Ethical EdTech

Ethical EdTech is created to serve as a source for information on technology surrounding education platforms and to serve as a reference for ethical pedagogy. Ethical EdTech operates as website with two main contributors out of CU Boulders media design lab. What we currently know is that the platforms used for education are for profit which means that they are not created with the users best interest, but with the most profitable outcome in mind. Ethical EdTech is transformative as it provides educators a way to find useful, appropriate and not for profit platforms to share their information. They also create a safe space to collaborate on new ideas surrounding educational technology.

I see this project being really exciting and useful for higher education such as college. Blackboard is tough to navigate and honestly quite depressing. I think a platform like this would be really useful in a college setting and could even involve college students getting involved and creating new platforms. 

This website offers links to past events with data from it and upcoming ones as well which allows you to see what has been done and what can also be done. This shows a bright future for this platform as it moves forward.  Many of my teachers are moving away from blackboard so I see this as very relevant!

The Everlasting Impact of Toni Morrison’s Words on Us

By: Skylar Locke

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https://www.manhattanrarebooks.com/pictures/993.jpg

On October 3, 2019, at 4:30 PM, I attended the Toni Morrison event-panel discussion titled “Toni Morrison, American Writer: The Language of Moral Clarity”. Before attending this event, I never encountered any of Toni Morrison’s work and sadly, I had no idea how inspiring her words are. After attending this event, I now know who Toni Morrison was and the impact her and her words left in this world. She was an American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor. She was the winner of a plethora of prizes such as the Nobel Prize in Literature, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Her most popular novels consist of “The Bluest Eye,” “Sula,” “Song of Solomon,” “Beloved,” and “A Mercy”.

At the beginning of this event, there were two quotes by Toni Morrison that I found to be inspiring. The first quote was “if there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it” and the second quote was “you wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down”. Both of these quotes are raw, truthful, and uplifting. The panel members discussed her books, the impact her words have on their lives, and the powerful themes she confronts in her literature.

The first-panel member to speak was James Felton from the institutional equity and inclusive office. He focused his discussion on how Morrison helped him come into his blackness in America. He brought up this idea that books have the ability to help others accept themselves. I believe that he is right. Books are extremely powerful and the words within them stay with us forever. In a way, the words themselves are almost immortal. Mr. Felton stated that he first became conscious of this emotional rollercoaster regarding race and racial issue in America because of Morrison. He experienced blackness not only through her writing but her presence. He concluded his discussion by saying that “[he] did not know how much [he] needed her writings”. 

The next panel member to speak was Professor Savonick from the English department and the title of her presentation was “We Was Girls Together – Toni Morrison and the Aesthetics of Female Friendship”. She discussed Morrison’s book Sulu which is about the paths and possibilities of four black women in the 20th century. Professor Savonick described Morrison’s literature as “a mysterious and enchanting world urging us to let go and allow the music of words to captivate us”. When we open her books, we are accepting the unknown and allowing ourselves to embrace the pure words on the pages. The central question of her presentation was “what is friendship between women when unmediated by men?” There are so many important relationships in our lives such as girl friendship. Instead of women competing against each other as society teaches us to do, women need to unite and collaborate together. Professor Savonick ended her discussion by stating “bonds between women are some of the most transgressive and electrifying there is”. 

These are only two people out of so many who have been touched and inspired by Toni Morrison and her words. For Mr. Felton, Morrison helped him embrace his blackness and understand what it means to be black in America. For Professor Savonick, Morrison helped her see the power and beauty of girl friendships. I am very grateful to have been introduced to Toni Morrison and her impacting words through this event. 

Chicana por mi Raza

Claudia Benito

This archive is based on the presence of being a Mexican American women (Latinx) and gathering pieces of literature, speeches, journals, photography, etc on the experience of being a Mexican American women in society. The institution was established in 1973 and named Chicana Caucus. The goal of the Chicana Caucus is to establish a safe environment where Chicanas can voice their opinion, their experience, and be politically active to acquire social justice. Another goal of the Chicana Caucus was to fabricate a cultural and political area for these women due to being a person of color and women in American society. 

