Positionality, and others that define me

Lecture thoughts from Shades of Noir with Melodie and Sama.

Netiquette - This was super interesting how they have adapted to the online world with what is the respectful behaviour. Certain things such as muting the mic, switching the camera off, the tone check etc. would be useful to be adapted into how I conduct my interventions. It might not be a generalised etiquette, but considering that I'm involving two parties that are likely to explode at each other, it might be good to have some ground rules.

Shades of Noir : People, Policy, Practice.

I need to figure out what my project will be doing. They mentioned 'transform consciousness'. This resonated with me along with paradigm shift. I need to figure out exactly what my project will do.

Trigger Warnings: What is considered trigger warnings within the Sri Lankan community? I've noticed that the West has a lot of 'triggers' that don't apply to Sri Lankans - or the people I've come across. I know this is making me think about the taboos of the West and East, and of course the North and South, but I don't think ideas have formed enough to put them into words yet. Also made me think, why are we all trying to fit in? Doesn't this defeat the purpose? Where do we draw the line? What line? Is it necessary to draw a line? What happens if we don't?

Positionality: This was slightly confusing, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Biases, experiences, values... how were these formed? How I see my self, how others see me, how I see others, how I assume others will see me, who am I really? How does the way I see the world affect my project? How does my biases, values, morals affect my objectives? This made me think whether Sri Lankan Gen Z would even want the change I want to bring into their lives. Could my positionality be wrong?

Was I raised right or was I raised Sri Lankan?

Is 'racism' in Sri Lanka within the people or is it just politics and media?

When the media showcase racism, is this brainwashing? For example, Asian hate did not exist in Sri Lanka until the West started highlighting it on social media. Are we learning to hate?

Could I create an intervention to see how easy (my bias) it is to break this? Is the protest an intervention that's already doing this?

Zuleika asked what influences Sri Lanka. I feel like Sri Lankans have a sort of...pressure of being par with the rest of the world. Not just the West... Especially in Colombo, we could be considered 'uneducated' for not knowing some obscure movie made in the 1940s in Kenya.

We need to know what's happening in world news, in our own country, speak at least one word of another language, we use chopsticks to eat sushi, we have to know the right way to wrap spaghetti around a fork, and bon appétit is usually mentioned before a meal.

I always said Sri Lankans are a different breed based on their ability to make memes out of crisis', but I'm wondering if we really are a different mix of breeds.

Andrei: Things we don't have to think about. This is why representation is important. Hate or love it - like Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter.

Hailey: Do you adapt to the locale? Then what are you? Should you fit in but also be patriotic? What is the healthy balance?

Camilla: Not looking the part. Have I been told I don't look Sri Lankan? I've been mistaken for others but I didn't take it as an insult.

Why doesn't these affect me?

Power of positionality: Implications of being you, consider all moving parts, self-awareness, we might not know everything because of our positionality.

If people are represented with a bad image, does that serve a purpose? Should it still be shown? Whomever that has the loudest voice makes the statement. (History is written by those who won, and now it's been changed. The side of the loud voices are changing.)