"But what are Indigenous people? Aren't Indigenous people just less civilized?" I heard the sociologist, Puckerman, say in response to the question of how to define a Native American at the faculty retreat which involved a bagel breakfast followed by an exercise designed by a self-styled "philosopher," Breeley, which was known as the octagon. This octagon was a discussion method utilized to glean what people felt about issues of race in hiring.
When I heard the words "less civilized," not only was I disturbed but I was beginning to take note of the prevailing acceptance of gross stereotypes not only in place of valid information and civil discourse, but as a form of comedic entertainment for the faculty. It was not unusual for bigoted views to pass as valid points of departure for what would progressively become a bumbling set of rationalizations for everything from sexual violence to bitter racism and the usual misogyny and lust.
While other women could compromise themselves in the scalding sexist and misanthropic environment systematically managed as a scheme of the "science of the mind" by Breley, Bones, and others, the caustic agenda for racial engineering supplanting legitimate disciplines, fields, and materials, was outrageous. Pitzer professed a long term agenda for what I can only ascertain as a peculiar form of intellectual eugenics.
I took my place at the octagon and vociferously disagreed with Puckerman's comments. Arnold Paycheck, the wry but knowledgeable VP of Admissions, suggested that it was best not to invite a Native American into such an environment that held forth at [expletive]. He'd worked with Native students at Evergreen and his experience should be a warning that Native American students had better outcomes when they were in supportive environments.
Nevertheless,[expletive] would attempt a Native American studies program and the administration was adamant it could not include any Native American faculty that they argued would require a "superior candidate" for an Affirmative Action hire, a more useless pursuit they implied could not ever be found.
I remember when this agenda surfaced in a teacher-student relationship I had with a student. She'd been referred to me by her adviser, Gorgon. (Think here: an Afro-Uruguayan with bleached blonde hair passing as white and who herself made comments about the skin color of Mexicans yielding a degree rumored to have come through a mail order service, but one of many anthropologists passing as humanities or interdisciplinaries.) For example, anthropologist Detail argued that there was no such entity as Native American history and that there was a valid study he called the "anthropology of history."
The young white woman, a supposed double major in English and Spanish, announced that she was writing her Honor's thesis on "white magic realism." It was her contention that African and Latin American and African American had long been taking too much credit for the advances of this literary aesthetic, and that with 2 popular novels by a white female writer, she was going to prove the existence of white magic realism.
She attempted one version of this ill-fated thesis. With her first and final trip to the library, she learned there was no such topic. Though I spent a lot of time narrowing its claims and providing alternatives, she never revised, edited, or completed it. I stood firm on my intention that this honor's thesis was not only a fallacious but that the student improperly demanded honor's for it and was assisted in doing so by her adviser, Gorgon. Meanwhile, the Spanish language teacher (Jorge's subordinate) expressed dire concern that though the student could not only not pass the basic oral examination required before graduation but had failed it miserably. The registrar's office wrote to me asking for clarification as to why the student was not granted honors, and much to my chagrin and dismay, the registrar's staff seemed reluctant to accept the fact it had not earned honor's much less been written at all.
For wise to what she was doing in demanding unearned honors, the student had researched this topic and found amidst hundreds of peer-reviewed research, only one article that suited her and it was on the origins of fantasy in German literature. She was from Ventura County where white supremacy was a legacy that had clearly influenced her and which served her well in the racial chimera of [expletive] College.
After the octagonal discussion held at the retreat, I thought I did all I could to clarify how harmful it was for those who did not enjoy racial humor, to suffer the uncomfortable racial environment But, after the retreat, not only did the racial comments continue, but soon they became implicit orders for enforcement as Gorgon approached me asking to grant honors to the thesis on white magic realism. I informed her that it was not eligible for distinction nor was it even completed by the student demanding honors in English and Spanish--a language she could not speak much less read or write.
