Class meeting
asynchronously online, Winter 2022
The goal of this course is to introduce students to the political and policy dimensions of disaster. The two key questions we ask here are (a) How does disaster affect the social/political landscape, and (b) How does the social and political landscape affect the ability to deal with disaster?
We begin by defining disaster and analyzing disaster from a structural perspective, looking at how disasters have changed the modern state.
Next, we examine the personal and psychological reactions to disaster on the part of victims and community (local and national), placing a special emphasis on vulnerability of select populations. Finally, we study various political aspects of disaster, from determinants of policy learning to the political opportunities that emerge from disasters. Our analysis includes both domestic and foreign policy considerations.
This course is designed to introduce students to the political and policy dimensions of disaster. The course will explore how disaster affects the social/political landscape, as well as how that social/political landscape affects the state's ability to deal with disaster.
Topics covered include state institutional adaptation and policy learning; special cases of vulnerability; the impact of disaster on local and international conflicts; and humanitarian assistance. Recommended Course Preparation: POLI 250, POLI 260
By Shesh Batni
When you first declare Media and Communication Studies as your major, you may notice at the end of the road sits a little course titled MCS 499: Capstone Senior Seminar. But beyond the big course number and daunting name, you may want to know more.
What is MCS 499?
MCS 499 is simply a seminar-style class, intended to be taken in your final semester here at UMBC, which acts as the culmination of a student’s MCS experience with the completion of an original research paper and presentation focusing on a topic within media and communication studies. While word of mouth may boil down the class to just completing a big paper, Dr. Adelman – MCS Department Chair and frequent MCS 499 Professor – wants students to know there’s more to it.
Dr. Adelman describes MCS 499 as providing a final undergraduate opportunity to reinforce the certain kinds of foundational knowledge, shared histories, vocabulary, etc. relevant to media and communication studies that students can take with them into their future endeavors. She also notes the class acts as a unique transition point in many ways. In addition to a student’s overall transition from an undergraduate student moving onto things like graduate education or joining the workforce, she notes that the class “marks the transition from students operating as consumers of knowledge to now producers.”
She’s proud of the fact that the department gives professors the opportunity to craft their sections of MCS 499 thematically around their areas of strength and interest. For Dr. Adelman, that means thematically involving many topics and readings on visual culture, one of her areas of specialization which she believes students should know more about.
Dr. Yang chose to base her Fall 2021 section of MCS 499 on the intersection of race and technology, which she describes as “a timely study about the social production of technologies like facial recognition software and the ways in which they perpetuate or intensify racial (among other) inequalities.”
Though no matter the professor, students can be sure they’ll be adequately primed and prepared for not only their research project, but an entire future of critical thinking, consuming, and producing.
Am I ready for MCS 499?
The idea of entering your final MCS course and completing a “big honking” paper can definitely feel intimidating; Dr. Adelman has noticed this trend herself in advising students and polling MCS 499 students on the first day of class. However she assures that when a student makes their way through the major and finally enrolls in MCS 499, it means they’re ready for the challenge.
She adds that benchmark courses like MCS 333 engage students in the many theoretical discourses, while the direct lead-up course MCS 399 presents students with all the research methods and tools they’ll need for their paper. MCS 399 also gives students the opportunity to pursue research ideas and topics they can either carry onto MCS 499 or use as learning experience to select a new topic.
Besides just making your way through the major, Dr. Adelman says there is one thing students can do to prepare for MCS 499: “Relax.” She continues “trust the process, come in with an open mind, with the expectation that it's going to be hard but that’s ok.”
But wait! What am I going to write about?
Remember: trust the process. Even if you’re unsure of what topic to write about, MCS 499 is scheduled and designed to get students through the process. With plenty of time, students will get the chance to draft research topics and questions, and workshop them with feedback from both the professor and their peers.
