Assignment 2. Connecting popular culture texts with decoloniality: Gender
Connecting popular culture texts with decoloniality: Gender
Objectives
By completing this assignment, you are expected to:
Critically analyze a song’s lyrics and accompanying video (if available) to examine how they challenge or reinforce colonial gender systems.
Develop an argument on how the song’s meaning contributes to or disrupts dominant gender ideologies and the colonial matrix of power.
Propose ways to decolonize the song if used as a pedagogical tool in language teaching.
Engage in scholarly discussion by providing feedback on peers’ analyses.
Procedure
Select a Song
Choose a song from any genre that has lyrics and/or an official music video.
Ensure the song is relevant to the themes of gender, colonialism, and decolonization.
Analyze the Song
Examine the lyrics and/or video to identify how the song constructs meanings related to gender.
Consider how the song either challenges or perpetuates colonial gender norms.
Use course readings and concepts to support your analysis (colonial matrix of power, coloniality of power, knowledge, being, nature, global designs, restitution, destitution, abyssal thinking, border thinking, among others)
Develop Your Argument
Articulate a clear thesis about the song’s engagement with colonial gender systems and other related concepts in decoloniality
Provide textual evidence (lyrics, visual elements, cultural context) to support your claims.
Discuss how the song’s message aligns with or resists colonial gender ideologies.
Decolonizing the Song
Propose strategies for using the song in a language classroom in a way that decolonizes its meaning.
Suggest pedagogical approaches that challenge dominant gender and colonial narratives.
Create and Submit Your Post
Write an analytical post (minimum 800 words) addressing all the key points above (you will need to make two posts since the Blog interface restricts number of words).
Include the link to the chosen song
Ensure clarity, coherence, and engagement with relevant theories.
Submit your post by 5 pm on March 13.
Peer Engagement
Read and comment on at least two classmates’ posts (minimum 200 words per comment).
Engage critically by providing constructive feedback, raising questions, or adding new perspectives.
Complete your comments by March 14.
Grading Scheme (5 points total)
Deadline
Post your analysis by 5:00 pm on March 13.
Comment on two peers' posts by March 14.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Happy analyzing!
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteI am currently working on the analysis, but first, I would like to share with you the song I chose for this assignment. It is called: "I am not my hair", and It was written by India Arie who is an American singer (born in Denver, Colorado). She has African and Indian roots. She sings neo-soul which is a type of music that mixes Soul, Jazz and Pop.
These are the links to the lyrics and video:
- https://www.letras.com/india-arie/1173096/
- https://youtu.be/E_5jIt0f5Z4?feature=shared
I hope you have a chance to enjoy the song before reading my analysis, which is coming soon! :)
Analysis (Part 1)
DeleteI think the song: “I am not my hair” by India Arie, featuring Akon (https://youtu.be/E_5jIt0f5Z4?si=cx-36uvQlWM39m-R ) challenges beauty standards imposed by the West. India sings: “Good hair means curls and waves (no); Bad hair means you look like a slave (no)”
This highlights how coloniality has shaped ideas of beauty associating them with superiority and inferiority. India expresses her opinion is by saying: “no”.
This part of the song reminded me of a video by Mabel Lara (a Colombian journalist) and the struggles she has to go through when she first appeared on TV with her “natural” curly hair and the comments she received of being unprofessional and lacking sophistication because her hair should be straight to look “more European and less African”.
I can connect these insights with abyssal thinking (Santos, 2014) where invisible lines are created to divide what is considered as acceptable from what is marginalized based on Eurocentric views- in this case, Eurocentric beauty standards. I wonder what might have happened if Mabel Lara had appeared with her curly hair before gaining the prestige she has, would she have been accepted? Or would she have been made invisible despite of her talent and been placed in “the other side of the line”? Another example is given in the song when referring to his dreadlocks, Akon says:
Then I couldn't get no job
'Cause corporate wouldn't hire no dreadlocks”
And then, he complements by expressing:
“I hate to say it but it seem so flawed
'Cause success didn't come till I cut it all off”
It is a clear example exclusion and discrimination where individuals are made invisible unless they conform to Western expectations. In this experience, it happened to a man, but I think discrimination would have been even worst if it happened to a woman. This fragment also made me question if Akon betrayed his beliefs and his black identity, but I cannot judge because I have not lived what he has.
