Common and hidden knowledge

[oyceter]

Every semester, on the very first day of my seminar, I play a quiz with my students. We first count how many people are in the room in order to see how many of us will be able to answer the questions. I start by asking very simple questions such as: What was the Berlin Conference of 1884-5? Which African countries were colonised by Germany? How many years did German colonisation over the continent of Africa last? I conclude with more specific questions, such as: Who was Queen Nzinga and which role did she play on the struggle against European colonisation? Who wrote Black Skin, White Masks? Who was May Ayim?

Courtesy of sex_and_race, full article here

This plus the current discussion on Yuletide and anti-Semitism plus my previous post about Chinese history knowledge has got me thinking about common knowledge and common knowledge as power.

I'm sure you've all had this happen to you: you're sitting with some people, and they all start talking about something -- sports, a TV show, their kids, their holiday plans -- and you just sit there, quiet, because you have nothing to say. And it goes on. And on. And on.

Now take that and multiply by about a billionty (my entirely scientific method!).

Your holidays, the ones that you travel miles away to celebrate, are always the ones people forget about. Your history, the one where you trace back where your ancestors came from, is never taught in class. You have to explain what you're eating. You have to sit there and feel dumb that you don't get a reference when everyone else in the room does, or face their disbelief when you say that you don't get it. But when you mention something from your culture, everyone shuts up and doesn't know what to say, since they don't know what it is.

It's not people denying you a job or refusing a loan, but it's still isolating and painful. And it can be a little thing, like a non-knitter sitting with knitters. But the non-knitter can go back to non-knitter society pretty darn fast (ha! darn! get it? ok-i'll-go-away-now).

Sometimes it's the very subtle things, like watching people with their grandparents and realizing your relationship with yours will never be that close because you don't speak the same language. Or not knowing your family history of cancer or diabetes because the Holocaust means you lost entire branches of family. Not being able to find cooking shows that talk about the food you usually eat at home. Realizing your parents never recommended books to you because not only did you read different authors or genres, you read different languages.

And sometimes it's having to say again and again and again, for generations and generations: "We exist. We are here too. We have a history and a culture and a literature, and it is rich and multi-faceted and so very deep, despite what was taken from us, despite all the powers trying to silence us, despite no one remembering it but us."

This sentence in particular got to me: "Suddenly, those whose knowledge has been hidden, become visible, while those who have been over-represented become unnoticed and invisible" (same article linked above).

So here are some questions from my history: What year was the Republic of China founded? How many revolutions did it take for Sun Yat-sen to succeed, and where did the second-to-last one take place? What is an actual quote attributed to Confucius (I hate those "Confucius say" jokes SO MUCH)? Name three Chinese poets, what dynasty they wrote in, and a poem they are famous for. Name three symbolic plants or flowers in Chinese culture and what they symbolize. What was one of the capital cities of China prior to Beijing?

(Er, please don't answer in comments, though I always encourage research if you want to know or confirm the answer! But feel free to post your own examples of hidden knowledge becoming visible and the over-represented becoming invisible -- I tried to make mine things that I knew off the top of my head.)

Also! therck is looking for book recs of non-Western historicals with further criteria in her post.

ETA: answers

Comments

[sajia.livejournal.com]

You just described my experience as a Bangladeshi lover of traditional music in indie-rock Vancouver. Which is why I am so suspicious of anti-hip hop rants from fans of white rock (who aren't always white, by the way - Pink Floyd is HUGE in the subcontinent.) Mind you, I think my experience would be different in the UK, or even Toronto, where there are substantial Bangalee populations.

[oyceter]

*nods* Yes, that definitely makes sense! And yeah, that is why I have similar suspicions about antipathy toward hip-hop, including my own -- because so much of liking can be based on familiarity, and it's difficult to separate out dislike from unfamiliarity at times.

[nojojojo.livejournal.com]

Whoa. This is deep, and thought-provoking, and resonant. Thanks for it.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading!

[xanphibian.livejournal.com]

Awesome post.

