to learn what to expect from men, and what standards to set when looking for a partner. Learning about our family, entering the workforce as a womxn, discovering the hardships family members may have gone through has served me on how to care for others and acknowledge the ways I can serve others in the future and connect with patients.
At Canal Alliance, lo cotidano experiences I have noted are how students get to and from their classes, the ways they do in class-assignments, and how they respond to instructions given to them by the instructor. The majority of the students walk to Canal and sometimes carpool when they can. Most of the students come straight from work and are tired by the time they come to class but participate nonetheless. As I’ve observed their participation, they rely on each other to correct themselves as they stare at one of the other students hoping for a hint to respond correctly. Sometimes they would be distracted by texting on WhatsApp if they don’t understand a section of their classwork. When they do complete their work, they are often in discussion and are open to conversations with one another in English. Sometimes when asked to do an assignment, they respond with blank stares and ask multiple times what the assignment is in Spanish and have me help translate directly a word or phrase. I have yet to know the data of my classes previous education level, but there could be something lost in translation after not going to school for many years and picking up the routine back up again. Hopefully, I will be able to note through subtle conversations they have what other experiences they may bring to class.
