For the past two days, I have been contemplating whether or not I should write this post. It's not a response to the readings that we've done in class, but it's a response to a comment that one of our classmates made outside of the classroom. Some people may read the following post and think, "why did this bother her so much?" Others may read the following post and also be annoyed and irritated. Either way, my goal in writing this is to ultimately pose the questions, "why is global studies a mandatory class" and "why is it important for English majors to study global texts?" Now, let me explain the situation that I'm speaking about...
On Thursday, I arrived at our classroom early and waited outside the door. There were several other classmates of ours waiting for class to start. Some people were quietly reading and a couple of people were speaking about our class. I'm not going to mention any names, but if you were there you will most likely know who I'm speaking about. I understand that everyone has the freedom of speech. I also believe that if you make a comment loud enough for the people around you to hear it, then those people have the right to question your thoughts. That all being said, the comment that I heard was made as the two people in our class were speaking about the class discussion on Tuesday. To refresh everyone's memory, this was the discussion that involved theories and opinions on racism and the text we've been studying. I can't quote the person directly, but I believe the comment was "I feel like we're in an urban studies class." Big deal? Maybe... maybe not. For me, I was offended that someone would refer to a global literature course as an urban studies course. What do those two courses have to do with each other? How is a discussion on racism found in a global text related to urban studies? Was this comment just ignorant... or is there more behind it? Part of me has a lot to say about this, and the other part of me wonders if it's worth further discussion. I'm really hoping for at least one of my classmates to comment on this statement. Is this an issue? Is it just this one student who feels this way? Does this comment have anything to do with why it's so important to study global literature?
On a closing note, I know what I heard. The conversation that was occurring was loud and clear. However, I invite the person who made that comment to explain what he/she meant. Also, if someone else (who did not make the comment) would like to share their thoughts, I can only hope that they feel comfortable enough to do so.
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