Both Dr. Adelman and Dr. Yang note that certain themes and topics pop up every semester, with common areas including social media, influencers, pop culture, and more. “Almost always I’ll get a few projects on video games and the gaming industry” Dr. Adelman adds.
Dr. Yang also mentioned the timeliness of some projects which are relevant to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Some things quite exciting this semester are several projects looking at the role of technologies in shaping social processes/interactions particularly in the pandemic moment.” These include projects talking about work-from-home technologies and even my own project about streaming and the pandemic’s effects on the decline of movie theaters. My personal advice for students entering MCS 499 is to look for a topic and research question that matter to you. Be curious and inquisitive about your interests and the ways you can explore them. That way you might stumble upon a question that begs further investigation.
What can I expect from MCS 499?
As Dr. Adelman notes, MCS 499 is meant to be a seminar-style experience, something that emulates smaller sized graduate school courses, with plenty of interactions with other students that facilitate productive conversations. Peer collaboration is not only encouraged but an integral part of the entire process.
Dr. Yang furthers peer collaboration and conversation in her sections of 499 by having students group up and present their projects in panels, emulating the experience of presentations given at academic conferences. Panels allow students to engage deeper with the common topics and theories that bridge their projects. It’s interesting to see what connections students make, and what fun names they give their panels.
MCS 499 can look intimidating, but students should know they’re being set up for success. As an MCS 499 student myself nearing the end of the semester, I’m seeing my own project, and peers’ projects, fully come to life. The theories and perspectives I’ve encountered throughout the major, especially in MCS 333, are coming back around and appearing in the topic I’m researching. And the various research and analysis methods learned in MCS 399 are giving me the exact tools I need.
Dr. Yang ultimately adds, “Please don't be afraid to go on this adventure, to discover something new by researching a topic that you are passionate about!”
You got this!
By Shesh Batni
Recently, I sat down with MCS alum Masongo Ogora 21’ to hear his experience of finishing the MCS program, graduating, and moving onto new adventures using all the skills he’s gained along the way.
Graduating just this past spring semester, Ogora had only good things to say about the MCS department and degree program. “The MCS department really goes above and beyond for students and deserves to get more recognition.” In addition, he’s especially grateful for the faculty and staff who have helped him craft a path for the future. Thanks to their guidance, Ogora found the confidence to move to California and enroll in a master’s program at University of Southern California: Annenberg School of Communication with a concentration in public relations starting this fall. While he finds his graduate coursework challenging, he’s confident that his time in MCS has prepared him to take it on.
He also credits some of his personal success to the MCS coursework and balance of core theory and research classes and production classes which have helped him be a better producer of media. Alongside his academic studies, Ogora is a musician who has been recording and producing original music under his own independent label named God’s Science Project.
Ogora is always hands-on with the production of his music thanks to both skills he’s cultivated by himself and learned from coursework. While he’s been writing his own music for many years now, he’s only acquired his own recording equipment as of last year. He finds the autonomy of self-made music, and the freedom to conceive an idea and immediately put it to work, powerful. “I wanted to put out something I believed in personally that’s a reflection of me, and not just a gimmick.” Especially in the case of his music, Ogora is confident in his self-expression and subsequently the production sound he’s cultivated thanks to what he learned both on his own, and in the classroom.
While at UMBC, Ogora took MCS 366: Podcasting, a class which introduces students to the world of podcasting and equips them with the production skills needed to make their own. Students both write about and analyze successful podcasts, and even their own favorite podcasts, while also learning to record and edit audio using industry standard software. MCS 366 has in the past been taught by both Professor Krempel and Professor Wiltenburg, two award winning journalists with years of experience in the field of podcasting and audio storytelling.
Ogora thanks MCS 366, specifically Professor Wiltenburg, for helping him further cultivate his audio production skills into something he is proud of. “Professor Wiltenburg really helped me develop an ear for how I want my production to sound. Everything about mixing, adding and taking out effects, figuring out how my voice should fit into the production” he said. Ogora further thanks other MCS classes, namely the research courses which helped him understand and broaden the scope and aim of his productions. “Doing all my research classes helped me understand things from the consumer perspective. It helped me elevate how I go about my writing process, how I go about figuring out what I think people need to hear” he added.