Regarding the coloniality of being (Maldonado-Torres, 2007), India Arie also questions specific stereotypes given to people because of the outside, but not considering the special inner characteristics and qualities. She shares her own lived experience of being judged and how she learned to value herself despite other’s opinions:
“Little girl with the press and curl
Age eight, I got a Jheri curl
Thirteen, and I got a relaxer
I was a source of so much laughter
At fifteen when it all broke off
Eighteen and went all natural
February, 2002
I went on and did what I had to do
Because it was time to change my life
To become the woman that I am inside
Ninety-seven dreadlocks all gone
I looked in the mirror for the first time and saw that
Analysis (Part 2)
DeleteIn the previous lyrics, it is possible to evidence how she experimented and struggle with different hairstyles as need to find her identity. Initially, it seems to be influenced by societal (external) expectations. First, she used chemical products to straighten her hair, and maybe look more stylish and “whiter”, which could be somehow connected with the expression “Black Skin, White Masks” (Maldonado-Torres, 2007, p.243). Then, she perceived herself as a black woman and changed her hairstyle, but then, she decided to cut off her dreadlocks because it can also perpetuate a false stereotype that equates black identity to wearing dreadlocks which might lead to “deshumanization” and affects how people are treated and sadly becomes part of the society norms.
Additionally, India also expressed in the song that:
“I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am not your expectations, no (hey)
I am the soul that lives within”
In this part of the song, she mentions that we cannot be defined by external features, but we should embrace our own identity and have a more authentic understanding of our identity. It matches with the ideas proposed by Lugones (2007). According to Quijano (as cited in Lugones, 2007), “the color of one’s skin, the shape of one’s eyes and hair do not have any relation to the biological structure” (p. 193) in contrast to the social labels that are given specially when referring to gender and the need to resist colonial gender systems that tend to perpetuate superiority and inferiority. When India says: “I am not my hair” she is somehow decolonizing herself and decolonizing others by pointing out that:
“You can shave it off like a South African beauty
Or get in on lock like Bob Marley
You can rock it straight like Oprah Winfrey
If it's not what's on your head, it's what's underneath”
In other words, the song advocates for self-definition and move beyond imposed standards because it does not matter what is outside, you can have the hairstyle you wish without forgetting what is important that is the heart and feelings you have.
Moving on into the second part of the assignment, I think this song can be used in a language classroom to generate discussions and reflections about other hair styles people have and how they are discriminated for being different to what beauty standards dictate. For instance, in my context, we can discuss and reflect on the role braids in women from Boyacá (especially in rural areas), who are often represented wearing braids and hats. I can connect the song with a little bit of the history to better understand why black women wore braids and have students discuss on lived experiences of women wearing braids in Boyacá.
This can also lead us to the use of a strategy called: “students as ethnographers” (Beach & Finders, 1999) where students can get in contact with rural communities to gain a real understanding of meaning behind wearing braids. Finally, some reflection can be promoted by letting students modify the chorus and Bridge in India Arie’s song based on previous experiences or prejudices people have faced regarding their appearance (tattoos, piercings, cloth style, etc).
Hello Yuranny,
DeletePART 1
This is a wonderful song with a specific call to action. There is so much we can say about it in terms of what concepts can be applicable from the plethora we have read during these past weeks from a decolonial purview. I agree with you that the colonial perspective proposed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos is informative. The tripartite categories of capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism, as well as the idea of the abyssal line, can help us understand what India Arie is denouncing.
We know that capitalism spins around the exploitation of resources and labor to produce material capital, so it needs to create a social order that draws on certain categories that lead to hierarchies. Quijano sustains that race was one of them; Santos adds that patriarchy was more central, while Lugones explains that we cannot adopt a monolithic approach and instead should adopt an intersectional perspective that intermeshes race, class, gender, and sexuality. By creating all of these categories and by establishing a biological dimorphism to legitimate bodies, colonizers established norms of what was acceptable in terms of ways of knowing, ways of being, ways of feeling and sensing (aesthesis, Mignolo, 2021), and ways of looking or appearing.
Those individuals who did not match the Western imaginaries or fictions created by them—a belief in a Christian God, white skin with certain phenotypes, male domination, forms of social organization or social division (male/female), among others—were to be situated in a zone of Non-Being. This zone of Non-Being is situated within the abyssal line, that is, an invisible divide separating the Global North from those of the Global South or those who did not meet the Western imaginary. Black women, as well as other women of color (Mestizas, Asians), as Lugones points out, were represented as hypersexualized, degraded, exoticized, unruly, and wild (uncivilized)—the opposite of white European women.
