After reading and discussing Judith Butler’s article titled “Frames of War; When is Life Griviable?” in my ASTU class, I have started to think a lot about the ways that I see things, and how that differs from everyone else. Butler talks about the different “Frames” people look through when they remember trauma, but I have thought more about the frames that I look through in my everyday life. Just like from behind a window, I see the world through my own biases that are unfortunately unavoidable. Everyone hold biases, even if they don’t want to, and learning that has really changed my mindset around them. Instead of trying to eliminate bias from my own opinions, I have started to try and better understand the biases that I hold. In other words, I have stopped trying to get rid of my frames, in favour of identifying them.
So what are the different frames I look through? It’s very difficult to identify the biases that one’s self holds, because to us they just seem normal. In my own case, I know that I have come from a middle-class Canadian family, I am male, caucasian, I have had the privilege of education… the list goes on. All of these things affect the way that I perceive the world around me. Even if it’s subconscious, all my actions are influenced by the biases that I hold.
What this leads me to wonder is: who is benefiting from my biases, and more importantly, who is being negatively affected by them? I have been lucky to be able to look into these questions in my other Global Citizens classes. In sociology, learning about socialisation has helped me better understand how biases come into place. In political science, I have learned about group polarization and it’s role in supporting biases. Finally in Geography, I have started to learn about the changes that have happened and are happening in the way people and their biases. It has been really nice to have so many connecting ideas within the CAP Global Citizens program, and I look forward to exploring even more!