[oyceter]

Thank you!

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

I've typed and deleted four different responses to this, because they kept venturing into all-about-majority-me, and that is so not helpful. But thank you for the post and the links. I've always fond your comments on this subject useful.

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

fond = found. Stupid vowels.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Fabulous and thoughtful as always from you.

The first thing that comes to my mind is a bit from one of Sherman Alexie's earlier poems:

did you ever get the feeling
when speaking to a white American
that you needed closed captions?

And oh, geeze, having grown up and spent most of my days living off the rez, there are just so many examples I could list for you -- invisibility, we're soaking in it! Just a few that made particularly deep impressions on me:

...going to a Sherman Alexie reading at a Borders in downtown Philadelphia, and slowly realizing that my Lenape friend and I were the only ones laughing at some of the jokes;

...reading the Washington Post coverage of the inaugural festivities for the National Museum of the American Indian, full of wide-eyed breathless prose about how along with all of the folks in tribal regalia there were, get this, Indians in JEANS and SWEATSHIRTS, talking on CELLPHONES, ohmigawd who knew?;

...watching time after time after time when a heated discussion about native issues breaks out on a mailing list, or a newsgroup, or a webforum, and EVERYONE on either side of the debate, even the ones who are clearly very very sympathetic, is phrasing all their remarks in ways that sound like they just aren't expecting any actual Indians might possibly be around to join in the conversation;

...squealing with delight the first time I saw the American Indian College Fund's "Have you ever seen a real Indian?" ad campaign, because DAMN, if I had a dollar for every time someone told me "Wow, I've never met a...";

...catching a Blackfire set in DC recently, and being one of the only folks in the audience who seemed to recognize Peter LaFarge's name;

...hanging out at the pow-wow last month, in a friendly conversation with a random stranger; we'd started off talking about sewing and fabric stores because I admired her skirt, and then were doing the usual clan-and-tribe these-are-my-peeps introductory thing, and she started to say something about how she runs into folks who don't expect her to know her culture, and we both just started belly-laughing simultaneously without her even needing to finish the story; all we had to do was look at each other's hair and complexions and we could instantly fill in all the times the other person had heard "but you don't look Indian" or "wow, I always thought you were black/white!"

And that last scene really stuck with me because really, getting into those little chats, listening to similar ones being struck up around me, giggling at all the snarky t-shirt vendors and the MC's goofy jokes, it was a place where I could just hang out and know that this was one place where pretty much everyone around me except the random visiting tourists DIDN'T need the 101-level intros before talking about things, didn't need the closed captions, and that was just so outside of my usual day-to-day experiences, it's hard to explain how GOOD it felt not to have to be expecting to explain myself at every turn.

(Although, what with the whole third culture kid thing, that feeling of the need for closed captioning is something that I've never been totally able to escape anywhere; where do you belong when you think rice is as basic of a staple as corn and frybread, and you learned lei-making at the same time as beadwork? I still haven't figured that one out.)

now hold on just a minute...

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

Wait.

I mean WAIT A SECOND.

Indians use CELL PHONES?!!! *collapses in shock*

*runs away, giggling*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

You so rock. (-:

[oyceter]

Thank you!

[littlebutfierce]

Thank you for this post.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading!

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

[But feel free to post your own examples of hidden knowledge becoming visible and the over-represented becoming invisible]

you mean, like my flist, full of people w/ personal knowlege of or family history with five different african based religious traditions, blowing up over POTC2? that's what comes to mind for me...

well that and my ongoing gunn and hegemony snark. but. *shrug*

you know, i think that there are some people who are raised/encouraged to think that any worthwhile knowledge in the world is theirs by right of breathing. And to find out that there are other perspectives, other ways of knowing, or even things that they werent handed the keys to just blows their damn minds.

[oyceter]

Wait, wait... Africa has, like, different religious traditions? Noooooo! Next you will be saying there is not a single African culture!