PART 2
DeleteThe way Black women wear their hair naturally metaphorically evokes the idea of something that is unruly; it stands out so much from someone’s appearance. It went against the normalized body in the minds of Europeans. This is why, to move from the zone of Non-Being, from the abyssal line to the cosmopolitanism that the West imposed, individuals needed to convert.
Conversion did not only happen at the religious level; it is a concept that can be extended to other areas of human existence. For Black women, conversion meant changing their appearance, the way their hair looked, so that they could start the process of moving out from that abyssal line to the zone of Being—of acceptance and validation within the colonial matrix of power. As Lugones explains, this ideal of women was the creation of patriarchy through an idealized version of colonial gender norms that she calls the light side of the colonial system of gender. This means the system that enforces norms that structure society and gender relations while at the same time hiding the dark side of the colonial system of gender, which marginalizes, oppresses, and imposes roles on women of color.
Obviously, white women are also victims of this colonial system, and they have moved against it; however, as Lugones explains, that is a different type of feminism since there are different types of feminisms.
The way you propose to engage students pedagogically in order to bring awareness to the colonial system of gender is fine. It invites students to realize that at the center, there is a patriarchal society that has naturalized ideas of sex, gender, and imaginaries of women’s and men’s appearance as well as roles in society. It could provoke an interesting discussion about who owns our bodies. Bodies seem to belong to society; society is inscribed in our bodies. Since we are born, our bodies are disciplined and regulated by the state through reproductive rights, bodily autonomy in medical decisions, and labor laws. Society regulates how the body can dress, how it can look, and what roles we should adopt based on our genitalia—not to mention that all of this is connected intersectionally to our skin color, ethnicity, and other categories.
Hi Yuranny, nice song, thanks for sharing! This is the first time I have listened to it. The lyrics are very explicit and invite us to reflect on the origins of beauty standards. I like this topic because it’s about something that can be seen but is invisibilized at the same time, and we don’t usually think of it as a “serious” subject until someone shows us all that comes within it. The first time I thought that hair was political was when I read the book Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (who btw shows her resistance to Western standards of beauty through her hair). She starts the book with her appointment with the hairstylist and starts analyzing all that appearance (related to hair) encompasses, how stereotypes influence how people perceive you, how much respect you receive (or not) based on your hair, and of course, the colonized ideas we have of hair. Nowadays, I can clearly see a “movement” related to embracing the type of hair that each of us has. I have met many girls who used to straighten their hair all the time, and now they are very proud of their curls or of their hair’s natural way, so I am glad that the idea of good hair and bad hair is moving away from the hair that is associated with white people.
DeleteJhonny Segura. Hi Yurany. Your reflections on Akon’s experience with discrimination due to beauty standards reveal the coloniality of aesthetics and identity. You question whether he betrays his beliefs by acknowledging the choices marginalized people face in a society with systematic discrimination and bias. The pedagogical approach to your classroom seems valuable and applicable. Encouraging students to explore beauty standards to foster critical awareness and intercultural reflections, particularly the connection you make between braids in Boyacá and black women’s hair histories. This activity uses a local perspective to activate discussion and reflection.
DeleteI also think that having students rewrite the lyrics is an effective strategy to disrupt narrative and social expectations regarding any topic (I proposed the same approach in my planning). Above all, writing the story based on their experiences encourages them to explore their feelings, expectations, and biases that they may not have identified or explored before.
Thank you professor José Aldemar, Carolina and Jhonny for taking some time to read my post. I appreciate your comments and the experiences you also shared here!
DeleteAn Analysis of "Cabello Bello" by Robe L Ninho (part 1)
ReplyDeleteBY Juan David Murillo-Egurrola
Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH0Mbobc6Mk&t=124s
Lyrics: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lu-Bzub8i-2bgjEgg3KKQu2yoiG2PRxUYSxBycj_kv0/edit?usp=sharing
For this assignment, I chose the song “Cabello Bello” by Cuban rapper Robe L. Ninho. I found this song accidentally as a YouTube recommendation. Even though I had not heard other songs by the singer, this particular song caught my attention because it deals directly with themes of race, gender, and colonial beauty standards, specifically related to Afro-descendant identities.
As a Black Colombian, the message of this song resonates strongly with my personal experiences. Growing up, representation of black beauty was rare or almost absent. I clearly remember when people saw my curly hair as something strange, touching it out of curiosity or making comments that made me uncomfortable. I even wished I had straight hair because fashionable hairstyles never seemed designed for people like me.
