Race and Ethnicity

A Different Mirror

Perspective is just a mirror of what we see others from pur point of view.Similarly 'race' and ethnicity is a debating illusional perspective that has been much talked about.Back in middle school in Nepal I remember studying about the different races around the people. It was just a subject compilation based on eye shape, hair type and skin color. I remember reading a chapter on Sherpas , a himlayan tribe you all must have come across when you hear mountains.The chapter opened with " sherpa has flat notes , small eyes and stouty figure." I had sherpa friends and I couldnt see it wasn't untrue , they all had the same description as the book. This was an encounter of racial stratification based on features in Nepal. Later on we also had to study Nepal had primaliry two races Aryan and Mongolian.Aryans can trace back their lineage to sharp featured people from the euro-mediterrannean and Indo people whereas the Mongolians traced back their ancestry from the land of Genghis Khan , Mongolia hence the name mongolians.This was a lesson learnt in our general sociology class. We also had to learn about the black people who were enslaved for hundreds of years in America and different parts of the world and how I wondered there were no Blacks in Nepal. There were dark skinned people who could be mistaken for dark complexion african people but they were not classifified as blacks in the Nepalese racial system.Coming to America , I was equally shocked to see the racial divide among neighbourhoods.I live in Brooklyn and while I was back In Nepal , I got feedbacks from my uncle and aunts who lived in the states that Brooklyn was predominantly an african american neighbourhood. it was by par true but as I became familiar witht the neighbourhood , the notion of only black was not true at all. There were more of a mixed racial existence in where i lived and still live.Africans, Indians, Pakistani,Nepalese, Tibetan, Italian, Bangladeshi,Arabian and Whites ( It;s harder for me to differentiate their origin).

From the reading 'A Different Mirror' my eyes opened up on the history of America. How the predominant Natives were driven out of the picture , how the English created race in strata of skin and features. The reading was much about everything from little stories of one person to the mass majority of people in riots to create an equibellarium of immigrant America. Except for the natives who were mistaken for Indians every other people we find in today's america are immigrants from all over the world. Being the first generation in my family from Mustang, Nepal it is an overwhelming experience  a tale to be told to the upcoming generation of our family's origin.What is RACE? a stratification of people based on their feature?skin color? if it was so my own biological sister she looks totally different from me. She has straight hair in contrasts to  my super curly hair always mistaken for being african

Socialization of Men and Women

Killing us softly   men perform violence towards women by the effect  directly or indirectly from mass media. She talks about how women are portrayed as a piece of object dehumanizing us women. She also talks about the values advertising imposes us as women how women should look. According to advertisements an ideal women is perfect of flaws , has no blemishes and in fact no pores she jokes. Secondly women are portrayed as sex symbols where only one part of the body is focused primarily and compared to being an object.
by Jean Kilbourne opened my eyes towards advertisements. It made me realize the hidden message and wrongful portrayal of us as woman. She talks about how advertising has shaped our everyday views on simple things. She advises to take advertising seriously. She talks about the gender exploitation in advertisements. She also strains the relationship of how

 Women being treated as object is loosely connected to violence. She also talks about how advertisement is biased towards women of color and mostly portrayed as animals ,the other being or simply exotic .She also talks about weight issues where skinny is perfect body type in the advertisement world. Women should be thin as a stick and possess no body fat like the ads in most magazines and TVs  have skinny models. The direct effect is on majority of women who are curvy and overweight. It brings the  self esteem of  most women down as being skinny and possessing large breast is nearly impossible without the blessed gene or going under the knife(implants).Overall the video teaches us a great deal about behind the scenes of advertisements and the wrongful portrayal of Women.

While relating to the ideal skin type in  ads  ,fairness ads are big deal in India. Well you all know majority of women and men in India are darker on the complexion side not all but mostly. The ad industry spend lots of money on making commercials of women turning fair from a week of using fairness creams. We all know that it is nearly impossible to change the color of the skin through using creams that will change our natural color but somehow enhance our psychological thought that it does work . Honestly it rarely changes. Anyways , the idea of fair skin in India is the ideal women should be .It has a major impact on most women who are naturally colored.

(pic above an indian ad “Fair and Lovely” fairness cream showing a women shedding her natural skin to become fair )

‘A call to Men’ by Tony Porter was a very informative speech from a man point of view on women. He shares his life experiences from growing up to his own experience on raising kids himself. His view on how boys are raised in a different method from young age really made sense. Boys don’t cry is a phrase I have always heard of. While growing up until today the only male that I have seen cry is my uncle when my grandmother passed away which was natural. Even in my circle of friends I have hardly seen any of my male friends cry if they did they were looked upon as queer. Tony Porter’s speech on the comparisons between Men and Women are instilled in childhood itself. “Boys are taught from young age that they are the superior being, strong, dominating, courageous, no pain, no emotions with the exception of anger and no fear. Men are in charge women are not that men lead and women should just follow whatever men say , men are superior and women are inferior , men are strong and women are weak , women are of less value meaning women are object.” He explains these phenomena as collective socialization of Men also known as ‘Man Box’.

