Week Three Flashcards
ideology
“ideology” (small “I”) refers to a set of political, economic, and cultural beliefs. More broadly, it represents a person’s beliefs about where they fit into society, and what’s best for them. For instance, a rural farmer may be deluded into thinking that a certain political party serves their interests when in fact that isn’t true. A person’s ideology can be real and powerful for them, but it can also be part of their indoctrination and MYSTIFICATION, and function to subordinate them to the interests of those in power. This would be called ALIENATION– that is, they are separated from that which would fulfill them. For instance, an immigrant might believe their new host country is the best place for them when in fact the new host country may have created the political and economic conditions in their former country that required their migration in the first place.
Mystification
“Mystification” refers to an incomplete–and in many cases, outright mistaken–understanding of a person’s actual relationship to power. A person may think they are free and independent, for example, but it may not necessarily be an accurate depiction of reality; sometimes this is by intent, and sometimes it’s because the people and institutions in their lives are also mystified to some degree. An example may be someone who grew up in multi-generational poverty, in the segregated US prior to the 1970s, but nonetheless enlists and sacrifices their life for their country out of a sense of duty, and the belief that this is the best country in the world.
The Hispanic Generation
“The Hispanic Generation” generally refers to people in the Latinx community born in the 50’s-60’s, and came of age (turned 20 – 30) in the 1980s, the conservative, Cold War peak of the (US President) Reagan Era. This generation are the de facto heirs to consolidated civil rights struggles and legislation that, provisionally, made previously segregated institutions accessible. While conservative capitalist and pro-imperialist segments of the Latinx population have always existed–especially among the middle and upper classes–this generation introduced the radical expansion of the Latinx middle class, which also involved a broadening of the ideological spectrum to include Latinx people/perspectives in serious ways.
Acculturation, accommodation, and assimilation paradigm
The acculturation, accommodation, and assimilation paradigm is a dated model that implies a unidirectional flow of cultural change in a subject, such as an immigrant or previously excluded minoritized person. It has been superseded by other models, such as TRANSCULTURATION, which refers to a two-way flow of adaptations by all involved.
“Acculturation” generally refers to the process by which someone adapts to their new environment by learning survival traits (e.g., language). “Accommodation” generally refers to the process by which a person starts to believe that their new traits are preferred over their native ones (e.g., believing that their new language is better and more valuable than their native heritage language). “Assimilation” generally refers to the ideological dimensions of acculturation and accommodation and alludes to the full commitment to the new culture and attendant political values, usually at the expense of their native ones.
Transculturation
“Transculturation” refers to the complex processes through which newly constructed cultures and subjectivities are created out of the (sometimes violent) clash of different people and societies in contact zones (e.g., immigration, colonial encounters). These usually still result in disproportionate power relations, but the disruptions caused by the new fusions have the potential to create new hybrid subjects and power relations. Transculturation recognizes the two-way and, indeed, multi-directional flow of acculturations. Thus, transculturation is a better tool for explaining social realities than the AAA paradigm.
Liminality
“Liminality” generally refers to the amorphous space between paradigms or subjectivities. For instance, a person can be one unique subject prior to joining the military or a sorority or other social club. During their training and acculturation in which they are being trained and acculturated into a full-fledged member (e.g., basic training or rushing/hazing), they exist in a limbo space. They are neither their past selves nor their future selves, but in a liminal space. This is different from MESTIZAJE, which involves a synthesis and blending of two or more cultures or subjects into a new being that is whole in and of itself.
The 1.5 Generation
“The 1.5 Generation” refers to descendants of immigrants, or descendants of the children of immigrants, who are still acculturated in the “old ways” of their heritage countries and communities, as well as in their new country and community. To varying degrees, they can navigate both worlds without necessarily mixing them.
Contact Zones
A “contact zone” is the place and space where two (or more) societies collide to create new negotiations of power that usually result in multiple TRANSCULTURATIONS, or mutual transformations, that borrow from each other. These spaces exist in broader political contexts (e.g., warfare, colonialism, etc.), as well as interpersonal interactions. However, these contact zones remain overtly or subtly tense spaces as power negotiations still usually remain unequal.
Literature is a perfect venue to explore and articulate contact zone transculturations that, in real life, usually are not questioned or even noticed. These literary depictions offer us the opportunity to analyze, better understand, and even intervene into reality.
