ALYSSA K.

The Experience: In this course we explored the Sociology of Racism and its history in the United States. Through reading historical documents and research, we were able to create new understanding about the social meaning of Race in culture, and how this is ultimately related to racism. Additionally, this class showed me that aspects of institutional and interactional racism are still prevalent today. 

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The Reflection: I know this class was extremely important for my learning as a global scholar. I learned mostly from the discussions we had as a class, and was able to listen to the experiences of people in my class who hold statuses that are oppressed (i.e. race, nationality, gender, orientation, class). Being able to hear the hardships that people go through because of racism and inequality made real all of the theories and abstract ideas in the books and articles we read about. Most importantly, it showed me that I have many statuses that are privileged, and how to use this position positively and effectively in order to help those who are not like me. Another thing that I learned from this class is how to be empathetic to people who are not like me, and are feeling the negative effects of racism. Empathy means that you need to be feeling what another person is feeling, not just thinking about it. When you do this, you are risking some of the privilege you might hold, but it is important to do this to help people who might not be like you.

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The Artifact: The artifact I chose to use for my reflection is from when I was a discussion leader in the class. I had to lead the entire class through a discussion about specific chapters from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois. I detail some of the themes in the book which reveal a lot about aspects of racism in Du Bois' time, which are still applicable today.