Race, Class & Gender

February 5, 2013 The matrix of domination framework discussed in our textbook Race, Class, & Gender: An Anthology, recognizes that race, class and gender are an intertwining group of concepts that rely on each other when operating in society. “Within this structural framework, we focus less on comparing race, class, and gender as separate systems of power than on investigating the structural patterns that join them” (4). The author of “Chappals and Gym Shorts” is a firsthand experience of how race, class and gender operate together for an Indian Muslim woman who has feminist beliefs. Another framework discussed in the textbook is the difference framework which “tends to focus on unique group experiences”. Many times, when a book or narrative is analyzed through the difference framework, a reader will find that the writer will compare their story to one of another group that may seem unrelated (6). This occurs in the reading “Back to the Future: An Examination of the Native American Holocaust” where the Native American author makes connections between the Indian boarding school to the Jewish Holocaust of the 30s and 40s. In “Chappals and Gym Shorts”, the author discusses her struggle with integrating her Muslim culture with her desire to practice her feminist theory. In the start of the article, the author talks about how the night before a difficult exam, her family comes to visit. She is given Estee Lauder gifts, but she would rather have the money to pay her bills or to pay for her feminist theory books. She expresses that she does not even wear make-up. She continues on to talk about the two year time frame her dad has given her to get married. She is more interested in her education, but struggles with the need to please her father and represent her culture. She wants to hold on to her culture, but also wants to recognize her feminist beliefs. This is a good representation of the matrix of dominance because her race and gender put her in a position to deal with the pressures of marriage and beauty that are present in her native culture. Gender can be recognized as a class as well because she is expected to meet the expectations of the patriarch because she is female. Therefore, gender, race and class together play an integral part in her effort to take part in her Muslim culture as well her feminist ideals. The difference framework will often identify race, gender and class separately through a comparison of one group to another and the unique experiences of a group of people. This is what happens in the narrative “Back to the Future: An Examination of the Native American Holocaust.” The author bullets the occurrences of the Native American boarding schools that were put into place in the early part of the twentieth century. Some of these bullets were: “English-language immersion with punishment of speaking tribal languages, [corporal] punishment for the infraction of rules or for not following the work and school schedules, and regimented, time-bound schedules” (51). At first glance, the reader may not recognize the similarities to the Jewish Holocaust of the 30s and 40s, but the experiences of the Native Americans shadow those of the Jews during their holocaust. It appears unrelated, but the author believes otherwise. The boarding schools were a unique experience in the United States at the time, but it is not implausible to compare it to the Jewish Holocaust. The article also hits on the separation of gender, race and class because it focuses on the issue of race primarily (although, arguably, it discusses class).