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The Evolution of "Avatar" « reappropriate.
jenn nails it with this one…
we all know the narrative.
what this really had me thinking about were the ways that this same narrative is *expected* to happen when global n/w solidarity folks travel to the 3rd and 4th world.
u dont know how many pro-palestinian solidarity workers i know who claim they want to *be* palestinian.
and now i keep meeting pro refugee workers here in cairo that want to *be* sudanese or at least african.
reading critical analysis and lol analysis (thanks jenn!) is really helping me to understand the worldviews that i just can't handle anymore.
i mean yeah its fun to make fun/deconstruct of james cameron. but how many of us have a similar colonialist mentality when we work 'in solidarity' with the less privileged.
i know that when i first started out in social justice work i am really grateful to have had a radical educator/mentor who spent a few months giving a much needed reality check about what the work was and it definitely was not.
and one of the most important tools she taught me was–always know where you stand in terms of social power.
people and communities empower themselves. and in the end, if you arent part of the community you can't empower that community.
the mentor was a year younger than me. white. middle class. from the west coast.
she taught me also, even though she never said it: never judge a book /or a teacher/ by its cover.
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