In the lyrics, Robe L. Ninho directly addresses how colonial beauty standards affect Black people, especially Black women. One powerful verse states:
"El fuego de tu discrimen vio en mi cabello la leña
Desde que son pequeñas a las negras se le enseña
Que tu cabello es malo, frijoles para esa greña
(¿Y las princesas de Walt Disney?) son rubias o trigueñas
Y eso me da un dolor en el pecho
Es como si las niñas negras a ser princesas no tienen derecho
Todos los niños son iguales (tú con tu racismo has hecho)
El piso de unas para otras sea el techo, ¡y qué va!"
These lines clearly show how society teaches Black girls from a very young age that their natural hair is "bad." By mentioning Disney princesses, the artist critiques mainstream media’s limited representation of beauty, leaving Black girls without relatable role models and damaging their self-esteem.
Another verse addresses the processes Black people, mostly women, use to meet colonial beauty standards:
"Ni planchas ni potasas, yo así me siento bello."
This directly refers to the use of flat irons (planchas) and strong chemicals (potasa) to straighten hair. These practices symbolize the rejection of natural beauty and the internalized colonial ideas about how beauty should look.
The song also specifically celebrates the uniqueness of afro hair:
"Mi cabello cuatro C, heredado de la pura
Que es el cabello matriz, el más versátil en su estructura
Gran capacidad de alcanzar disímiles texturas"
Here, the song talks about "Type 4C" hair, known for its tight coils and versatility. Thischallenges colonial stereotypes that portray natural black hair negatively.
An Analysis of "Cabello Bello" by Robe L Ninho (part 2)
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the song describes hair as a symbol of historical resistance, particularly with the role of women:
"A mí me gusta llevar mis pelos parados
¿Quién te dijo que yo estoy despeinado?
Loco, este es mi peinado
Que sirvió para que ocultaran informaciones y semillas
Para mis ancestros negros, cimarrones, sublevados
Con las trenzas enviaban los mensajes
Y dibujaban puntos de referencia, caminos, pasajes
Una especie de mapa que tejían y seguían
Y servían de ruta de escape para cimarronaje."
Historically, braided hairstyles were often created and worn by Black women. They were not merely cosmetic but served as powerful tools of resistance, as women braided hair into patterns that communicated secret messages and provided routes for enslaved people seeking freedom. This historical reference shows the deep cultural significance of Black women's hair and, specifically, their vital role in resistance against colonial oppression. The song also references dreadlocks as symbols of commitment to resistance:
"Sí, mis locs una forma de expresarse, identificarse
Cual guerrero de Haile Selassie
Hasta que no lo liberasen, no iban a pelarse."
This verse describes dreadlocks as signs of dedication to struggle and freedom, inspired by Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian emperor who symbolizes Black liberation and resistance to colonial oppression.
This song clearly connects to ideas of colonialism and decolonization we've studied. Specifically, it challenges the "colonial matrix of power," that is, how colonialism imposes control over how people see themselves, their identities, and cultures. The song rejects European beauty standards and promotes Afro-descendant identities, using what we call "border thinking," which means it challenges the dominant colonial narratives, highlighting marginalized perspectives. The song also exposes "abyssal thinking," a way of viewing the world where European beauty standards are seen as superior and Afro-descendant identities as inferior. The celebration of Afro-hair helps to reject this harmful idea.
This song could be very useful in a language classroom to talk about colonialism and beauty standards. Students could analyze lyrics, identify themes of resistance and pride, and share personal experiences related to beauty standards. I think we could include discussions to explore how mainstream media, like Disney movies, reinforce colonial gender norms, and students could critically question these narratives. I would also ask students to research how enslaved Afro-descendants, particularly women, used hairstyles as tools for communication and resistance to help them understand the song's historical context.
The official music video visually supports the song’s message. It shows diverse people with Afro-hair feeling happy and proud while also dancing. The diverse representations of Black people confidently displaying their natural hair challenge colonial standards and promote pride in Afro-descendant identities.
Dear Juan David, thank you for sharing your insightful reflections.
DeleteAs someone who has not personally experienced the struggles that Black communities face regarding hair and identity, I recognize that we often speak from a place of privilege. Reading your words made me reflect on how deeply embedded beauty standards are in shaping our perceptions of identity and how they continue to reinforce exclusion and inequality.
