IBARW3 ran from August 4 through August 10 in 2008 and had a total of 236 tagged posts, 209 of which had content (i.e. were not just announcement-only posts). This is down from last year, which had around 500 some posts, but around the same level as IBARW1. On the other hand, the percentage of nonwhite people/POC posting is growing, from roughly 25% in IBARW1 to roughly 35% in IBARW2 to roughly 50% in IBARW3. The numbers are very loose, since the way we tag means one post can be by.multiracial.people, by.nonwhite.people and by.poc, or a combination thereof, depending on the preference of the individual poster.
Even though the numbers are imprecise and collected in less-than-rigorous circumstances, I run them because otherwise, perception skews things.
Up until now, I was a little disappointed that IBARW3 had substantially fewer posts; I know the effort I put in was less than the past two years, thanks to real-life chaos, and I was worried that lack of dedication from me affected the turn-out. I'm not sure if fewer posts are indicative of my own failure, of general burn-out, of the perception that IBARW isn't necessary, or a combination of the above and even more reasons. But I am glad to see the percentage of nonwhite people/POC posting going up every year.
In terms of numerically unsubstantiated trends, I saw fewer "this is the story of how I learned racism existed and how it made me feel," more posts that went deeper, and fewer posts examining whiteness. I don't think examining whiteness in and of itself is bad—in fact, it's often necessary—but it also shouldn't be the dominating subject. And setting the optional theme of "intersectionality" meant a plethora of awesome posts on the subject.
For IBARW4, I'd like to increase the number of non-English posts and increase the number of posts about non-US countries, with a particular focus on non-"Western" countries. This was my goal for IBARW3 as well, though not a successful one. There's also a noticeable lack of posts by Latin@s, as there was in the past two years; I need to do more outreach.
The following links are my favorites from this year, and as such, are a little idiosyncratic. I went less for generalized posts on racism and discourse on racism and more for posts that really looked into specific problems or issues. This is not to make a value judgment on generalized posts on racism or posts on discourse on racism, since I find both extremely helpful and useful, but more of an attempt to differentiate this carnival edition from
last year's, which had more of the general posts.
IntersectionalityIntersectionality was this year's optional theme because many of us are not easily carved into parts, and so, racism affects our other oppressions and vice versa. Wikipedia has a
definition and history of the term, along with a longer explanation.
( Read more... )InternationalityLast year I noted that I didn't want "international" to mean "everything but the US" but couldn't think of a better term. This year, I still can't think of a better term, although this section is now specifically to highlight the critique of IBARW as "
International Blog Against Racism Week."
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logovo1 is right; the English-centricity of IBARW should not be the norm.
( Read more... )Nonwhite/POC voices, Nonwhite/POC experiencesMany of the posts on intersectionality could have gone in here as well, and I could have picked many more from the posts in IBARW3, but was limited by time and energy.
( Read more... )Race and Racism and ____More specific topics that deal with race and racism.
( Read more... )Discourse on RacismBecause how we talk about things and what words we use matter.
( Read more... )Last year, I forgot to link to
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50books_poc, a community dedicated to reading 50 books by POC in a year, although each individual who takes up the challenge has her/his own way. This year,
Skin Coloured, a site dedicated to photographing "skin" tone products on non-white people, started up.
Also, this year, IBARW ran through August 6, the day the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945 has information on how nuclear testing disproportionately affects nonwhite people/POC.
Finally, read more on
the history of IBARW, check out
recommended reading,
make suggestions for IBARW4, or let me know if
your posts were not tagged or tagged wrong.
Thanks for reading the IBARW3 edition of the
POC in SF Carnival. The next carnival will be hosted by
delux_vivens at
deadbrowalking, and the theme is "Men of Colour in Speculative Fictions." Check out the
main site for information on how to submit.
