tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post8770294479778147279..comments2023-09-23T11:16:00.352+02:00Comments on The Franco-American Flophouse has moved: Play Poker Not PrivilegeVictoria FERAUGEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-88257745299079680202017-06-16T06:20:43.443+02:002017-06-16T06:20:43.443+02:00Andrew, there is book that is on my to-read and I ...Andrew, there is book that is on my to-read and I can't wait to get to it: The Past is Foreign Country by David Lowenthal. I found it after I had finished A Whig Interpretation of History which was delightful and got me thinking about another work I really enjoyed If this is your Land, Where are Your stories? by Chamberlin. There is a theme here which is how to read history, how to think about it, how to put things in their own context. Is history the march of progress or just one damn thing after another? :-) What is a modern Italian to make of the Roman Empire which was a slave society like the United States? How does a British Brexiteer supposed to think about being conquered several times over the course of history? Should these things even matter at all? And yet the present is built on the past. Right? Or maybe not.<br /><br />So much to think about....Victoria FERAUGEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-61441483109815560622017-06-15T20:08:59.610+02:002017-06-15T20:08:59.610+02:00Diversity applies to privilege as well... Dynamics...Diversity applies to privilege as well... Dynamics, context and history all play a role.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10191267025812828244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-18711680927774641702017-06-15T00:40:25.040+02:002017-06-15T00:40:25.040+02:00PS -- sorry to hear about your train experience. ...PS -- sorry to hear about your train experience. Inaka Nezuminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-73369467766673721862017-06-15T00:36:14.670+02:002017-06-15T00:36:14.670+02:00To be honest, some of the knapsack items don't...To be honest, some of the knapsack items don't seem related to privilege in any obvious way. For example, being able to see members of one's own race well represented on TV, expecting the manager to be one's own race, being able to isolate oneself from other races... these are simply functions of numerical majority or minority, and not necessarily advantageous or disadvantageous. Yes, there may be psychic pressure on kids looking for role-models while growing up, but as an adult the lack of these things doesn't bother me at all.<br /><br />There are also places where nobody is in the majority, even within the US -- Hawaii, for example, possibly California these days too? (Or soon.) Is everybody underprivileged in that case? I'd actually argue that Hawaii is a much more sane place, and easier for everyone to get along and feel comfortable in, perhaps in part because of that fact.<br />Inaka Nezuminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-55381556432404511472017-06-15T00:18:40.734+02:002017-06-15T00:18:40.734+02:00Maria, Yes, though I would disagree that a person...Maria, Yes, though I would disagree that a person of African origin not ever being accepted. France, for example, and her citizens from places like Martinique (Dom-Tom) are, I think, French like any other French. They have been French citizens for generations and by and large they are Catholic. That is my impression but I am open to correction. If there is one group that is unversally despised in Europe I would say that would be the Roma (gypsies). They are openly spoken of as if they were hardly human - pests not people.<br /><br />And that one was a surprise to me coming from the Pacific Northwest. There are Roma communities in Oregon and while some of the stereotypes about them still apply there is more acceptance and even curiosity about them. <br /><br />Nezumi-san, It's an interesting book. I thought she was on firmer ground when she talked about Swedish immigrants in the US. She points out (and I think she's correct) that a Swedish person in the US is viewed more positively than other immigrants and that makes life much easier for them. They are seldom presumed to be undocumented and they are very desirable marriage partners. But is that really true everywhere? When I was growing up Seattle had an entire neighborhood filled with Scandanavians and there was nothing particularly exotic about being a Swede or a Norwegian. When she was angry grandmother (German origin) used to call my grandfather "That dumb Norwegian." <br /><br />That knapsack. No, the contents don't travel well and I'll admit that is part of culture shock. Yes, it's a completely different game. If nothing else it makes you aware of what privileges you did have back in the home country. Maria's comment shows that awareness of just how relative the cards can be. <br /><br />I was on a trip with the Older Frenchling here in Japan and when we got off the train my ticket didn't work so I went to the station office to ask. Turned out that at another station the staff took my ticket and left only the receipt. I tried to explain this and she wasn't having any of it. She presumed that I was lying. It was only when my daughter came back to the gate and spoke to her confirming my story that she let me through. I thought a lot about that after it happened. I made an assumption that I could explain and that my explanation would be accepted. Why? Well, because of my citizenship, middle-class status, gender, age and, yes, race. I was expecting "privilege" in the form of presumption of innocence and I didn't get it. So much for my cards. :-)<br /><br /><br />Victoria FERAUGEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-84576634542752100192017-06-14T14:14:45.299+02:002017-06-14T14:14:45.299+02:00Thinking some more, I bet a lot of the Knapsack it...Thinking some more, I bet a lot of the Knapsack items were not true for Swedish mothers in Singapore, even if they were in Sweden. And Singapore Chinese moving to Sweden probably experience a similar reversal in Knapsack item experiences.<br /><br />Following your analogy, the value of those cards one holds depends on what game is being played. One may have, or build up, a great poker hand, but it obviously won't be as valuable when one moves to a country where the national game is gin rummy. Or chess.<br />Inaka Nezuminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-80648352395144264252017-06-14T13:10:59.807+02:002017-06-14T13:10:59.807+02:00"C. Lundström wrote an entire book about Whit..."C. Lundström wrote an entire book about White Migration in which she argues that race is part of that Invisible Knapsack and it travels well. "<br /><br />I don't think it travels well in and out of Japan. Quite a few of the items in the Invisible Knapsack were true for me in the US, but not in Japan. And vice versa for native Japanese who move to the US, I would expect.<br /><br />Looking at the previews of Lundström's book available on the MacMillan web site, in the example of Swedish mothers in Singapore, I don't think it was their race that allowed them to hire Asian nannies, it was their wealth, possibly temporary, due to being on expat relocation packages. There are also Asians in Hong Kong and Singapore who have nannies. Though possibly this was clarified in the parts of the book not available for preview.<br /><br />Inaka Nezuminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-62101902372184736832017-06-14T09:59:29.867+02:002017-06-14T09:59:29.867+02:00Privilege has become the bugaboo word these days, ...Privilege has become the bugaboo word these days, much like "race" was some years ago. To one extent or another, everyone is privileged, as you mentioned. Being a Spanish citizen in Spain who has total command of both Spanish and English, I am privileged when compared to a Spanish citizen who only speaks Spanish, and much more privileged than a sub-Saharan illegal immigrant who may speak his native language, French, and English. But I am not privileged compared to my highly educated neighbors who have friends to put them in well-paying jobs. If I were to return to the U.S., I am privileged compared to an African-American solely for the color of my skin, yet underprivileged compared to Anglo-American former classmates of mine who have attained college degrees and have a high standard of living. <br /><br />Privilege has been considered a bad word ever since Marx. To utopians, the idea that one person is not equal to another simply because of accident of birth is anathema. But the truth is that real equality doesn't and can't exist, even if only through accidents of birth, like a sub-Saharan in white Europe. Even if that sub-Saharan is highly educated, rich in his country, and speaks a dozen European and African languages, he will never be considered equal to his European neighbors. And humans will never leave behind the idea of privilege, because, psychologically, we all compare ourselves to others, to see where we are better than others, even unconsciously. Everybody wants to have some kind of privilege over others, even if only in their minds.Mariahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249273119777270679noreply@blogger.com