Your discussion of braided hairstyles as tools of resistance is particularly powerful. It highlights how hair has historically been much more than just an aesthetic choice—it has served as a means of survival, communication, and resistance. This makes me wonder: Why is Black hair still judged, while white hair is seen as the norm?
Personally speaking, your point about "abyssal thinking" reminds me of how, growing up, I witnessed the internalization of these imposed beauty standards within my own family. For instance, I can recall my grandmother saying rude words when black people approach her, or my mom doing the same thing when our Vice-president Francia Márquez got elected. My point in here is: what is beauty anyway? Another example I want to highlight is an experience I had when I visited my partner’s family in Cali. Although he is not Black, most of his family is. When his niece turned 15, she wanted to straighten her hair because she hated it, but he helped her realize that her natural hair was actually what made her unique.
My point here, just to conclude, is to question whether we need to be Black to advocate for Black rights. Shouldn't challenging racism and Eurocentric beauty standards be a collective responsibility nowadays?
Dear Juan,
DeleteThank you for sharing the song; I loved the lyrics and the message. Besides, the rhythm was really catchy!
Coincidentally, we both chose to analyze the same topic: hair; some people might think it is a trivial topic, but hairstyles can be a powerful tool to colonialize or show resistance and decolonize. Your insights made me reflect and wonder what happens when a non-black person wears dreadlocks or locs? Are the reactions going to be the same? Are they perceived as fashionable while a black person be labeled as a “criminal”?
Even though I am not a black woman, I am a mestiza, I felt identified when you shared your own experience and feeling uncomfortable about different comments. I used to work at a private university where the external appearance was highly valued and I always had troubles because of my natural hairstyle. At that moment, I didn’t view it as a form of self-expression, but now I think those uncomfortable gazes were a way to exclude me and discriminate me.
Finally, I loved one part of the song that says:
“Descolonización mental
Orgullo de mi raíz, mi etnia, mi identidad
(No lo voy a laciar na)”
It is time to break paradigms and be proud of who we are. Actions are required, but sometimes the first step to be given is in our minds; of course, that is not the one, the other ones are even harder, but it is time to more towards a postabyssal thinking!
Hi Juan David
DeleteI really enjoyed that song, and I felt identified with its lyrics, since now that song is going to be part of the repertoire of my favorite songs. I am in the process of hair transition, loving and accepting my hair, after many years of straightening it because I believed and followed those colonial stereotypes maintained by the family. I am glad to see that nowadays there are many multimodal texts that let children and teenagers read, listen to and see the other side of the coin, the one that lets us to emancipate from that colonial power that has molded and controlled every aspect of our lives.
Maria Alejandra Villa
Greetings Juan David and Jhonatan,
DeleteI am sorry to hear, Juan David, that you suffered from discrimination because of your hairstyle. As you mention, all of this is part of the colonial matrix of power, and the song addresses it with phrases such as "decolonización mental," showing that these artists are very conscious of their ontological footing. They do, as you say, recall how their ancestors created border thinking and border activism by using their hair as a liberatory device or as a contribution to their liberation.
De Sousa Santos uses the concept of the decolonial contact zone to refer to similar concepts proposed by Mignolo regarding border thinking or Bhabha’s third space. These contact zones of knowledge and practices aim to generate dynamics where different cultural life-worlds meet, mediate, negotiate, and clash. According to Santos, we can create diverse contact zones—for example, one focused on conceptions of the body.
There are many ways we could draw on Santos to interpret the counterhegemonic practices that these artists engage in through their music. First, they are particularly fighting against the monoculture of the naturalization of differences, which uses race, gender, class, and other categories to create social hierarchies and justify exclusion. In this case, hair is tied to race. But it is also intersectional, as it relates to gender—since women are highly targeted regarding their hair—and to social class, where this type of hair is associated with uneducated, lower-class individuals. Black individuals who have received an education are often expected to straighten their hair as part of assimilating into dominant cultural norms.
Santos proposes countering this type of monoculture through the ecology of recognition, which is what Robe L. Ninho is doing through this song. The ecology of recognition advocates for the acknowledgment and respect of different identities, traditions, and social groups. We can also reference the sociology of absences here: erasing from history the role of Afro-Colombians' hair in their liberation efforts contributes to rendering Afro-descendant experiences and liberatory efforts invisible or irrelevant.
Again, Santos proposes the concept of the sociology of emergences, which constructs new narratives that give legitimacy to emerging social practices and expectations. Afro-descendant music can be seen as a practice of insurgent or subaltern cosmopolitanism.
