Rosenblum & Travis - Framework Essay (Group 3)

Aggregating and Disaggregating; two terms rarely used, but concepts that surround our every day lives. The idea of “aggregating” goes hand in hand with the term categorizing. When filling out an application or a survey, many times a person’s race is questioned. If people from different countries who live within different cultures and individually don’t consider themselves to be under one category with each other, then why should this be an issue? Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Cubans and some others from Central and South America get lumped into one group titled “Hispanic,” but many of these people disagree.

“The terms Native American and African American are also aggregate classifications, but in this case they are the result of conquest and enslavement.” This quote is crucial to recognizing the term Aggregation. Looking back in history, we read about Christopher Columbus and his conquest. We learn that he came across “Indians” in many different areas that he found, but we don’t learn why they’re called Indians in the first place. This term comes from the fact that there were various different tribes with many different religions, cultures and languages; this made it easier to discuss “Indians” instead of learning who they really were. Basically the Europeans were just lazy by “lumping” the tribes together, especially since they were well aware of their cultural differences.

“Similarly, the capture, purchase, and forced relocation of Africans, and their experience of forcibly being moved from place to place as personal property, created the category now called African American.” Although these people came from different origins and cultures, they were aggregated by their owners and this term stuck and continues on to present day. The question is, why do we continue to use the terms we use for the people categorized within these terms? Why don’t we change the wrongs created in history to how it should be today? Differences are why diversity is such a big part of our lives today. Looking deeper into history, we realize that the point of view taken from the boat, looking onto land at the “Indians” isn’t just looked at as the European’s perspective. Historically, maybe, but in our society today, that person from to boat is us. We’ve kept this idea of aggregation going and it should be our job to make it right for everyone. Ruth Frankenberg said, “whites are the non defined definers of other people.” Whites hold a great deal of power and that has become the “unspoken norm” of our world.