1) I liked Villanueva's use of the word, "racelessness"; which he described as, "...the denial of other-cultural affiliation, a denial of the collective, of any collective; it is the embracing of America's dominant ideology, the ideology of individualism" (Villanueva, 39-40).
Villanueva uses the term racelessness to describe the success achieved by those that forgo their cultural ties in order to BE American.
Essentially, it is harder to become successful in America the more one associates with a particular cultural group (specifically, non-white groups). The more one hangs onto things such as; a foreign language or cultural mannerisms (hair, dress, food, etiquette, etc.) the less they will be accepted into American society.
To become a successful American is to become deplete of culture. America is the land of ideas both borrowed and new, of stolen land and hope, of opportunity and limitation. It seems that with each good there is a bad.
This, I think, is exemplified by the story of Villanueva's library extension being "borrowed". He was given the 'opportunity' to earn credit for his design, but was denied school credit which "limited" his academic career, then his idea was "borrowed" and he received no cash or recognition.
I went off on a tangent there. Perhaps had Villanueva been less associated with his Puerto Rican heritage, he may have been afforded more fair and fruitful opportunities. However, one should not have to give up their heritage to be successful or to be given credit where credit is due.
2) So, I am choosing the 'How My Dick Spent It's Summer Vacation' article, NOT because this is what I presented on but because I felt it was such an odd article to choose for this class. It felt out of sync with the rest of the articles we read in this course. However, I felt it was an important article in showing how both men and women are affected by the sex tourism industry. Men associate 'love' with sexual pleasure and women associate 'love' with money. This dynamic has become true in American in many instances; older, successful men with 'trophy wives', attractive women who intend to 'marry rich' so they don't have to work, men buying women plastic surgery procedures, etc.
According to Bishop and Robinson, the idea of the "disembodied male" is described as:
a. the inability of the male worker to experience leisure time due to the fact that they are continually bound to their work through mobile technologies (laptop, blackberry, cell phone, etc.), even when "off the clock".
b. the division between work and leisure time, the male worker must sublimate libidinal and erotic impulses while "on the clock." The industrialized leisure provided by the sex industry acts as an extension of their work lives.
c. The emergence during the Vietnam War period of a parallel set of institutions that were tailored to the needs and desires of U.S. and other foreign servicemen through leisure.
3) True or False: Bishop and Robinson believe that new technologies prove to be emancipatory and laborsaving to the worker
Villanueva, Victor. Bootstraps From an American Academic of Color. Urbana, IL:
NCTE. 34-50
NCTE. 34-50
