Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

skumar's picture

Definitions as restricted boundaries

Your post raised an interesting dynamic of the hierarchy of minorities. Ideally, all minorities will "band together." Of course, though, this is realistically not the case. Even within previously marginalized group, there is a competition of who has been more discriminated against, more harmed. I wonder, then, if it will ever be possible for minorities to become a single "community," a group against majorities (in the case you presented, the majorities would be heterosexuals). I think as long as we have "communities" or groups, there will always be names or labels for them and as long as labeling/categorizing exists, marginalizations will exist. Your post and Dawn's posts really got me thinking about the meaning of community. I am starting to realize that communities are counterproductive. It all started in evolutionary biology when species were categorized into "communities." Now, we form inferior/superior communities among human beings which, according to evolutionary biology, is just one species of the several that exist. Still, there are subgroups, or subcommunities within a larger community (ie homosexuals, multicultural homosexuals)? Thus, I think as long as communities exist, there will always be a sense of "the others" or "all the people that don't fit into the normal group."

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
9 + 3 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.