For most of its time, Duke University has been a liberal school. The school is located in the heart of the research triangle, which is known as the liberal part of North Carolina. When Duke students first arrive to campus, they come into orientation week partaking in the Duke It Out: Intersectionality in Action session.
With this session being stressed as one of the main ones for Duke freshmen to attend, Duke was delivering a message that on paper stresses inclusion, diversity, and claiming that it is an institution that cares about all identities. Although on paper the Intersectionality in Action session sounds like it would be an eye opening experience for first-years and allow them to learn and engage in a topic that impacts their social relations and everyday experiences, the session turned ugly.
As I recall from my freshman year in the fall of 2016, first-years in the audience were doubting if several of the microaggressions presented in the session were considered offensive. For example, there was a lengthy debate in the session among students on whether asking people the question “What are you?” is considered to be offensive, with several students denying the experiences of students who stated that it was offensive for them to be asked the question. These students who flat out denied the experiences of their peers vehemently claimed that “What are you?” is not a microaggression.
It was clear that the idea of microaggressions being offensive, and the idea of microaggressions rooted in and perpetuating prejudice were hard concepts for many students to grasp. My experience from the Duke It Out: Intersectionality in Action session made me doubt that there was any significance to Duke being known as a liberal school. During my freshmen year of college, I took a few education courses. Race and education equity were frequent themes in my education courses.
In these courses, white students frequently made comments that were dismissive to the experiences of non-white students. This included claiming that Martin Luther King Jr.’s rhetoric on black liberation was anti-white and believing that schools should Americanize students who are first generation or second generation american. These moments also reinforced the notion that I had that Duke’s label as a liberal institution did not mean Duke students were not ignorant or offensive when it came to several societal issues had no meaning, especially when it came to discussing race and intersectional identities.
Oftentimes, in my education courses, we would reference scholarly works that discussed race and education. The same white students who would make offensive comments concerning race and education were able to spew the content of scholarly works on anti-racism to my professors, who validated the so called “wokeness” these students claimed to have by telling the students that their comments were excellent, insightful, and well-articulated. Oftentimes, these “excellent, insightful, well-articulated” comments were students simply regurgitating or rewording passages from the scholarly works we were reading.
Fast forward to this semester in one of my international comparative studies courses, we were discussing an author’s critique on western feminism. The author shared a perspective that stated her frustration with western feminists homogenizing all women’s lives—especially women from third world countries. Part of their frustration was in that western feminists did not see how much women third women’s histories and experiences contributed to their movement for women’s rights.
Moreover, the assumption that third world women were powerless victims who needed western feminist was a point of frustration for the author critiquing the concept. As we discussed this author’s work in one class, some students had a difficult time grasping that women from third world countries could be self-reliant and self-autonomous.
One girl in my class asked the professor and the general class, “If we [western women] aren’t supposed to assume they [women from third world countries] need help, then what are we supposed to do?”
A decision against coming to the aid of women in the eastern hemisphere was a strange, clearly new idea for people to grasp. I wonder if people were having a difficult time understanding women from the third world could be self-autonomous because their minds had adapted to viewing women from the third world as helpless, victims who needed the help of western feminists. What was mind boggling for me was that the very same people who did not know how to grasp women in third world being self-autonomous were the ones who love to quote readings that took a stance against the white savior complex.
“Wokeness” is the new trend for college students in the United States to trump. However, oftentimes college students like those at Duke University reference materials and readings considered to be “woke,” even when these materials do not match up with their own beliefs. If students’ original thoughts and beliefs don’t match up with the scholarly works they love to reference in classes, then what does this say about how truly woke these students are?
Maram Elnagheeb is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs on alternate "here we go again," usually runs on alternate Mondays.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Maram Elnagheeb is a Trinity sophomore. Her column, "here we go again," runs on alternate Tuesdays.