Job Discussion Forums

[abufletcher]

Well...let's just keep stabbing at it until we get the answer that Cameron thinks is right. Cause that's what's really important.

[MrCAPiTUL]

Well, there is really only one race, which is the Human Race.

Some how or another, people have allowed the government to categorize them and alter their identities and their perceptions of identity.

To answer the question, though, I guess my definition of racism is: one who is against races. I'll leave races up for your own interpretation based on your own cultural experiences.

[Yawarakaijin]

Slightly off topic, but in regards to those crazies in the black trucks. It turns out that my new apartment is quite close to what appears to be a storage area for all their vehicles.

My Japanese friends just tell me its the "Yakuza" building but I have a feeling its more than that. Now it just so happens that the easiest way home is to walk right past this building. Are these guys just blowing hot air or should I really take the long way home?

[shikushiku-boy]

I�ve a few things to say about racism. And, frankly, I
couldn�t give a bugger whether the OP thinks they�re
�flowery� or not.

It is interesting that some of the regular posters, who so
quick to scream �RACIST!� at anybody who�s criticism
of Japan they disagree with, are absent from this thread.

The Japanese are not a race. �Japanese� is a nationality
and/or an ethnicity. Therefore, criticism of the Japanese
cannot be described as racism.

For most of the white, anglo-celtic teachers, living in Japan
is the first time in their lives they�ve had the opportunity to
complain: �I�m a victim of racism.�. And don�t some of
them complain long and loud.

Research by geneticists has shown there is very little evidence
for a biological determination of �race�. So, the DNA of
white anglo-celtic person A and Japanese person B might
be more similar, that the DNA of Japanese person B and
Japanese person C.

Often, when people argue about �race�, they are really
agruing about socio-cultural differences.

[abufletcher]

[abufletcher]

[abufletcher]

And I hate to get really "flowery" here but post-moderist approaches to "identity" treat identity as a dynamic, interactionally-negotiated acheivement rather than as a fixed entity. So while I may be "white" "American" "male" "a brother" "a son" "a father" "an EFL teacher" "a resident of Japan" "a nonnative speakers of Japanese" "a Leica camera owner" (among many other identities), I am not all of these things simultaneously but rather the salient identity (or identities) flicker in and out of existence within the locally negotiated interaction. One moment I may be "doing being" an American and the next I'm doing being an English teacher.

So as hard as it may be to accept, a "black" person may not always relevantly be black any more than a teacher is always (in all possible contexts) relevantly a teacher. Race it seems has to be negotiated/talked into existence.

[abufletcher]

Double post.

[abufletcher]

Treble post!

[angrysoba]

[gaijinalways]

Zzonkmiles wrote:

[abufletcher]

[shikushiku-boy]

Yes, I agree with what soba says. People don't give a flying thingy about what
the boffins in lab-coats say. They do pay attention to stuff like skin colour,
facial features and hair texture.

From a post-modern perspective, 'racial' identity is often not so much negotiated
into existence, as imposed by the dominant socio-cultural norm. This is when
so much racial stereotyping is done.

I�m not sure how much identity can be an �interactionally-negotiated acheivement�.
I might try it next time I�m at airport immigration control (�But, I�m Japanese, I tell you!�).
We must accept that, to some extent, our identity is imposed upon us. My passport says
I�m Australian...and no amount of �locally negotiated interaction� is going to make it
say anything different. Of course, my identity is more than what my passport says.

Sometimes, these is such a huge gulf between how we see ourselves, and how others
see us. This really matters when the other person has the power to seriously screw
with our lives (e.g. police officers, bosses, ex-girlfriends).

[abufletcher]

[Keith_Alan_W]

Racism is caused by pride.