He brings about his own experience from his father when his brother died. His father didn’t cry in front of the women but cried in front of him and apologized for crying and uplifted him for not crying. He also brings on an example about his question to a young boy how he would feel if his coach said he played like a girl in the basketball court the boy replied by saying he would be destroyed. Then he questions about how we are raising the concept of girl. He also talks about his first encounter to women being treated as an object .He felt mortified but the same time he felt remorse and excited for not getting caught and actually making others believe he did it and not a single thought on the girl who was an object. He concludes by saying even good men are the basis of violence against women and liberation of the guidelines of man box will be the liberation for women.

            

Understanding Power , Five Faces of Oppression and the Milgram Obedience Experiment

Power is derived from the latin word potere which means " to be able".Max Weber viewed it as the ability to bring about an intended outcome , even when opposed by others. This statement shows the relation of Miligram's Experiment enacted in the video. The test can be a good example of" Strategies to overcome opposition : persuade , reward, coerce in the chapter" .
Even though the  experiment was a deception of memory test, the participants still went on with the application of lethal shock till the end in the name of science. The professor's constant persuasion of you must go on with the test shows the authority he has .The participant's enacted differently . There was this 19 year old girl who without any slight changes in body expression over hurting the learner shows the classic example of Milgrams experiment stated by the behavioral sociologist. She was indifferent towards inflicting severe level of pain to the learner who opposed no threats to her.Towards the end of the experiment some participant's felt the obligation to stop but the constant persuasion of the professor to go till the end showed how power has a direct affect in our mindset.One of the three person who intervened and didn't finish the experiment justified by saying that it felt like the nazi in germany .This kind of brought me back to the present day situation in North Korea. There is a documentary by Lisa Ling " Inside North Korea"A team of medical doctors visit north Korea headed by Nepal's top eye surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit for cataract incision for free. It was actually a set up to explore the situation of the North koreans who are hidden from the rest of the world. Here , in this documentary it showed how people were living in the poorest of condition but didn't have a single complaint towards their leader Late Kim Jung Il who is worshipped like god.After the succesful surgery put by Dr Ruit's medical team they were not congratulated or even thanked for their efforts but their leader who was absent from all the hard work.Here is a link if you have time to watch it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxLBywKrTf4

In the article " Five Faces of Oppression, I could see a spitting image of my society in Mustang , Nepal. The Social class devisions of royal , noble , middle class to lower class. The caste systems is divided within the same group of people. It is changing but believe me social class system still prevails until today.The royal and the noble families are still considered at the top of authority . The are favored , exempted in paying taxes , community work and authorized less penalties for crimes .This sense of power in the mindset of the generation that has continued marginilizes the peoples' real potential in where they stand.Exploitation occurs in terms of the lower class being blacksmiths, butchers , sweepers , tailors and other low paying jobs.When there is a crime , the people falling under these groups are targeted and blamed upon.This shows how lack of consciousness and awareness of the opressed  has considered these traditions as norms  of their culture and are continuing to be oppressed.These groups in the village are not allowed to partake in any elections of village chief's Office.

Traditional dress

The Chupa (Chuba) is the traditional dress of the people of the Himalayan culture or Tibet.The material is mostly of silk from India or China and is only worn on special occasions like the Wedding or New years. These days the clothing has revolved and has some alterations in designs influenced. Heavily by neighboring countries.

Khapsey !!

Khapsey
Or Khora ( Tibetan pastry or cookie )
Made with flour , eggs , sugar and butter .This delicacy is prepared mostly in New years , wedding parties or special occasions .

Momos

Momo , the dumplings of the himalaya served with salad.

Wedding ceremony in the culture .

Marriage ceremony in tibetan buddhist culture . The stage is adorned with colorful banners . Red ,white ,blue , green and yellow is the color symbolizing the buddhist culture. The portrait of HH the Dalai Lama is centralized in the center . The bride and groom is wearing Bakkhu an attire very adamant to the culture .

Buddhist praying in chokhang

Losar 2013 Tibetan New Year
Early in the morning , prayers are offered , incense are burned and tea lights are lighted.

