Final Blog

1. In Victor Villanueva’s book, Bootstraps: From an Academic of Color he describes how diversity among a society is not generally accepted. Rather, the societal norms are to assimilate new member in order to maintain status quo. An important term in the readings is pluralism. Pluralism is a society’s acceptance of diverse views and cultures. Generally, modern America allows individuals from other cultures to keep their uniqueness and is a pluralistic society. This term is essential to assignments 2 and 3 because one must remember that all cultures have their own uniqueness and are important. Importantly, one must remember that cyberspace has its own culture complete with its own norms one must observe and understand in order to be successful.

2. According to Lisa Nakamura an individual that takes on a persona of a different race or gender in cyberspace and then feels as if they understand that particular race or gender is participating in:
a. Cybertyping
b. Identity tourism
c. Insanity
d. Multiple personality disorder

3. Victor Villanueva believes all individuals should assimilate into their culture in order to allow for a cohesive culture.

Works Cited
Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print
Villanueva, Victor. "Spic in English." Bootstraps: from an American Academic of Color. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1993. 34-50. Print.

Blog #9

Nakamura suggests that many Internet users think the Internet is a great place for people to hang out. These Internet users feel that the Internet is one place where color, gender, race, and religious beliefs do not matter. Nakamura further discusses how this train of thought is completely wrong in that the Internet is designed with biases embedded into the interface design. By navigating through the Internet, users are"… progressively narrowing down the choices of subject positions “which in turn reveals their ethnicity or race (Nakamura 104). Furthermore, Nakamura believes the majority of the Internet users are white; therefore, the target audience of the web pages is predominately white. In addition, users are able to modify web pages such as Yahoo! to their liking. By creating custom web pages, users are revealing their ethnicity or cultural background.

While playing the Race: the Power of Illusion web game, I am reminded of why racial barriers are constructed. The dominant people of a society want to continue the stratification to maintain their place in the hierarchy. Race is a crucial way in which societies stratify their people. Sadly, this happens regardless of one’s ability to tell one race from another race.

Works Cited
Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print.
PBS. "RACE - The Power of an Illusion | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 01 Apr. 2011. .