It was clear to me that Pitzer College was a safe haven for extremist views concerning racial inferiority and superiority, and that identities in this environment were subject to fiction. Such as the secretary to the Boness who claims Romany ancestry and the usual fair of flapulence
When I heard the words "less civilized," not only was I disturbed but I was beginning to take note of the prevailing acceptance of gross stereotypes not only in place of valid information and civil discourse, but as a form of comedic entertainment for the faculty. It was not unusual for bigoted views to pass as valid points of departure for what would progressively become a bumbling set of rationalizations for everything from sexual violence to bitter racism and the usual misogyny and lust.
While other women could compromise themselves in the scalding sexist and misanthropic environment systematically managed as a scheme of the "science of the mind" by Breley, Bones, and others, the caustic agenda for racial engineering supplanting legitimate disciplines, fields, and materials, was outrageous. Pitzer professed a long term agenda for what I can only ascertain as a peculiar form of intellectual eugenics.
I took my place at the octagon and vociferously disagreed with Puckerman's comments. Arnold Paycheck, the wry but knowledgeable VP of Admissions, suggested that it was best not to invite a Native American into such an environment that held forth at [expletive]. He'd worked with Native students at Evergreen and his experience should be a warning that Native American students had better outcomes when they were in supportive environments.
Nevertheless,[expletive] would attempt a Native American studies program and the administration was adamant it could not include any Native American faculty that they argued would require a "superior candidate" for an Affirmative Action hire, a more useless pursuit they implied could not ever be found.
I remember when this agenda surfaced in a teacher-student relationship I had with a student. She'd been referred to me by her adviser, Gorgon. (Think here: an Afro-Uruguayan with bleached blonde hair passing as white and who herself made comments about the skin color of Mexicans yielding a degree rumored to have come through a mail order service, but one of many anthropologists passing as humanities or interdisciplinaries.) For example, anthropologist Detail argued that there was no such entity as Native American history and that there was a valid study he called the "anthropology of history."
The young white woman, a supposed double major in English and Spanish, announced that she was writing her Honor's thesis on "white magic realism." It was her contention that African and Latin American and African American had long been taking too much credit for the advances of this literary aesthetic, and that with 2 popular novels by a white female writer, she was going to prove the existence of white magic realism.
She attempted one version of this ill-fated thesis. With her first and final trip to the library, she learned there was no such topic. Though I spent a lot of time narrowing its claims and providing alternatives, she never revised, edited, or completed it. I stood firm on my intention that this honor's thesis was not only a fallacious but that the student improperly demanded honor's for it and was assisted in doing so by her adviser, Gorgon. Meanwhile, the Spanish language teacher (Jorge's subordinate) expressed dire concern that though the student could not only not pass the basic oral examination required before graduation but had failed it miserably. The registrar's office wrote to me asking for clarification as to why the student was not granted honors, and much to my chagrin and dismay, the registrar's staff seemed reluctant to accept the fact it had not earned honor's much less been written at all.
For wise to what she was doing in demanding unearned honors, the student had researched this topic and found amidst hundreds of peer-reviewed research, only one article that suited her and it was on the origins of fantasy in German literature. She was from Ventura County where white supremacy was a legacy that had clearly influenced her and which served her well in the racial chimera of [expletive] College.
After the octagonal discussion held at the retreat, I thought I did all I could to clarify how harmful it was for those who did not enjoy racial humor, to suffer the uncomfortable racial environment But, after the retreat, not only did the racial comments continue, but soon they became implicit orders for enforcement as Gorgon approached me asking to grant honors to the thesis on white magic realism. I informed her that it was not eligible for distinction nor was it even completed by the student demanding honors in English and Spanish--a language she could not speak much less read or write.
It was clear to me that Pitzer College was a safe haven for extremist views concerning racial inferiority and superiority, and that identities in this environment were subject to fiction. Such as the secretary to the Boness who claims Romany ancestry and the usual fair of flapulence
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