Now primed with both the production skills and theoretical and academic perspectives, Ogora looks to the future of his media and audio production with the development of a new podcast. He was eager to share plans for the new podcast he is developing titled Being. He, alongside three other co-hosts, aim to put out the podcast which he describes as “a space to mentally relax, but to also figure out who we are. A rest stop from reality."
You can expect to hear more about this project next semester by following Ogora on Instagram and twitter @MasongoOgora. In the end of our conversation, Ogora’s final remarks were a heartfelt shout out to the MCS department, faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have all been a part of his journey, “because without them I wouldn’t be here today.”
Applications Open December 1st
Priority Applications Due Feb 1st
Application Deadline March 1st
Governor’s Summer Internship Program (GSIP)
Fellows are placed at a government agency full-time under the mentorship of a senior-level professional
Fellows work together in groups to put their knowledge and skills into practice, researching and preparing a policy analysis and recommendation to present to the Governor
Eligibility criteria for fellows
Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Fellows Program
Fellows are placed in an MDOT office and perform substantive work, full-time for 9 weeks under the mentorship of a senior-level professional
Fellows put their knowledge and skills into practice, researching and proposing a solution to a transportation challenge.
Fellows are paid a stipend of $3,500 for their participation in the program
Eligibility criteria for
fellows
Sondheim Nonprofit Leadership Program
Fellows are placed at a nonprofit organization full-time under the mentorship of a senior-level professional
Fellows work together in groups to put their knowledge and skills into practice, researching a challenge impacting Maryland and design an innovative way to address the challenge
Fellows are paid a stipend of $3,500 for their participation in the program.
Eligibility criteria for fellows
Image description: [Photo shows Rachael dressed in black attire, one of the Women’s Center interns, smiling in front of one of the UMBC buildings.]Content Note: This post is written by Rachael Joslow, a second-year and student staff at the Women’s Center. I am a transracial adoptee adopted from Vietnam who grew up in Georgia for most of my childhood and adolescent life. I hope to highlight my experience growing up as an adopted child who dealt with difficulties connecting to my ethnicity and race. I would like you, as the reader, to acknowledge and learn the realities of adoption through my experiences, personal readings, and different transracial adoptees’ perspectives.
Growing up, I was always taught and still firmly believe that being blood-related is not a condition to be a part of someone’s family. As a transracial adoptee of a single, white, tie-dye hippie mom, I have been lucky enough to grow up knowing I was loved unconditionally.
Nonetheless, there are certain inside jokes that only those of us who have grown up in a transracial adoptive relationship know about. For example, when I think about one of the most memorable moments I have had as an adopted child, I remember my mom embarrassing me in public and trying to introduce me to her friends. After saying anything in a loud, funny voice or performing a funny dance in public, she would also try to point towards me and say, “yes, this is Rachael, my daughter!” When these moments happened, I would start walking away from her during the conversation, acting as a random stranger. Once she realized what I was doing, she would then reach out to me and exclaim, “no, really, she is my daughter! Rachael, stop walking away!” This interaction is one of the entertaining aspects of being adopted: if your parent is embarrassing you in public, simply walk away.
[Image description: An older woman with a brown-haired ponytail sitting in a wooden chair with a baby in her arms. She’s wearing a pink shirt with jean shorts, and the baby is wearing a white onesie.]My mom first saw me in an ad in the newspaper one day because she was looking to adopt. She was stationed in Germany at Fort Landstuhl, where she worked as a neurologist at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. She always wanted to have a family, and in fact, she thought she was going to get married after college and have four children, but as some things turn out . . . plans change! In the picture shown to the left of this text, it was her first time meeting me at my foster home, and I believe I was 7-8 months old in that. I looked pretty cute as a baby! Apparently, I was a mellow infant and I only cried when food was late. As in, I scream cried. I was a moody baby if I did not have food on my plate and it still applies to my age now. Some things never change!