I'm sure any of my Taiwan friends reading this will roll their eyes b/c all my questions are so stupid-sounding (also, I figure if it's something I managed to retain while noodling off in Chinese history class, it must be pretty damn basic). But it's just... hi! Amazingly, there are other traditions out there that are not Greece-Rome-Europe-US! And they are very robust living traditions, thankyouverymuch, not things in natural history museums or archeology exhibits.

And like your flist, the conversation changes so much when Western-white isn't the default "common knowledge."

[cryptoxin.livejournal.com]

Awesome post!

And I'll check out the link for book recs of non-Western historical fiction -- I've rarely enjoyed reading non-fiction history or biography, so fiction is my preferred point of entry to these knowledges, however limiting at times (i.e., much easier to find fiction about the lives and heartaches of the wealthy/powerful/nobility).

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

One year the Oscars had very heavy gay/lesbian content; someone came on stage to accept an award for his (male) lover, someone else mentioned her female partner in an award speech, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (which had gone on amid protests from the gay community for the portrayal of one of the characters) won awards, and in Jodie Foster's speech she said some sort of closeted stuff.

This was over 10 years ago where all of this was a HUGE deal, and very talked about among my gay friends. I said something about it to a straight friend who I thought of as pretty in touch, and whoever it was not only acted like they had no idea what I was talking about (about any of it) but practically as if I had made it up.

This is what being a queer person can be like for a lot of people's lives, even within their families, though of course things are much more visible and open than they used to be. When I went into an (older, more traditional upbringing) friend's office today to wish him a happy National Coming Out Day I teased him that I made sure that no one else was in the office first.

So, my questions, though of course I gave some answers already:

What national holiday is today?
What does Gay Pride commemorate?
What rumored-to-be-lesbian actress won an Academy Award for a movie protested by some gay activists for its handling of potentially queer content?
What is HTLV? GRID?
What is 'lesbian bed death'?

[lenadances.livejournal.com]

YAY I knew four out of five, I am less lame than I could be!

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh, SUCH a chord. I'm not sure if this is related, but I'm remembering -- it's considering giving your British friends oranges on Chinese New Year, but deciding not to because you don't want it to be another nail in the coffin -- you've already done enough to make them think of you as "the Chinese one" (not being able to participate in any conversations about British TV, what happened at last night's bop, how drunk one of my friends got). And having a difficult discussion of race with a white friend who says, "But I became friends with you because you're a good writer, not because you're Asian" -- but I am Asian. I could pass online by never bringing it up, but why should I? If it makes you uncomfortable to be reminded that there are people in the world who are, shock, not white, who won't catch all your cultural references, who will not have watched that obscure British comedy show -- suck it up, basically.

*cough* Sorry, got rant on your LJ. Can answer only one or two of your questions, incidentally; insert Biblical quote about throwing stones here.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

This is an awesome post, thanks.

[chopchica.livejournal.com]

<33333

I wish I could say more, because this was so thought-provoking, but I'm just so tired right now. But thank you.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

This post was thought provoking.

I sometimes feel less like I have uncommon knowledge and more like I have lots of ignorance. I'm monolingual, and that means how close I could get to my older generation relatives depends on their English speaking skills. There are conversations I can't have with my mom, like abstract stuff such as the meaning of life and subjects that require specialized vocabulary, because English is her second language. I get asked to be a cultural interpreter, explaining mainstream white American culture to my relatives, and asked to explain Asian culture (rarely Asian-American culture) to non-Asian Americans. Non-Asian Americans also seem to assume my (very limited) knowledge of East Asia isn't first hand experience, but is second hand or viewed from a heavily Western filter.

I think how the immigration laws shaped America's racial make up, how Asian-American history is 150 years old (I remember learning about 19th century Chinese railroad workers in history class), and the internment camps matter to me a lot. I don't expect Asians from Asia to know it, and I wonder how known those things are in mainstream America.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

Rockin post.

Thank you for it.

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

This is amazing. When I saw the f_w mess I was kind of despaired but now, with all those post in metafandom (and what posts!), I feel kind of better.

