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

[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.