Coates asserts that race cannot be separated from racism. He writes that there are no inherent qualities in a race (Coates 7). I was interested in the way he talks about naming: “And the process of naming ‘the people’ has never been a matter of genealogy and physiognomy so much as one of hierarchy” (7) Coates goes on to discuss white washing and the elevation of the belief in being white (8). Coates critiques the American dream and has high moral standards for a country that prides itself on exceptionalism. “One cannot, at once, claim to be superhuman and then plead mortal error. I propose to take our country’s claims of American exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose subjection our country to an exceptional moral standard” (8).

I have lots of thoughts flying around my head today, but my question can be expressed very succinctly.

Who can use #CripTheVote?  Who can say it?  Who can use it on social media?

In Geismar’s “The Art of Anthropology: Questioning Contemporary Art in Ethnographic Display” we begin to unpack contemporary ethnographis museum pedagogies that are constructed in hopes of dismantling the westernized center. Contemporary art in this context is described as a language centered in modern art contexts that come with a desired visual aesthetic. She notes the supremacy of this framework within art spaces, as well as ethnographic ones. While "Artist Warriors" like Frank Wilson and the mentioned use the formalities of the art world to confront the parameters set by necessitated cultural foundations, and products of a “free thinking” artist.

Ruth Ozeki’s novel All Over Creation is a book about juxtaposition, parallels, and intersections. While this may be said about many great novels, Ozeki uniquely brings to life contrasting narratives of social and environmental issues for the purpose of helping herself and her readers “interrogate” worldly issues instead of pushing a predetermined opinion (Ozeki 2016). Out in the fields, Ozeki develops the novel’s primary debate as a struggle between agribusiness-supported genetically modified crops and environmental activists. Although any form of agriculture is human intervention in nature, this debate can be characterized as “natural” methods coming in contact with explicit human-engineered farming.

Hello 360 folk, 

I really enjoyed the Deaf Jam documentary because it very clearly explained Deaf culture and the reasons that it exists and is so important. Aneta explained the importance of her connection to her brother who is also deaf. Communication is such an important part of life for everyone so being able to have someone to communicate with in her native language of ASL. This idea also comes up in the article about Designing deaf babies. It makes sense that the couple wants a deaf child so their home can be fully immersed in Deaf culture and use ASL to communicate with eachother more comfortably. 

            Subject to Display by Jennifer A. González offers an analysis of the visual culture of “race” throughout the work of five contemporary artists who became well known during the 1990s. Over the past 20 years, artists James Luna, Fred Wilson, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Pepón Osorio, and Renée Green have had a profound effect on the practice and meaning of installation art in the United States. In Subject to Display, Jennifer González provides the first substantiated examination and evaluation of their contribution, connecting the history of race discourse to innovations in contemporary art. Race, according to González is a social discourse that has a visual history (González 3).

I thought this article was really interesting because it clearly highlights the issues that exist on both sides of the disability argument. The question is not the issue of whether disabled babies should live or not, like Singer argues, but if we should be able to choose that babies are disabled. I feel like our class pretty much collectively decides that disabled babies should not be killed, but it would be interesting to discuss this article; should we actively try to create disabled babies to show that disability, or at least deafness, is a culture rather than a disability?