Well, I was the one who figured it out! My mom tells me that when I was about 5 years old, we were sitting in the bathroom getting ready for bed, and I started saying, “we don’t have the same hair.” My mom would reply with a “yes…” and wait to see what would happen next. I then say, “we don’t have the same eyes,” and she goes, “you’re right.” “I didn’t grow in your belly,” and mom keeps responding truthfully as to not hide anything from me. A delayed response follows from me, and my mom was worried but curious about what else I was about to ask. After the pause, I ask her, “can you pass me the toothpaste?” My mom releases a sigh and passes me the toothbrush.
[Image description: An Asian girl with long black hair is shown standing in front of a door with pink sunglasses on and carrying a purse that has Disney Princesses on it. She is wearing black pants and a flower print, blacktop.]As you can see from this interaction, I was unphased that I was not her biological daughter, and I am still unphased by the fact that I am adopted. It still does not change that I have my mom, and she has me, her daughter. She always has and will continue to love me unconditionally, I know—the bare minimum. Still, through her kindness, openness, acceptance, and much more, I realized how she’ll always have my back over time. She was also really transparent with me whenever I asked questions about my adoption. For some background knowledge, there are no names under “biological mother and biological father” on my Vietnamese birth certificate. My mom has always been honest whenever I asked her questions regarding that information. I used to be open to finding my biological parents, but now that I have become older, I am content to not meet them. I settled that I’m sure that my biological parents wanted what was best for me. Through UMBC, I have connected with my Vietnamese culture more by meeting people and joining the Vietnamese Student Association.
Although my experiences have been smooth and supportive so far, my personal experience is not shared by ALL transracial adoptees. This NPR podcast called Code Switch: Transracial Adoptees On Their Racial Identity And Sense of Self calls in multiple adoptees who talk about their personal feelings and experiences about their adoption. One person stated that they spent the first 12 years of their life thinking that they were white, and learning that they were not white resulted in an identity crisis. Some transracial adoptees are not told that they are adopted, and the consequences can be very harmful. It makes us think as to why the parent was hiding that critical information. Telling children that they are adopted is okay, and it should not be something to hide from them because it erases a part of their identity. Another adoptee mentioned that their adoption acted as a narrative of their mother being a savior. Unfortunately, some people end up adopting because of their savior complex.
As explained by this Psychology Today article The Savior Complex, it is “a psychological construct that makes a person feel the need to save other people. This person has a strong tendency to seek people who desperately need help and to assist them, often sacrificing their own needs for these people.” When a person with a savior complex sets out to adopt a child, they have the goal of rescuing a child from their situation.
As a reminder to people who would like to adopt in the future, it is not about you, and it has never been about you. Adopted children are not your trophies and we should never be used as tools when you want to earn brownie points to “look like a good person.”
