2010年5月17日 星期一

5- 12&13

(Before)

When being in the part of the European Union, I started to understand the power relationships within. It is rather a unpleasant one for the second “generation” EU countries to take part in this game. I think there are at least two things when I think of people from East Europe, the hierarchy of labor and the whiteness of the intellectual. The stereotype of being cheap labor is probably the most common sense among West Europe people. Such thing tells a story about how people are willing to suffer under the need of money for their families. On the one hand, it demonstrates the hypocrisy of such middle class idealization. They treat themselves more as skilled workers but physical workers. Physical works are left for these newly-comers. On the other, these people comfort themselves through this stories saying, “we are for their own good.” Handing out the jobs to the east Europeans, just as handing out food to the poor, it demonstrates the humanities within these people. It is a win-win situation.


The interesting part is in the thoughts of east Europeans. The history of the migration of Chinese cheap labors to the United States may draw a similar picture for these workers. The idea of “integration” from eastern to western is the again the stereotype among Chinese immigrants. By claiming the combination of the Chinese philosophy and western logic, Chinese people would be the most powerful country in the forthcoming generation. In the end, Chinese people do not succeed in doing so, but building up Chinatowns to memorize their forever lost home country. Would the same thing happen to the east European people? I believe the answer would be positive. The example would be the small Turkish community within Utrecht. Most of the time they are named after the region, Lombok or Kanaleneiland. The image of this area is dirty, high crime rate, and cheap low-quality things. It is almost the same picture as the Chinatown in Europe and the States. As the cheapest labor in west Europe, it is a dream to climb up from the bottom part of the economic class. However, I still question if there is a day for these dreams coming true.

The whiteness of the intellectual in this sense is another approach to climb up from the lower-class. By performing well-learned academic language, people from east Europe prove themselves as brilliant as those in west. It shows no reason to have lower wage than the others. I think academia has a shorter gap to come across than other businesses. If one is well trained in their countries, writing essays or articles will be a piece of cake. On the other hand, I also think academia is the place you could hide up the origin or identities. By publishing papers within an international level, one’s outlook, sexuality, race, class, and even age are not that easily identified. What matters is the power of within your brain. In a more abstract sense, it is a competition in the singular intellectual logic. As many researches has pointed out, this unmarked singular logic is identified as the patriarchy in feminism, the whiteness in racism, and probably the “upper class”( I forget the correct term) in Marxism. By the time we speaks the language of academia, we are forced to put ourselves on the empowered ones under the definition of intellectuals.

I would say two ways of what I mentioned above are in fact the easiest ones to move their social “class” upward, physically or intellectually. For what I have observed in my surroundings, it is pretty accurate. This demonstrates people intend to the follow the most possible approach to achieve their goal most of the time. It is not surprising for me at all, because in some ways I am also taking this as the possible way to get rid of my “un-whiteness”. Whether being physical labor or intellectual researcher, the unsaid vicious dream is so obvious that I could barely hide.


(After)
I had the sense about the power relation within the EU system since I started my life here in Netherlands. When being in the part of the European Union, I started to understand the power relationships within. It is rather unpleasant for the second “generation” of EU countries to take part in this game. There are at least two things that immediately come to my mind when thinking of people from East Europe, the hierarchy of labor and the whiteness of the intellectual.


The stereotype of being cheap labor is probably the most common sense among West Europe people on those east ones. This stereotype tells a story about how people are willing to suffer have their lower-than-average wage due to their families living in their homeland. On the one hand, it demonstrates the hypocrisy of such middle class idealization. Physical works are less valued in their moral sense and the wage is a clear respond to that. They treat themselves more as skilled workers than as physical workers. Physical works are left for these newly-comers. On the other, these people comfort themselves through this stories saying: “we are for their own good.” The term “their own good” in fact reveals the misuse and misunderstanding of their sympathy. It might demonstrate the humanities within these people by handing out the jobs to the east Europeans. Personally, I do not think there is a difference with those nobilities giving food to those poor during the middle ages. It demonstrates the humanities within these people. It is definitely an affordable and pleasant approach, a win-win situation.

The history of the migration of Chinese cheap labors to the United States may draw a similar picture for these workers from the east. The idea of “integration” from eastern to western is again the stereotype among Chinese immigrants. According to this idea, claiming the combination of the Chinese philosophy and the Western logic, Chinese people would be the most powerful country in the forthcoming generation. In the end, most Chinese people do not succeed in doing so; they instead end up building Chinatowns to remember their forever lost home country. Would the same thing happen to the east European people? I believe the answer would be positive. The example would be the small Turkish community in Utrecht. The image of this area is dirty, high crime rate, and cheap low-quality things. It is almost the same picture as the Chinatown in Europe and the States. It is a dream yet fulfilling for the cheapest labor in west Europe to climb up from the bottom part of the economic class. By saving their capital in all kinds, they could start to have their voice as a collective in the political sphere. In this sense, money is the power to speak. However, I still question if there is a day when these dreams come true.

The whiteness of the intellectual in this sense is another approach to climb up from the economic lower-class. By performing a well-learned academic language, people from East Europe prove themselves as brilliant as those in west. Then the hierarchy mentioned above as rich/poor, west/east is challenged. Such proof also suggests East Europe people in academia may have a shorter gap to come across than any other businesses. On the other hand, I also think academia is the place where you could hide your origin or identities. By publishing papers at an international level, one’s outlook, sexuality, race, class, and even age are not that easily identified. What matters is the power of your brain. In a more abstract sense, it is a competition in the singular intellectual logic. Editors of different journals hold the power and the ideology of this journal, and every writer who wants to get published in certain journals must fit themselves in the ideology. By competing the opportunity of publication the singular intellectual logic was passed on. As many researches have pointed out, this unmarked singular logic is identified as the patriarchy in feminism, the whiteness in racism, and probably the bourgeoisie in Marxism. By the time one speaks the language of academia, he/she is forced to put ourselves in the position of the empowered ones. It would be another chance to hear the voice from the bottom by giving them the power as intellectuals.

I would say that the two ways of what I mentioned above are in fact the easiest ones to move their social “class” upward, physically or intellectually. For what I have observed in my surroundings, it is pretty accurate for my classmates from East Europe. This demonstrates that, most of the time, people’s choices is much limited by the surroundings. In fact, there is not much choices when talking about possibilities to success. In this sense, rules of the economical game have already been set by these unspoken “white colonizers” in the current East Europe. It is not at all surprising for me, because, in some ways, I am also taking this class moving issue as the possible way to get rid of my “un-whiteness”. I want to be more “white”, and have as much power in hand. Whether doing physical labor or being an intellectual researcher, the unsaid vicious dream is so obvious that I could barely hide it.
 
 
 
 
Notes:
• There are at least two things that immediately come to my mind 實用句

• In the end, Chinese people do not succeed in doing so, but building up Chinatowns to memorize their forever lost home country.
換成
In the end, most Chinese people do not succeed in doing so; they instead end up building Chinatowns to remember their forever lost home country.
這裡要注意instead的用法,會比but好一點

• nobility n.貴族
people of high social position who have titles such as that of duke or duchess

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