The program site is supported by Omeka along with being presented in a museum format collection that goes in dept with vast articles, photography, texts, journals, etc. The last time the website was updated was on 02/02/2018 and is on Version 4. The creator of the website is Linda Garcia Merchant, she is a Chicana, and she created the site on 01/05/2018. Through this website platform Chicanas are able to post what they want to share about their experiences to their community, allowing a mutual understanding through the platform and the sense of being understood.

http://chicanadiasporic.org/journey/chicana/index

American Prison Writing Archive

Hannah Dwyer

In 2017, it was recorded that there were over 2.3 million people incarcerated and the United States is known to be the country with the highest incarceration. Many people have their own beliefs about incarceration, some disagree with people not being in jail for the right reasons or not for enough time or vise versa. Some people raise awareness or disregard the way of life for prisoners in their conditions.  American Prison Writing Archive is a website that holds thousands of imprisoned people or prison staff’s experiences. It’s a site to educate outsiders on the indifference of people incarcerated. It’s main goal is to replace misrepresentation of imprisoned people and prison workers with thousands of first hand experiences. 

American Prison Writing Archive was founded by writer Doran Larson who had an interest in this topic and started to pursue it in 2006. Not until 2012 did the archive become a discussion from receiving many essays and in 2014 few selected essays were published in Larson’s book called Fourth City: Essays From the Prison in America. With millions of people in prisons and many stories untold, essays never stopped coming in to Larson. Instead of letting these stories go unread, Larson created APWA. By 2017 Larson was awarded $262,000 by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The NEH is an independent federal agency of the United States government that supports research and education in the humanities. Both Larson and NEH had hope to destroy the disconnect between American’s outside and inside prisons. Part of the money is to continue to let people see the stories and another part of the money is to create an online tool that allows anyone to transcribe essays. Something that stood out to me was with the thousands of essays they receive, they are all categorized so that they can be found easier. There are categories such as ethnicity, gender, religion, different states, etc. With these thousands of essays, the same emerging themes are known to be staff violence, neglect and abuse at home, drug and alcohol addiction, and police aggression. Questions I have regarding this archive are who is reading these essays, are they all being read, and if there are ones that are ever denied from being put on the website.

Humanities and Digital Media: #dakotaaccesspipeline Edition

In the text introduction of Roopika Risam’s novel, New Digital Worlds: Postcolonial Digital Humanities In Theory, Praxis, and Pedagogy, Risam emphasizes how digital humanities has been created to diversify the digital realm that has been accessed more frequently in this generation due to technological advancements. The digital realm can provide different sources of information, such as literature pieces, historical pieces, etc. However, the problem Risam states is how the digital realm focuses more on white cis-gender male text-based literature and history, which masks other pieces created by a minority who has the same creative or intellectual capacity. Digital humanities allow people from different backgrounds to have a voice through the internet, in most cases bringing attention to injustices in our society, a great use of the platform. 

Throughout history white men have been known to have access to education (classism is a factor in this as well), however many women were not allowed to have the same intellectual knowledge as men, probably due to fragile masculinity. Risam argues this is a continuation of racism and sexism that has been embedded in our society that has continued but has adapted to this generation of discrimination. Due to postcolonialism, the history of many indigenous tribes has been erased, this was mainly due to mass genocide. Indigenous people had to either submit to the dominant white culture or died trying to maintain their culture. “The lives of colonial subjects and people of the African diaspora have historically been viewed as disruptive to dominant cultures that preserve a white status quo, as have their languages, histories, and cultural heritages (14).”  

Through digital humanities people can obtain access to different diverse sources of information that can raise awareness to the public at an instant. Risam’s main goal is to increase minority sources where their voices will not be silenced. By introducing a diverse perspective of information to scholars or to an everyday audience this will enlighten people’s outlook. A main example is the Dakota Pipeline Protest, many Native Americans, and other American civilians did not want oil companies to drill into Native American land that endangers the access to water supplies and the environment (McKenna). There was a large protest that captivated the nation’s attention and raised awareness through social media. #dakotaacesspipeline started trending on twitter instantly, this is a great usage of digital humanities because social media attracts people instantly to a social injustice problem that needs to be addressed.  

Discussion Questions: 

  1. By bringing humanities and digital media together how has this improved society today?  
  2. Do you believe there are any issues with bringing humanities and digital media together? If so, how would it create problems?  
  3. Do you believe digital media has constructed another form of inclusion? But how can this hurt movements?
  4. How can we bring back social justice hashtags after social media has focused on other political issues? Example: #BlackLivesMatter is still trending

Work Citation: 

McKenna, Phil, et al. “2016: Dakota Pipeline Protest Became a Native American Cry for Justice.” InsideClimate News, 15 June 2018, https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122016/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-native-american-protest-environmental-justice

Risam, Roopika. New Digital Worlds: Postcolonial Digital Humanities in Theory, Praxis, and Pedagogy. Northwestern University Press, 2019.