Adoption is about giving a home to a child who does not have a family, and it should revolve around giving the child unconditional love and support. It does not revolve around reminding them how grateful they should be that you adopted them. From an article called Avoiding the Savior Complex in Adoption, an adoptive parent explains it well in a letter to their adoptive child:
“You never have to feel grateful for your adoption. We don’t have to have special gratitude for something that is inherently ours. And my love? That’s yours. It was yours before we met. It will be yours when time is gone. It was, and is, your right to have. My love for you is something I want to be so part of your being that it doesn’t cross your mind to even contemplate its existence. Take it for granted. Assume it will always be there. Because it will. There were losses in your lives. I know them. I respect them. My love for you does not take away those losses. But those losses don’t mean you owe us some form of special gratitude. Don’t ever believe someone who tells you they do. I don’t need you to be grateful; I want you to know, to assume, to not even think that there was another option except me loving you. Because there wasn’t. This love? It was here waiting for you all along. You simply claimed what was already yours.“
– Anonymous
[Image description: Rachael at her Bat Mitzvah and she’s standing in front of the Torah. She is wearing a tallit, a prayer shawl, and a kippah, a religious headwear in Judaism.]Being adopted is amazing. Even though I have a different origin story, I’ve always known that I was adopted so it has never been a big deal for me. For me, it is as normal as me having brown eyes; it has always been there. What’s been harder to deal with is others’ perceptions of me. My insecurities about my identity came from outsiders’ comments and people’s perceptions of me. My mom and I have received many weird and uncomfortable comments, but one that I often remember is, “you know she’s going to be raised by strangers, right?” This was not said in front of me; it was actually told to my mom before she signed the papers to bring me home. As mentioned above, my mom is a single parent, and she has done an extraordinary job making me feel secure and loved growing up. As she worked long hours, I would go to daycare after the school day during elementary until I was old enough to stay at the house by myself for a few hours. To that comment now, I would like to say, “yeah! I was raised by strangers, but those strangers became family to me”. My mom had a vast support system, and I understood that although my family structure was different, she still had the same level of care and love for me as any other family.
The comments don’t end at my mom; they came to me too. I received a few judgemental statements during high school, and a common one was how I was white-washed and not really Asian. I wanted to say in response to these comments, “who cares?!” However, a part of me felt alienated from people because although I felt I was Asian from my looks, I still did not feel Asian enough. I was given this label that I couldn’t do certain things. Since I had a white mom, some people had an attitude of “oh, so that’s how it is.” During high school, I felt stuck on who I was and what I was supposed to be. I couldn’t control what was happening to me, and I couldn’t control the fact that I was adopted; why is there so much judgment towards me?
[Image description:The art picture depicts three people standing on a podium in a crowd of people inside what looks to be an art museum. The three people show two parents with their child in the middle who is holding their hands. The picture is from: Stories of transracial adoptees must be heard – even uncomfortable ones.]Other transracial adoptees have also experienced this same disconnect between their personal social identities and their adoptive families. The article The Transracial Adoption Paradox reported that about 37% of transracial adoptees felt that race made growing up difficult. This YouTube video called “Do All Adoptees Think the Same?, from the YouTube channel Jubilee, brings in 6 adoptees who all come from different backgrounds, and each brings their own perspectives on the relationship between adoption and identity. One of the adoptees, Alexis, had a more challenging time growing up with her white family as an Asian person. When her adoptive family laughed at her when she said she wanted to be white, it showed a lack of sensitivity, kindness, and understanding. Unfortunately, this has destroyed their relationship now that she’s an adult and is now distant between them. Another adoptee in the video, Rebekah, stated how she was called “oreo” growing up because of her background. Whenever she would try to bring up race or racism against her, she would receive comments like “oh, they didn’t mean it like that” or “they’re just from the older generation, and they don’t understand.”
[Image description: Rachael holding her cat named Girl Kitty while sitting on a leather couch when she was 11 years old.]As parents, especially white parents, you need to be prepared to have those conversations about race. When transracial adoptees go to their white parents about how they experience racism, their first response should not be silence or anger because we, as transracial adoptees, are not trying to make it as if it’s our parent’s fault—we want to have this conversation to improve our relationship with parents. We want our parents to learn about racism, prejudice, and white privilege, and work hard to be strong allies. We want our white parents to understand that it is not their fault that we experience racism, but it is their fault if they’re not there to help us. When it comes to addressing and confronting ignorance and racism, being a parent as well as an ally means making it clear that you are always willing to answer our questions, always available to talk about even the most difficult or hurtful experiences, and always there to advocate for us, assist in our healing, or simply share our pain in any way you are able.
Others’ experiences of adoption and family history: Adoption & Identity Intertwined
Do All Adoptees Think the Same? | Spectrum
Netflix Show – Colin in Black & White: Colin Kaepernick narrates this drama series recounting his formative years navigating race, class, and culture while aspiring for greatness.
