I'd like to approach your comments from a slightly different perspective of emotional themes. Please feel free to disagree! I apologize ahead of time for what is not clear. :)
First, I believe that feeling disillusioned is a natural process of learning when you realize the limitations of your approach and its ability to describe reality with its complexity intact.
Second, it seems perfectly reasonable that you would feel anger that these studies de-humanize their subjects. Condensing what is "important" about the behavior, activities, actions, thoughts and words of subjects requires a context in which some parts are kept and some discarded. Much is left out that could illustrate important and human qualities of the people studied. Even worse, the information that is garnered could lead those same populations under study to misinterpret themselves based on a limited or myopic understanding propagated by that research.
Third, it makes sense that you might feel it is an injustice to blindly accept a context composed of the "white", "Western", "male" viewpoint as gender/race neutral and objective. However much this perspective creates a useful simplifying tool for analysis, it can also lead to a fragmented and incomplete understanding.
Fourth, with this emotional backdrop it seems eminently sane to become frustrated and withdraw from fruitless argument or dialog. This is especially true when conversation is used as ammunition to propagate ignorance instead of growing mutual understanding.
I think it's great that you're using your experiences as an impetus to search for a new type of conversational space. One idea, these new conversational spaces could be centered on people's common human experiences such as birth, death, work, leisure, family, friends, ceremonies, music, etc. Using inclusive pronouns such as "we" instead of "us" and "them" in discussion, the conversation could focus on the form each of these experiences takes in a particular group or culture. Maybe diverse people can come to understand their similarities, differences and the underlying cultural assumptions that drive them by comparing and contrasting shared experiences among human beings.
no subject
First, I believe that feeling disillusioned is a natural process of learning when you realize the limitations of your approach and its ability to describe reality with its complexity intact.
Second, it seems perfectly reasonable that you would feel anger that these studies de-humanize their subjects. Condensing what is "important" about the behavior, activities, actions, thoughts and words of subjects requires a context in which some parts are kept and some discarded. Much is left out that could illustrate important and human qualities of the people studied. Even worse, the information that is garnered could lead those same populations under study to misinterpret themselves based on a limited or myopic understanding propagated by that research.
Third, it makes sense that you might feel it is an injustice to blindly accept a context composed of the "white", "Western", "male" viewpoint as gender/race neutral and objective. However much this perspective creates a useful simplifying tool for analysis, it can also lead to a fragmented and incomplete understanding.
Fourth, with this emotional backdrop it seems eminently sane to become frustrated and withdraw from fruitless argument or dialog. This is especially true when conversation is used as ammunition to propagate ignorance instead of growing mutual understanding.
I think it's great that you're using your experiences as an impetus to search for a new type of conversational space. One idea, these new conversational spaces could be centered on people's common human experiences such as birth, death, work, leisure, family, friends, ceremonies, music, etc. Using inclusive pronouns such as "we" instead of "us" and "them" in discussion, the conversation could focus on the form each of these experiences takes in a particular group or culture. Maybe diverse people can come to understand their similarities, differences and the underlying cultural assumptions that drive them by comparing and contrasting shared experiences among human beings.