The Collaboration Between Humanism & Technology

By: Skylar Locke

Books, Reading Relaxation, Irex, Iliad, E Book
Photo Credit to pixabay.com

In the introduction of Roopika Risam’s novel, New Digital Worlds: Postcolonial Digital Humanities In Theory, Praxis, and Pedagogy, Risam focuses on this central idea that “humanities and sciences can meet as equal partners in digital humanities” to create a new digital realm that is diverse, culturally inclusive, and does not reproduce the racist, sexist, and biased ideas embedded in our museums, libraries, education systems, etc (Introduction, 21). 

Before technology was invented, people depended on the foundation of literature, music, art, philosophy, and history to educate themselves. I will refer to this level as the foundation of humanism. This level is dominated by White men that have the power to decide what stories and information can be learned. This created a level that has predominant issues of racism, sexism, and single perspectives that are extremely biased and limit the reality of people’s lives.  After technology was invented, the foundation of humanism began to be transcribed into a digital cultural record that consists of online databases, virtual libraries and museums, interactive maps, etc. Risam states “the opportunity to intervene in the digital cultural record⸺to tell new stories, shed light on counter-histories, and create spaces for communities to produce and share their own knowledge should they wish⸺is the great promise of digital humanities” (Introduction, 5). Instead of taking the foundation of humanism that is embedded with single stories and reproducing it to the digital cultural record, Risam wants to create a digital world that is filled with multiple, complex stories that is culturally inclusive.

As I was reading Risam’s introduction to her novel, I was reminded of this danger that Chimamanda Adichie portrays in her TED talk as “the danger of a single story”. According to Adichie, the danger of a single story is “[showing] a [person] as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” In the foundation of humanism, White men created stories that only show certain races and people as “one thing, over and over again”. Risam does not want this bias to continue into the digital cultural record. In Risam’s introduction, she states “the digital cultural record is in danger of telling the story of humanity from the perspective of the Global North” which will result in cultures “whose languages are underrepresented, histories are suppressed, and stories are untold” (Introduction 4,6). Risam believes that in order to push against these single stories embedded within our history and literature, we must change what proceeds into the digital record. 

After doing further research on Roopika Risam, I came across a blog post that was written in response to a workshop and lecture that was given by Risam. The writer of this blog added a quote from Risam that I wanted to share with you all: “If we want to be sure that communities who have typically been marginalized in knowledge production are part of the digital cultural memory of humanity, we have to do the work to put them there. And we can do it – with our knowledge in the humanities, with attention to the ethics of curation, digitization, and display. We can create usable digital projects that expand representation and that are contextual, pedagogical, and informed” (Losh).

Discussion Questions:

  1. In Risam’s introduction, she mentions a couple of digital projects that have been created to help educate people on certain social problems. For example, the twitter #blacklivesmatter, the twitter #prmapathon, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, and Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America. What other digital projects have been done? If you do not know any, feel free to do some research on this question.
  2. If you were to create a digital project such as a map or a hashtag to start your own digital movement that would help diverse society, what would you create and why?
  3. Before reading the introduction by Risam, did you believe that humanities and sciences were two separte things that should not be combined? If so, how has your perspective changed after reading the introduction and my blog post?

Work Cited

Adichie, Chimamanda. “The Danger of a Single Story”. TED, July 2009.

“Introduction .” New Digital Worlds: Postcolonial Digital Humanities in Theory, Praxis, and Pedagogy, by Roopika Risam, Northwestern University Press, 2019, pp. 3–21.

Losh, Liz. “Roopika Risam on Digital Humanities and Social Justice.” Roopika Risam on Digital Humanities and Social Justice, 3 Apr. 2017, dh.blogs.wm.edu/2017/04/03/roopika-risam-digital-humanities-social-justice/.

Toni Morrison and the “music” of her words

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it” was the quote that I heard over and over, and that also stuck with me after the Toni Morrison memorial. Morrison has touched a number of hearts with intersecting identities and has taught many valuable, life-changing, lessons about what it means to be you. Morrison is unapologetically herself throughout her writing and makes other conscious of who they are through the music of her words.