The Realities of Raising a Kid of a Different Race
Transracial Adoption in the Time of Black Lives Matter
How to talk to parents about race if you’re adopted or multiracial
Race and Identity in Transracial Adoption: Suggestions for Adoptive Parents
The Transracial Adoption Paradox
Stories of transracial adoptees must be heard – even uncomfortable ones
Avoiding the Savior Complex in Adoption
NPR Podcast – Code Switch: Transracial Adoptees On Their Racial Identity And Sense of Self
]]>The purpose of this fellowship is to support significant social science research by tenure-track or tenured faculty in the UMBC College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, resulting in a submittable product by December 2022.
Applications are welcome from any tenured or tenure-track faculty pursuing social science research in any CAHSS department. Fellows will receive a $6,000 award during the summer of 2022. Up to three fellowships will be awarded.
By December 2022, each Fellow agrees to complete a submittable product, which can include an external grant or fellowship proposal, journal article, policy paper, book manuscript, or book chapter; upon completion, Fellows shall provide a copy of this submitted product to the Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship. Fellows who are preparing an external proposal are expected to work with MIPAR for pre- and post-award assistance.
Interested faculty should complete and submit an application consisting of this downloadable 2-page cover sheet and proposal that adheres to the specified guidelines. The deadline for applications is FEBRUARY 15, 2022.
Applications will be reviewed and ranked by members of the Center for Social Science Scholarship Advisory Board, according to the following criteria:
For more information, interested faculty may contact Christine Mallinson, Director, or Felipe Filomeno, Associate Director.
Funds for this fellowship are provided by the Center for Social Science Scholarship, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS), and the UMBC Vice President for Research.
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Positionality Statement: This post is written by Ojus Phogat, a second-year student at UMBC and a student-staff member at the Women’s Center. I am a South Asian American woman who has felt the persistent effects of diet culture first-hand. In writing this blog, I hope to identify these impacts and uncover the systems of oppression that keep them afloat. As a reader, I wish to encourage you to alter the way you pass judgment on yourself and others. The more we engage in fatphobic rhetoric, which stems from white supremacy and the patriarchy, the more we uphold these oppressive systems. To all my fellow women of color who have ever been made to feel like less because of the way you look: I hope you learn that you have always been enough. When I was nine years old, I went to India for my grandfather’s funeral. After the cremation ritual, I was gathered into a room of extended family (most of whom were strangers to me) where the following conversation took place:
Random Uncle: “Do you ever walk on the treadmill?”
Me, a fairly active kid who did hours of dance, basketball, and swimming, and was yes chubby: “Hain Ji?” *yes sir*
Random Uncle: “At what speed? ZERO!”
*eruption of laughter from the surrounding guests*
His Wife: “Take it from me; all the housework you’ll have to do when you’re married will keep it off, but it’s better to start now. We only care about you.”
Image Description: Picture of Oprah wearing a purple sweater and white button-down. Saying “what?”. This image was a snippet from Oprah’s interview with Meghan Markle.
While this was not the first time I heard these kinds of comments from family members, I was crushed. And I sat crying at my grandfather’s funeral, not out of the sadness of his passing (because, to be honest, I didn’t know him very well), but because relatives I didn’t even know decided their opinions on my body were so profound that they had a dire need to communicate them with all the surrounding patrons and me IMMEDIATELY.
Image Description: Pictured is a graphic design from @recipiesforselflove on Instagram. The image displays a pale pink background and the text “stop fat-shaming disguised as health concerns” is placed slightly left of center. A black woman is illustrated in the bottom right-hand corner wearing a blue tank top and black pants. She is encompassed in a greyish-pink circle and surrounded by tall green plants.
