Blog post 1 | Lecture Reflection
Looking back at the Better Lives lectures, I was driven towards representation as a subject as I am a person of colour in Britain. I come from India, where we have yellow undertones and brown skin, but it a land of diverse cultures like India is not limited to only brown as a skin colour. The main focus is on how we as a community, culture, and colour are represented in the western world, which concerns me a bit and makes me ask myself if I as a human really matter in the country I study and work i.e. United Kingdom. The lecture on representation lead me to think deeply about cultures, how one can feel about themselves and their own culture in today times where white culture is still considered the dominant one in every aspect.
Diversity when includes race, colour, culture, and body type, makes it very open and accepting to all kinds of people. We humans tend to comfort ourselves and occupy space wherever we can in that comfort, hence a place of diversity is a spread that provides comfort to all those people who feel less special because of their culture or any other aspect of their life. It makes them believe that what they do matters and hold some value in the society that they live in, though the prevalence of they dominant white society creates an idea that what a bright coloured person does will always be better and right. It is very difficult for a person of dark colour to find representation in the media and everywhere one sees. It feels great to see a person of the same community as you are bring laurels to your community and achieve greatness in the world full of people with white skin privilege.
It would be interesting to see how brands increase their interaction with people of colour and how it is a great deal for such people of colour and culture to be interacted with, by huge brands. These brands also misuse the freedom of adopting cultures in their work by creating insensitive and offensive content in order to stir controversy, derive attention, and hence profits.
It would be easier if the world took people for who they are and not focus on their backgrounds, colours, body and skin types, cultures, etc. But at the same time these are some aspects of us that help us belong to a certain community and feel at home with that community. That being said, it does not mean that one should feel unwelcome, but rather respected by other communities because of their differences.