I have read Beloved in an Adolescent English Education class with Dr. Bender, which made his presentation on Morrison’s literature very familiar to me. In this way, I was grateful to have this background knowledge about this fiction novel that so accurately represents the feelings behind slavery in the South and the realistic happenings of a slave’s life. The connection between self-identity and the power of relationships is much more moving than any non-fiction, historical document when the topic discussed is slavery. Morrison connects the bridges between personal experiences and historical issues that deal with what it means to be a black woman in America- so well in which she has won the Noble Prize for American literature. Taking into accountably that she won for that category- not African-American literature or a featured Female in American Literature. Toni Morrison’s children’s books, novels, all her literature ignites feeling within every reader with her nontraditional mechanics of writing that turn into music on a page when reading aloud.

Professor Savonick’s talk touched upon the movement of freedom for African Americas and/or women through Toni Morrison’s novel Sula. Morrison writes about how a friendship can open doors of possibilities, be life-changing, and leads to an understanding of the character’s identity. The idea of living with no priorities wasn’t seen as lazy, but instead seen as a radical movement against a system that sets up black women/girls to fail and compete against one another; still leaving them at the bottom of the societal power ladder. Toni Morrison will always be remebered for the impact she has on people of all intersecting identities, and the inspirational nature behind her stories of a community’s struggle. 

The Sickening Truths Behind Manufacturing The Chip

Without the mass production of the chip, our world wouldn’t be nearly as digitally advanced as it is in today’s age. Why is that? Because there is a tiny chip found in every single piece of technology that we utilize on a daily basis, continuously helping to improve our electronically dependent world one day at a time. To keep up with our world’s constant manufacturing of technology, there is an immense demand for these chips, as they are the source of power for every single technological device made today. So, how exactly are manufacturers keeping up with such high production demands of the chip?

Les Levidow’s eye opening article, “Women Who Make The Chips,” reveal the studies of three Malaysian women who share their experiences of tolerating overpowering authority and the frequent harassment in the workplace. Whether the production of the chips were occurring in the wealthy area of Silicon Valley, California, or in the poor Malaysian state of Penang, Levidow makes it apparent that most of these chip makers are immigrant women who are poorly paid for their back-breaking efforts. These poor, hard-working immigrants are taken advantage of as they “are prime targets for each firm’s attempts to minimize its labour costs in a highly competitive market.” This uncovers industries’ true colors of selfish and money-hungry attitudes as “they bear a great human cost that remains hidden to all who use microelectronic devices,” manipulating workers and the outside world to conceal what really lies behind closed doors, just for their gain of success (Levidow, 103). For example, in Penang, a National Semiconductor building is purposely located by an airport, hoping to lure new and incoming immigrants who are looking for work opportunities. Ironically, the building displays “the slogan, ‘Heart, Soul and Microelectronics,’” which conveys the industrious work that these firms expect from their workers while “offer[ing] little compensation for rapidly exhausting the hearts, souls and bodies of their workforce” (Levidow, 105).

Levidow discloses electronic industries’ claims, admitting to the preference of hiring more women than men “because they are naturally suited to the routinized work of the electronics assembly line: nimble fingers, acute eyesight, greater patience.” While the British Industrial Revolution was occurring, factory authorities also stated similar reasonings behind “why they replaced well-paid, skilled male workers with women and children” (106). Also, one of the authoritative staff at Intel confessed, “‘We hire girls because they have less energy, are more disciplined and are easier to control’” (106). These revealing statements unfortunately show the “transparent” reasoning to hiring women over men in their electronic workplaces, eventually learning how to manipulate them both mentally and physically.

