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The Art of Deconstruction



Deconstruction
 I have previously read many of Derrida's essays and applied his theories to break down symbolism in literature and visual arts. So, when I walked into my first Graduate School course on human rights and media, I already understood the approach that Professor Peter Lucas was taking in orienting my peers and I to an article written by New York Times reporter, Lynette Holloway. The article she wrote which we analyzed in this first course gave me the sense that she was interested in urban ethnography by exploring the community of homeless, gay youth inhabiting the area of the West Side highway in NYC.

"The Young, The Restless, and The Homeless," connotes a sort of melancholy, all three adjectives in the title combined giving off the impression that the main subjects will be a marginalized population. We split into several groups to answer different questions, and mine had to answer the following:

  • What do we mean by representation? More specifically, what role does representation play in this story? What is and what is not represented here? 
  • What do the politics of representation mean to you? 
  • What do we mean by human rights representation?
In and of itself, the answers to those question could make for a novel, but here is a summation of my classmates' and my thoughts:
  • Represented: Poverty, rights to shelter, youth dislocation, reception of gay youth, migration, urban policy critique.
  • Not Represented and The Politics: Child abuse. Socioeconomic status. Choice– is the choice to live on the West Side highway truly a threat? If so, for whom? Stereotype– Drug addicts, AIDs associated, menaces to society. Adequate coverage- this is a larger complexity and the diversity of the issue is at a loss. Simplifying an issue that should be dealt with on an individual basis.
  • Human Rights Representation: Main focus is on the shelter that is provided, but not taken advantage of, for the youth, but it does not explore the concept of violence and how it might have led these youth to migrate from places like Baltimore to New York so that they could be a part of a community of acceptance and not one of hatred, such as is mentioned by several characters.
  • This was also the very neat, polished, and not in-depth coverage that is typical of a New York Times author.


We learned to set up a framework in which to examine any human rights issue critically, and that is to take the following terms and answer as many questions surrounding them as possible:

  1. IDENTIFICATION – How is what you are reading/studying a human rights issue?
  2. STANDARDS– A conceptual framework and discourse, focused on morality and ethics
  3. REPRESENTATION–  The politics of self and/or communal empowerment
  4. RESPONSE– How does an "investigator" (or whatever title you'd like to appropriate for this occasion) begin to analyze the needs posed and resources available to provide a solution? 
  5. EDUCATION– What can we do to create conditions for justice, peace, and human rights?


Ultimately, we need to shine a light upon where the darkness of violence exists. There are many methods to this, as Professor Lucas had stated, and this course was my first attempt to understand how to address human rights issues with respect and integrity. This brief blog  will be a culmination of the examined studies and learnings from my first academic engagement in Human Rights.

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