You know, I am from a South America country so obscure that I feel happy when people recognize its name (Paraguay, by the way). So I don't think I could do the hidden knowledge questions because I will never end. XD

Again, this is wonderful for knowing things besides the globalized and imperialist knowledge that everybody has. Thank you!

[oyceter]

Thank you for reading!! And heh to the never-endingness; I didn't even really bother with a Taiwan-specific one because... yeah. My mail sometimes used to go to Thailand.

[furies.livejournal.com]

this was fascinating. makes me want to make my own post, though, eastern-european traditions are hardly "hidden" all the time . . . though in the US, it's really amazing how anglo-american-centric history is.

[oyceter]

*nods* Yeah. I find it really interesting to see what's hidden and what's not, and how sometimes the hidden moves into the mainstream via assimilation and how sometimes it stays hidden.

[gelliaclodiana]

This is a great post, and a wonderful reminder of just how ignorant we all can be. (Um, I mean that seriously, not sarcastically. I keep saying in comments, "hey, I have no special insight," and this post is exactly why.) Thanks for making it.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading! And yes, omg, the weight of my own ignorance is crushing at times. Sometimes I want to flail and be like "Why was I not taught this in school?" but also I want to flail because I know ignorance doesn't happen by accident, and a lot of stuff I am ignorant about because I never bothered being interested enough to learn and/or remember.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Catching up...excellent post.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading!

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

your powerful powers of mind control hegemony made me make my own knowledge questionnaire.

[oyceter]

Bwahahahaha! My secret plan for FoCing cabal world domination via memes proceeds!

*sends mystical controlling Chinese brainwaves at you*

[maerhys.livejournal.com]

Excellent post, I've always thought of this desolate place as the opposite of cultural appropriation and fetishization... but you've really put the details on it. Wado.

[oyceter]

Yes! Definitely as the opposite of cultural appropriation and fetishization. And I was just reading Brenda Gottschild on the black dancing body and how appropriation goes to something goes to assimilation and I would have better and thinkier thoughts about it if I had the copy with me right now. And more thoughts on how assimilation and appropriation is the main culture picking and choosing things from the minority culture and designating the rest as "ethnic" and that of course the flip side is "hidden" knowledge, which is hidden only to those in power, because they don't have to know.

Um, in conclusion, yes.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

It's been so interesting reading along with all of the lists this has inspired, so I've just posted an Iroquois-focused list of questions on my journal too.

[oyceter]

Yay! World domination via memery!

[vass]

This is a wonderful post. Thank you so much for making it, and for making me think.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading, and for your America post, which is my favorite variation on this so far.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this post.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading!

whew!

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

Once again, you've caught me sideways.
I know the approximate dates of the Opium Wars, and I can sort of identify Li Po, and I know that "Han" is "Chinese" (for several values of quotation marks), but you went way past the edges of my knowledge.
I do know that there were Jews in Western China, and that there are still stone markers in the two scripts of Chinese and Hebrew.
Being an American Jew puts me very much in the middle of a lot of these issues (got in trouble once, around the third grade, for innocently asking the music teacher why there weren't any Hanukkah songs at all amidst all the Christmas songs), while straddling many of the general lines (got plenty of white male privilege, etc.).

Hey, Judaism is one of the most appropriated cultures of all. Christianity, being Hellenistic, is made up mostly of cultural appropriation, but, for instance, U.S. Black culture has famously recycled the stories of the Torah and the 'Old Testament' for their own purposes. And then there's Islam. And the Reformation. (Mohammed and Luther both got real mad at the Jews for not converting, now that the Real True way had been announced.)

Thanks for starting such constructive fires.

(p.s. I _can_ find Paraguay on a map, and though I don't know much of it, I do know that it has a history all its own.)

Re: whew!

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

but, for instance, U.S. Black culture has famously recycled the stories of the Torah and the 'Old Testament' for their own purposes.

Really? All of them? Was there a meeting I missed?