With translation help from Bala, who is a member of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM, or Friends of the Earth Malaysia), Les Levidow begins his study by meeting with three Malaysian women: Rachel, Jane, and Aziza. As he continues to interview these women microelectronic workers, he comes to the realization that there is a huge problem surrounding their lives inside and outside the workplace. The “tensions” the women undergo in their work environments “invade” their own individuality (112). Aziza reveals that as soon as a woman starts the job, she automatically develops psychological problems, due to the high demands for each worker to reach an almost impossible quota. If the worker can’t meet the demanded quota, “she goes to work with a in-built fear. People can’t stand it, they scream, fall down, then get taken to the nurse.” This psychological effect is called ‘hysteria,’ stemming from the overbearing working conditions these women would encounter on a daily basis; this was more common to occur in the past, but has decreased “because now the workers are used to working conditions.” The firms would try to manipulate the workers into believing that these poor conditions were ‘normal’ in the workplace by telling them: “‘The die attachment department must be kept hot for the production process, so management reduces the air-conditioning there,” making the almost unbearable heat seem as if it is a necessary step in production (111). The ‘hysteria’ these women faced were considered a “spirit possession,” which relates back to their Malaysian culture and reveals that it correlates with a struggle of “moral violation” as they are “subjected both to factory discipline and to the sexual attentions of male supervisors, particularly non-Islamic ones.” The women would develop these psychological episodes when they began to refuse or reject their workplace’s poor conditions, which take on the appearance of a spiritual possession, believed to be caused by the “datuk, the male ancestor” (113). Being that their episodes of ‘hysteria’ were believed to be caused by a feared male figure, this clearly displays how their poor treatments in the workplace created a feeling of uneasiness toward powerful men, such as the firm’s authoritative figures who control the women. Bala also backs up the women’s claims “of sexual harassment, with supervisors using their authority to demand the girls” and If the worker requests to have time off, “its not granted, and then the supervisor uses threats and backmail with her.” The authoritative power that the firms hold over these working women have taken a toll on their sexuality as these men “directly and indirectly manipulate” their moral values (122).

These microelectronic working women continue to undergo cycles of psychological strain in the workplace as they are put through dangerous situations of sexual harassment and physical harm. The dominant power that these officials hold over these women “haunt” them, as they manipulate them both socially and sexually. The higher standpoints of these men carry an immense power over the working women, controlling their thoughts, as well as preventing their defenses with utilizing the idea of fear. 
– Gabby

Discussion Questions:

  1. If you had the opportunity to speak up for these women, what would you like to say to these powerful authoritative men who have control over these poor working environments?
  2. Can you relate this article to something you might have learned in school? What events throughout history does this remind you of? How so?

Works Cited:

Levidow, Les. “The Women Who Make the Chips.” Free Association Books, 1991, pp. 103–124.

Companies Are Taking Advantage of the Chips and the Women that Make Them

“Women Who Make the Chips” by Les Levidow gave some insight into what the working conditions are like for the Malaysian women that are employed in the big cities of Western manufacturing. The trials that these women are forced to endure seem to be the newest of the oppressive and exploitations of marginalized groups and women of color.

The Malaysian women employed at these factories are forced to endure sexual harassment, horrible working conditions, and repressive schedules. Levidow writes, “In the case of the ‘microelectronics revolution’ in Malaysia, the employers’ real reasons are as transparent as they were in nineteenth-century Britain. As Intel’s Personnel Officer has admitted, ‘We hire girls because they have less energy, and are more disciplined and are easier to control.’…they certainly have had little to prepare them for the rigours of working for a Western multinational, especially the new health hazards involved—including dizziness, headaches, and worsening eyesight, as well as respiratory diseases” (Levidow, 106). The owners of these factories, or sweat shops, as they should really be called, are run by people who specifically hire women in order to take advantage of them. Because of their background and their culture, it is thought that these women will not fight for their own justifiable rights and will follow the “rules” of the workplace.

During Levidow’s research and interview process with these women, he questioned them on whether or not they ever felt the need to fight back. Thet responded, saying, “’Yes, but we wouldn’t succeed. And we wouldn’t want to create problems and be out of our jobs. Sometimes we are very vocal about it and want to fight with them. But after hearing their explanation, we are convinced by them. Sometimes we believe it is our fault’”(Levidow, 116). The women within these jobs have been desensitized and taken advantage of to the point that they are unwilling to fight for their own rights. Many of them are too scared that they will lose their jobs if they dare to speak up, and this is how the managers and the companies keep them down.

These women are also continually oppressed both inside and outside the factory. Many of the Malaysian women that come to work in the big cities are from villages that are mostly farm based, according to Levidow. Because of this, the companies will often times offer company housing where many of the female employees will live together. It may sound like a nice gesture on the company’s part, but this is simply another way that these companies keep their control over the women. A female employee named Rachel explained that, “’at the company provided house we would have to fill in forms saying when we are going out and coming back. The restrictions are very inconvenient, so I left the company house’ (Levidow, 117). Not only were the women forced to deal with horrible and unhealthy working conditions, they were also being controlled in every adjective of their lives. These oppressive tactics by the companies extended to some of the dress codes that women were expected to adhere to. Levidow writes,”While many of them choose to wear jeans and high-heeled shoes, at National Semiconductors they were actually told to wear a certain kind of miniskirt, that they had to wear it. So they did wear it, except for the fundamentalist Muslim women, many of whom quit their jobs in disgust” (Levidow, 119). These working women are being oppressed in the conditions they are forced to work but they are also being discriminated against in a sexual manner. They seem to be seen as objects to their male managers, good for nothing else other than their looks and relentless labor.