From the first moment of our consciousness, we (women of color) are raised to think of weight as one of our defining characteristics. Something that measures how much human decency we will be allotted, how many people will treat us with respect, and of course, “most importantly” (as many of my fellow South Asian women have been told) how many marriage proposals we will receive when we are older. It does not matter how much we work out or eat nutrient-rich meals; if we do not visually conform to society’s standard of the ideal body, we are not only ridiculed for it, but our existence itself is categorized as inferior. We are silenced, shunned, and demonized for simply existing in non-white, fat bodies. Whether it is from how we observe the world or how we are treated within it, we grow to learn that being fat equates with being of less value, and so we turn to the alternative: ensuring “smallness” by any means necessary.
In order to contextualize western diet culture’s impact on specifically women of color, it is critical to understand its origin as being one compounded by systems of white supremacy and the patriarchy. These systems feed into the creation of a diet culture stemming from anti-blackness that is used as a tool to pit women and groups of color against one another.
For many communities of color, the discrepancy between how we are taught to consume food—in schools and from our friends—and the cultural foods we enjoy in the comfort of our own homes cultivates a relationship with food defined by confusion, embarrassment, and shame. We are taught that things like carbs and “fatty” oils are the devil incarnate, and for cultural diets—defined by dishes artfully composed of rice and noodles—this can be detrimental. The Indian meals of my childhood like khichdi, pulao, and pav bhaji—rich in spices and made with a foundation of rice or bread—would be considered “unhealthy” because of the carbs and oil they contain. These very meals that nursed me back to health when I fell sick and energized me after hours of dance practice; would also be the source of my shame during school lunch periods and visits to the doctor’s office. Any nutritional value and traditional significance of these and other cultural dishes are often overshadowed by a mistaken idea of what is “healthy”—which in this case really equates to practices that result in supposed physical “smallness.”
The need to conform society to one idea of “health”—which standardizes a “correct” diet —controls how communities of color and communities of women form their relationships with food and nourishment. Health, in this case, becomes a concept encompassing what patterned behaviors keeps one from becoming fat. It dictates how individuals must engage in nutrition in exchange for societal acceptance. This phenomenon, while detrimental to all people—in this case explicitly discussing those impacted by Western practices of diet culture—affects women of color differently as they live in the limbo of two different, often competing cultural identities, each with their own social diet pressures, in conjunction with the necessary pursuit of femininity.
To center white-ness when creating the standard and “correct” American diet, colonizes nutrition and manipulates the mentality around health. It serves to Other* various cultural diets by making Western “health foods” the norm and vilifying any foods that stray from these guidelines. In turn, society claims that the very recipes that strengthened our ancestors, the very recipes that have quite literally borne and sustained our lineages are unacceptable. In reality, what is unacceptable is the rhetoric of disgust and inferiority that often marks cultural food sources. The idea that one should not consume the traditional dishes of their ancestry because of the “white” ideal diet is racist.
Take, for instance, the narrative surrounding MSG (monosodium glutamate)—a food additive utilized in many foods and “naturally found in foods like tomatoes and cheese”(Yeung, 2020), but ridiculed because of its use in traditional Chinese meals. The media has marked MSG as a dangerous and unhealthy ingredient and has linked it to conditions like asthma, drowsiness, and headaches (but not by any scientific backing). This racist rhetoric has steered people away from MSG and has forced the Chinese American community to be mindful of the backlash they may face in using the ingredient, especially for restaurant owners. The overall stigma that surrounds this ingredient displays just how much power white institutions have in dispelling the use of products, especially when those products hold a particular significance in BI-POC cultural cuisines.
There is also a physical element to the requirement of smallness for feminine bodies. It operates under the assumption that women should occupy as little space as physically possible so as to keep their positions of power stifled. The presumption is that women—as the “submissive” gender—must bolster male masculinity by embodying the opposite characteristics of what men possess. By this “rule,” if men are meant to be large to monopolize space and contribute to their dominance, women must then be as small as possible to make “smaller” men adhere to this expectation. Women alone must assume the burden of changing themselves to allow for men to conform to the ideals they have set. Straying away from this ideal—embodying fatness and taking up greater space as a woman—means undermining these systems of the patriarchy that award men greater dominion over the world.
