Why does Critical Engagement matter to us?

Ashanti

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During my time as a student at Augustana College, I have recognized that my experience is not always included, especially in the usual narrative. Whether it was in classes, clubs, or simply when talking to students, staff, or faculty, my story was always a dissimilar and new one. While interviewing Talayah Lemon and Jordan Cray for this project, I saw how they critically engaged the narrative within their experiences and acknowledged it as being relative to their lives and identities. I also recognized how I related to them in a lot of ways. They spoke about how them as students in leadership positions think about their roles and how they see certain issues along with how their identity as black women integrates with these aspects and in their everyday lives. After listening to their responses and learning about their experiences, I noticed that we sometimes don’t recognize how much people ostracize the things are that we go through, especially as black women, whether it is with intention or not. This is why I believe that black women and other groups who are not represented in many spaces feel alone or as if they have no voice or space. If our voices are not put in the forefront, people will continue to misunderstand misrepresent us in every space. That is why womanism is so important. The tools it uses to obstruct the narrative and spaces are important not only to recognize everyone from all backgrounds, but to also break down institutional injustices, stereotypes, etc., and bring diversity and inclusivity into those areas. Bringing truth into those spaces and changing the perspective as I have learned in Christian Ethics is one of the best ways to do so.

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Cece

 

Here at Augustana College, I am a part of the Varsity Softball team, because I am an athlete on campus I chose to analyze Serena Williams’ video of her tennis match. I related to the way she was treated as a female athlete especially after watching Augustana’s baseball team play on many occasions. After watching the video and understanding the history behind the treatment Serena has received, I then questioned my own sport. I questioned how the sport of softball and baseball can be so different, but are in reality the same sport. For those who don’t know softball is a very fast paced game with fast reaction time on a smaller field, whereas baseball is in turn a slower sport on a larger field. This has to do with the way softball players are treated and react to umpires and their coaching staff. As a softball player umpires and coaches are your elders, where you respect them and the calls they make. This means that we hustle to every ball and show that we want to be there, this is our way of showing our passion. Whereas in the game of baseball, even watching the Major Leagues, baseball players are almost on the same level as their coaches and umpires, they are put on a pedestal when competing compared to softball players.  An example of this is when a ball is missed by the catcher, in softball the catcher goes and retrieves the ball, but in baseball the catcher gets handed a new ball by the umpire while the umpire goes and retrieves the foul ball for them. This may not seem like a big difference, but it shows how the umpired interact with the players. This is just one example of how softball and baseball players are treated differently. Critically engaging in my own sport shows the importance of Serena Williams’ critical engagement about the different treatment women recieve compared to men in sports. By taking Christian Ethics my awareness to the systems that have created this different treatment, not only within sports but also throughout different clubs, programs, and activities on campus. Bringing this awareness allows students to critically engage in the organizations they are involved in to make a change.

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Jessica

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As I am part of a women’s varsity sport and a sorority on campus at Augustana College, I have started to surround myself with women who are empowering as well as women who are leaders. With a group of women from different backgrounds, it’s important for all of them to be able to voice out their opinions and be heard. These group of women are so diverse, so learning from multiple perspectives about who they are and where they came from was a huge eye opener for me. Since athletics and Greek life are two groups that are a big part of Augustana College, we can have a strong voice and speak out about the injustices that are happening. Being able to inform others and broaden people’s knowledge on how women are being treated differently can allow others to be critically engaged in womanism. For example, this year, a new program was created called the Student Athlete Advisory Committees. The purpose of this program was to get the same amount of fans showing up to women’s sports matches as the men’s sports. It’s been known that people watch men’s sports more than women’s sports, which happens worldwide, and not only at Augustana College. Although this is a small change, eventually all these little changes can add up to make a big impact on our community. It was amazing to see that people on campus are involved and invested in empowering women. These people are voicing their opinions to teach others more about being critically engaged in womanism. To be in a closed-knit community and surrounded by people who strive to move forward to make a change is empowering itself.

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Tiffany

 

Before my time at Augustana College, I have no knowledge about Feminism, Womanism, or similar ideology. I never reflected about how the women in my home society are being so oppressed. A lot of traditional families expect the women to do all the housework and yet they still have to be responsible for doing an excellent job at work. Women are taught acceptance before they are grown up so few of us know how to fight against the discrimination. Participating in the critically engaged community at Augustana College sparks the fire on me to recognize the burden of the women I love. Being here is one of the decision I will never regret because it gives me the motivation to stand up for what is right. Out of my admiration, I decided to choose Sarah Ahmed and her Feminist Killjoy blog because she shares what needed to solve my society’s ignorant. Her work talks about how women need to break out of the stereotype by killing the joy to bring up uncomfortable matters to conversations. In our society, parents are even too shy to talk about sex, not even mention the oppression of women. By bringing up the subject to the table no matter how uncomfortable it is, everyone would have a chance to understand what women are going through. More people would like to give up stereotypes about women once the subject is more comfortable to talk about. This is why I am motivated to raise awareness, starting from the people I love the most, about being engaged in womanism.

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Shanela

 

I chose to interview Lydia Lara and Hawarit Jemal because I admired the work that each of these women has done/is doing to empower women of colour. The way Lydia engages with inhibiting structural forces through her art and empowers other college students to do the same; it let me to think about the many ways critical engagement can happen outside of academia and government. The poetry, conversation and communal spaces that I have witnessed while interacting with Dat Poetry Lounge is proof to me that activism and change can escape the clutches of red tape and bureaucracy.  As for Hawarit Jemal and the African Student Association, I was inspired by the way this group brought together communities from across an entire continent and how Hawi was always willing to step as the rallying point for the group when they needed one. The entire experience revealed to me that as an anthropologist/journalist/ethnographer, being allowed into the activist lives of underrepresented groups is even more of a privilege/challenge/responsibility than I had anticipated. Responding to these groups the most human way possible is already daunting; it seems representing them to the world truthfully and ethically will be an even more intriguing endeavour. I also chose to write an analysis of the Carters Apeshit to demonstrate that there can be value even in an act of critical engagement that seems overshadowed by celebrity and capitalism.