The women working in these factories are clearly being exploited and emotionally abused, yet no one will speak up for them. It is very important to call out this sickening and unjust practices. This is not okay, and we should not sit idly by while any woman, especially women of color are continually marginalized and exploited in more ways than one

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what ways do you think the chip making process further takes advantage of/exploits minorities?
  2. What other working conditions throughout history and the present does the treatment of these women remind you of?
  3. In What ways do you think these companies specifically target women of marginalized groups? How do they abuse their power over them/take advantage of them?

Levidow, Les. “The Women Who Make the Chips.” Free Association Books, 1991, pp. 103–124.

The world isn’t sexist?

Even Today people like to say that “the world isn’t sexist”. There are woman doctors, engineers, firefighters, construction workers, and so many more careers. That doesn’t mean anything though. In “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective” Donna Haraway discusses feminism in a more open-minded way. She takes a bold approach in order to hold others accountable.

            Haraway discusses various terms such as situated knowledge. Situated knowledge can be explained as information that reflects a background and comes from a specific viewpoint. She uses this term in order to further explain her views on feminist science. Situated knowledges can also be thought as in more simpler terms as how we see different things. Hawaway states “These are lessons that I have learned in part walking with my dogs and wondering how the world looks without a fovea and very few retinal cells for color vision but with a huge neural processing and sensory area for smells”(583). This is an interesting way at looking at the idea of situated knowledges. Dogs don’t have the ability to look at different theories such as situated knowledges in a more analytical way like humans can. They are more neutral, and therefore not judgmental compared to people who might be judgmental towards careers women pursue, or subjects that they choose to study. Haraway is using that example to create a more accepting environment for not just woman, but all people.

            Today women are in various different fields that in the past were mostly male dominated. Even in 2019 careers such as firefighting, engineering, mechanical work, and even working as a doctor are still majorly male dominated. Most commonly in male dominated fields women are treated unfairly in these types of fields, and most of the time are discouraged by others when going into these male dominated fields. Harroway explains “We unmasked the doctrines of objectivity because they threatened our budding sense of collective historical subjectivity and agency and our “embodied” accounts of the truth, and we ended up with one more excuse for not learning any post-Newtonian physics and one more reason to drop the old feminist self-help practices of repairing our own cars. They’re just texts anyway, so let the boys have them back”(578). Society makes woman feel like they can’t do something as simple as change a flat tire, or change their cars oil when it is needed. Society ultimately makes women feel like they aren’t capable of doing hard work, but they are only capable of cooking, cleaning, or answering phones.

            Haraway makes great efforts in encouraging women to go into these male dominated fields. She starts to make an impact in making it possible for woman to have the confidence to go into these work environments and do well in them. She states “Some of us tried to stay sane in these disassembled and dissembling times by holding out for feminist version of objectivity. Here, motivated by many of the same political desires, is the other seductive end of the objectivity problem” (578). Women have to try and stay sane in environments where they aren’t treated fairly, aren’t valued the same way as men, and are maybe given the easier jobs because they are not seen as being capable. This is a major issue in a lot of workplaces, and even some collage classes. Women shouldn’t go into fields such as engineering because there is a need to make that field more diverse. Women should go into these fields because they want to. Today there is a major push for girls to be coders, engineers, mechanics, or firefighters, but that is not the solution. Men to realize that having a more diverse environment can help. A diverse work environment creates many viewpoints which can help people see things in a different way, and do a more effective job. Hawaway makes the point that we need to hold people in power accountable in order for change to happen. She states “Here is where science, science fantasy and science fiction coverage in objectivity question in feminism. Perhaps our hopes for accountability, for politics, for ecofeminism, turn on revisioning the world as coding trickster with whom we must learn to converse”(596). This really proves that all people need to look at things such as who holds what jobs with a new look. This is ultimately how we can start at creating more diverse environments. If we start here eventually our world will be more diverse. It isn’t up to just women though; it is up to everyone to make it happen.

Discussion Questions

1. This text was rather dense and full of a lot of different terms. As a reader I found it easier to understand by relating it to my own life. What are some examples from your own life that you saw in the text?

2. What are some ways that you think we could affectively start as a society to make positive environments for woman, but also all people?

Work Cited

Haraway, D. (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599.

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