I didn't know that people didn't see the European Middle Ages as a racial time. I thought that was really strange. I've never heard or known of a period of time that wasn't. Heng provides a lot of evidence to prove the Middle Ages were a racial time and the fact this evidence is often ignored is really disappointing, not surprising but disappointing. I think Heng's definition of race is a strategic practice that marks our differences as "essential" and is used by systems of power to create and manipulate positions of power. I think this is a valid definition of race. All my life, the conversations I've heard and had about race have always been about difference and power. This was highlighted in our Wednesday class when it was asked where biracial people fit into all of this. In high school, someone once told me they forget I'm Puerto Rican because my lifestyle didn't properly match up with that of Latinos. They pointed out that we went to the same school, were in the same classes, liked the same tv shows, and had a lot of the same interests. They said that because my mom is a homemaker and my family isn't overwhelmed with financial struggles that my white half had taken over. I wasn't "inherently different" enough and my position in power fit that of a white person. So, to them, I wasn't biracial, I was white. I'd be really curious to find out what Heng has to say about biracial people in her study of race.
I really like the way you've frame this here, Isabella, because it gets at one of the things I alluded to but didn't properly unpack on Wednesday. I think you're right to note that it is strange to think of the European Middle Ages as a non-racial time--and in fact I think the capacity to do so is a privilege afforded to white academics. Part of the privelege of whiteness is being able to "opt out" of acknowledging race and racism--to not see it in the Middle Ages is just one more facet of that privilege.
For your last point, I'm sorry that happened. And what strikes me the most is that your classmate while going through their awful dissection of your identity, was so eager to prove that you weren't "inherently different" that they actually showed you that they do think of you as inherently different. And by remarking on "forgetting" you're heritage, it strikes me that all they really acknowledged is that race is constructed forms of difference--not that you weren't Puerto Rican enough.
For your last point, I'm sorry that happened. And what strikes me the most is that your classmate while going through their awful dissection of your identity, was so eager to prove that you weren't "inherently different" that they actually showed you that they do think of you as inherently different. And by remarking on "forgetting" you're heritage, it strikes me that all they really acknowledged is that race is constructed forms of difference--not that you weren't Puerto Rican enough.