For women of color who reside in the western world, the pursuit of femininity means the expectation of smallness is compounded by the need (for survival purposes) to shed their melanin and present as light-skinned as possible. Because society masculinizes women of color, specifically brown and black women, they must pursue femininity more extremely because of their skin color. If not, they are ridiculed and solidify their low position on the social ladder. Because of this they feel a greater emphasis to conform to the ideals of western femininity, which encompasses the prerequisite of smallness. In doing so, they may often feel at odds with connecting to the traditional cultural foods they grew up with and abiding by the rules of the society in which they reside.
Imperialism's production of the beauty standard—the necessity of thinness and whiteness—for women and girls in places like India portrays this phenomenon at work. The colonial impact left by Persia and Britain in South Asia has ingrained ideologies about correct body shape, colorism, and anti-blackness.
Image Description: Pictured is a scene from the era of British rule in India. Depicted are British soldiers, dressed in red and white garments, invading an Indian palace. The soldiers hold rifles and clouds of smoke surround them.
Since the reign of the Mughals and later the British East India Company, Indian culture has been defined by the idea that the highest cultural capital** is awarded to those of lighter skin and less weight. Because conforming more to this ideal cultural behavior meant increasing one's socio-economic status, adhering to the beauty standard was a matter of SURVIVAL. It meant that the closer you were to being this standard the better you would be treated by the foreigners who had come to rule your land and who controlled economic and social production within it.
Image Description: Pictured is an infographic made up of a light tan background created by Taylor Wolfram. It says “6 Ways to Be a Fat Ally”. And lists “ treat fat people with respect and dignity, call out fatphobia when you hear it and see it, seek out fat stories from fat people, believe fat people, ask restaurants, bars, special event venues, etc, to provide size-inclusive seating options, take fat friends and family to fat-accessible spaces”.
So with these foundational elements of diet culture’s impact in mind, we can then ask ourselves:
What can we do to mitigate and reverse the rather negative ramifications of this mindset?
We can change the way we think and talk about bodies
They are vessels that carry us through our day, why must we comment on every one we see ...?
We can advocate for ourselves and others when disrespectful rhetoric is used
You deserve to be vocal and correct disrespect even if it is viewed as normalized.
And maybe most importantly we can learn to view ourselves from a neutral lens
Your body is none other than how you move physically from place to place. To frame it in this way may help the preoccupation with how we are perceived because of it.
I know what you’re thinking: these tips are much easier said than done. And you are correct! But, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t hold ourselves accountable when we say or think about bodies negatively. It also means that if you are being degraded for your appearance: STAND UP FOR YOURSELF! Real change can only be possible when we—women of color—learn that we are worthy of taking up space in this world.
* The act of alienating something by highlighting its “abnormal” characteristics
** The amount of societal status one is given based on various factors (i.e., education, skills, wealth, and discussed the most in this case appearance)
CNN: MSG in Chinese Food Isn't Unhealthy -- You're Just Racist, Activists Say.
Yeung, Jessie. “MSG in Chinese Food Isn't Unhealthy -- You're Just Racist, Activists Say.” CNN, Cable News Network, 19 Jan. 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/18/asia/chinese-restaurant-syndrome-msg-intl-hnk-scli/index.html.
Harvard University: Occidentalisation of Beauty Standards: Eurocentrism in Asia
Chen, Toby, et al. “Occidentalisation of Beauty Standards: Eurocentrism in Asia.” Zenodo, Harvard University , 16 Dec. 2020, https://zenodo.org/record/4325856#.YZvkpr1Ki3I.
Gloria Lucas: Nalgona Positivity Pride
Yesika Salgado: What Comes After Loving Yourself? Advice from a Fat Fly Brown Girl
Teen Vogue: Fat is Not a Bad Word
Taylor Wolfram: 6 ways to Be a Fat Ally