Teenage Wastelands

'Teenage Wasteland 'was a very good article to read, it reminded me of the days when I was back in Nepal, a rebellious teenager.The psychology of teenagers in those times had a not so different aura from today's teenagers. Growing up and becoming a teenager is the most confusing age o all. The sense of belonging to a particular age group is vague and very befitting. Neither a child nor an adult teenage life is indeed a misplaced age category  very often misunderstood.The article talks about how teenager in the late 80's were mostly recognized . Dressing up to what bands they idolized , teenagers back then were labeled accordingly.Dropouts and druggie the paper called them in accordance to their appearance . They were emotionally unstable and had the highest suicide rate .WE can all trace this social problem back to social stigma, labeling them .The role media plays in disclosing the suicide rates has an adverse affect , instead of marginalizing the death rate , there seems to be more of a teenage suicide epidemic.
Teenage wasteland in America basically depicts how life of teenagers are wasted because of violence , loose gun law, lack of authority and guidance. The sociologists in the article studied  about the   multiple occurrence of teenage suicides within a close community using empirical evidence and collecting data how the death rate was a close call to the factors that were affecting teenage psychology.
It was more of a cult phenomena. The suicide pact showed how society has a big influence over one another .The mindset of how the situation churned and how it upheaved was actually mind bogging.
The labeling of teenage wasteland , their psychological thought , their loyalty towards their age peers
It is a roll on roll situation where cults come and go . Phrases and labeling change in accordance to time and generation. How common interest could have a high impact on division of societal groups. Similarly to that of high schools and various other institutions, division of friend circle accordingly to common interests .We as a society should be more of a one group family where equal importance is a necessity.

Sense and nonsense about surveys

Among the three articles , " Sense and Nonsense about Surveys is relatively close to the chapter reading in Chapter 2 of Experience Sociology .The article states about how the method of collecting data through surveys can be misleading sometimes and not always accurate . Connoting to the book , the survey research method is a data collection technique that involves asking someone a series of questions.Surveys are popular in part because they are very versatile, are useful for a wide variety of issues, and effectively describe large populations, if appropriate sampling techniques are used ( Czaja and Blair 2004) 

According to the article , the survey method cannot be relied 100 percent as the data collected are generalized when it is impossible to generalize the whole publics opinions. Therefore the survey method is only reliable when it is divided into focus group and asked closed-ended questions and open ended questions.The book and the article agrees on the fact that researchers need to pay extra attention to the wording of the survey as even the slightest variations may result in a totally different data survey.The phrasing of words need to be carefully examined and thoroughly checked in order to get an accurate findings.The chapter also focuses on the pros and the cons of using the Survey method .The various problems that the survey method have are the lack of clarity in the questions, different definitions or wordings ,loaded language that were misunderstood and double barreled questions.Schuman also mentions sampling  method of surveys being crucially biased and the possibility of the method being very limited to the data.He also mentions about the change in the shift of 

how sampling process gained recognition and credibility.In the 1936 presidential election , the poll predictions between the Literary Digest and sociologist George Gallup proved to be one of the most 

recognized sampling method.The fact that the Literary Digest's false prediction of FDR to lose resulted in the recognition of sampling method to be accurate.

There are many flaws in understanding a survey as there is no definite number of subject groups agreeing to this and that and the method itself is time consuming makes it unreliable. Sociologists uses datas and information to make others aware.Relatively , there might be missing information and sometimes  no participation.The questions itself are very limited to the answer.

New york and me

I am karsang It's been almost five years since coming to america.What I left and what I gained has changed the whole sociological  perspective of being in america. I have come from a very different culture than what I have experienced in NewYork. Here , life is really busy. Time is limited .We have work to go to  big or small. We spent most of our time in commuting from day to day work and home . People here are so driven to their goals.There are times I question myself  why my parents wanted me to come here in America?A land they have never seen yet they have so many ideas about it being "THE ONE" place every person should live.and I have started to think it is indeed a dream come true to be living in this great America . Everyone back home thinks if you are living in America you have  lots of dollars . Which is a very funny thought , it is hard enough to sustain living here forget about savings in abundance. Comparing life there it's a different world. There are three types of social group high class middle class and low class.There are two major races aryan and mongolian.The races are scattered in its own geographical region. The Aryans occupying mostly the southern and the hilly territories and the mongolians living mostly to the north in the mountains.Life in Nepal is all about three major things bread , clothes and shelter . If you have money you get all these three things and if you dont then its a very close call to hell. I have been raised by my parents very well. They sent me to a boarding school in Nepal , while they worked in India to earn a living and pay my bills.I have never been denied of what I have asked yet it was simple demands .I never got to know the importance of these three factors until i came to New York. What my parents taught me it has come to effect while living here. Working and going to school is quite a challenge. Living these five years here has changed not only my appearance but have changed the overall importance of my existence in New York.