1. WRT 205: Critical Research
Dr. Rusty Bartels
Friday, January 16th, 2019
Week 1, Day 3

2. Overview Overview Crenshaw, continued Strategic Reflection
Royster & Kirsch
Wrap-up

3. Crenshaw - Intersectionality
Case Study: Emma DeGraffenreid vs. GM
Claimed employment discrimination as a black woman
Court threw out suit – claimed no discrimination case because GM hired both women and African-Americans
Crenshaw identifies this a problem of framing because the courts had no framework to understand the intersections of these gendered & raced experiences
1989 article explores other legal cases and positions her conversation in relation to feminist and civil rights movements of the time – identifying limitations of a single- issue axis where neither movement is able to embrace the totality of their subjects

4. Crenshaw - Intersectionality
“That Black women’s claims automatically raise the question of compound discrimination and white males’ “reverse discrimination” cases do not suggest that the notion of compoundedness is somehow contingent upon an implicit norm that is not neutral but is white male. Thus, Black women are perceived as a compound class because they are two steps removed from a white male norm, while white males are apparently not perceived as a compound class because they somehow represent the norm.” (Footnote 12, )
“The plaintiffs are clearly entitled to a remedy if they have been discriminated against. However, they should not be allowed to combine statutory remedies to create a new ‘super-remedy’ which would give them relief beyond what the drafters of the relevant statutes intended.” (141, ruling from the court)

5. Strategic Reflection - Discussion
What are some categories of identification? (e.g. Race, gender, etc.)
Of these categories, which ones do we assume to be visible or invisible? Is it possible to “mis-read” a “visible” identity?
In general, what kinds of assumptions do we make everyday in ascribing identities based on visual perceptions? (Rhetorical question)

6. Strategic Reflection - Freewrite
What identities and positions do you inhabit?
Which of these do you feel are visible or invisible to others?
How do the various facets of your identity influence each other? (e.g. race, gender, class, orientation, religion, etc.?)
You will not be sharing or discussing your responses with any one else.

7. Royster & Kirsch - Exercise
Thinking about ourselves – SENSES
5 min: wander the building
Bring something to take notes with – why did you use what you used?
What is it like for you, right here, right now, moving through or being in this space?
What do you see, feel, experience? What do your senses tell you?
What do you encounter? What trains of thought does it inspire?

8. Royster & Kirsch FREEWRITE
Having done this exercise and read the reading — what do you understand strategic contemplation to be?
Does it shift how you think about your own position, or experience? How?
Does it shift how you think of yourself in relation to others (people or spaces)?
Reflect with a neighbor

9. Royster & Kirsch FREEWRITE:
Based on your understanding of your major, field, or discipline, where do you see opportunities to practice strategic contemplation?
What value do you think that strategic contemplation can have to the research process?
How do you see this connecting to our previous conversation on identity? What are some examples from the text?

10. Royster & Kirsch – Final Quote
“We need to reflect on what parts of our identity are relevant to the research at hand and work through that relationship at every step of a project. It is not enough to proclaim up front one’s ethnic, racial, class, gender, and religious origins and leave it at that. Rather, the key questions are how do these features of the researcher’s sense of self inform the topic the researcher studies, the research questions she asks (and does not ask), the data she collects (and does not collect), the interpretations she offers (and does not consider), and so on.” (Royster & Kirsch 95)

11. Wrap-up Today: Introduced Strategic Reflection assignment
Continued conversation about identity
Used Royster & Kirsch to bring that in to research practice
Next time:
Monday
no class!
Wednesday
Focus: Power & Privilege
Reading: Liu (TedTalk); Rothman (New Yorker interview)
Due: Short Response 1