I don’t have more space to delve into how the naturalization of differences is the consequence of ontological coloniality, but we could draw on Maldonado-Torres to discuss how the attack on Afro-descendants’ bodies—and particularly their hairstyles—is tied to the coloniality of being. However, we must not forget that the way we have been made to see social, racial, and cultural differences as "natural" is actually a result of colonial ways of thinking that have shaped our understanding of reality—a reality structured by hierarchies originating from racial, social, sexual, gender, and ethnic differences.
(PART 1)
ReplyDeleteBeyond the Melody: Rewriting "Arroz con Leche" to Challenge Gender and Colonial Norms
By: Jhonatan Vásquez-Guarnizo
Arroz con leche is a well-known traditional children's song which has been passed down through generations in many Spanish-speaking countries. Its seemingly innocent melody, with a catchy rhythm, makes it appealing not only to children but also to adults. Unconsciously, it has been sung as a way of entertaining children when playing or learning how to develop long-term memory or language skills. Nonetheless, this song perpetuates colonial expectations of women and puts them into a position of relegation and inferiority.
The lyrics of this song describes a man who wants to get married. In the song, sentences such as “I want to get married with a young lady who knows how to -sew- and -embroider-, and who knows how to -open the door to go out and play-, with this one, yes; with this one, no / with this young lady, I will marry” can be heard. Basically, these lines reflect traditional gender roles and expectations which have been replicated over time. The fact the man has specific requirements for his future wife and gets to choose which one is right for him display a patriarchal perspective on marriage. Women are reduced to a place of invisibility when it comes to deciding whether they want to marry the man in the song. Since it is the one who chooses, women have no other option than accepting this man.
One of the main reasons why I chose this song is because I am currently advising pre-service language teachers in their teaching practicum, and precisely, one of them decided to start the warming up of her class with this song. Nevertheless, she approached me last week to ask me if she could change the lyrics of it as she is not in a fully agreement with it. My answer was an absolute yes because I thought it was a great opportunity to tackle the ‘decolonial turn’ (Maldonado-Torres, 2007) as it may enable “political and ethical transformations” (Mignolo, 2001, p.11) by showing a different perspective, one that no longer places “colonial subjects as invisible and dehumanized” (Bhambra, 2014, p. 131).
Considering that “the decolonial turn echoes the voices of those subjects who have been historically silent” (Ramos-Holguín, 2021, p. 97), I believe it is not just about “changing the narratives of our histories, but transform our sense of what it means to live’ (p. 256) in a society which has historically relegated women to a place of inferiority. Indeed, when writing these lines, I cannot stop thinking that “oppression is domesticating” (Freire, 2014, p. 51) as I was raised by women: my grandma, my mom, and my four aunts. For me, this domestication of oppression is evident when making inequality seem natural or even inevitable.
(PART 2)
ReplyDeleteFor instance, I now feel I am more aware of it that I try my best to be careful with my discourse. I recently became the aunt of a lovely girl, Salomé, and when I was making her sleep, I consciously changed the lyrics of a lullaby as a way of not only showing my sister that is ok to cry but also to stop this hegemonic conception of oppression towards females. Instead of singing: “Duérmete niña, que estando dormida, no llorarás” [Sleep, little girl, while you are asleep, you will no longer cry], I used the same rhythm to sing words of empowerment such as: “You will be strong and brave”. Considering my locus of enunciation, that is my “geo-political and body-political location” (Grosfoguel, 2007, p. 213), this is a huge advancement as gender roles are usually reinforced unconsciously, which in this case, indirectly, may teach young minds to accept and reproduce hegemonic power structures.
Consequently, the global gender hierarchy that privileges males over females and patriarchy over other forms of gender relations (Spivak 1988, Enloe, 1990) need to stop. Questioning and transforming these narratives becomes a crucial step toward dismantling colonial and patriarchal legacies, allowing for more inclusive and emancipatory ways of being. In this regard, Castañeda-Trujillo (2021) argues that, meaningful change can only take place when “teacher educators and pre-service English teachers, work as a community of practice leaning towards the decolonization of the teaching of English in Colombia” (p. 182). Thus, we proudly present a new version of Arroz con Leche. From our view, this new version aligns with a decolonial perspective and envisions a more equitable society.
♪ Arroz con Leche, I want to find:
A young lady who dares to dream, ♫
who believes in herself and shines so bright,
who walks with pride and stands for her right. ♫
Brave, yes—submissive, no.
♫ Happy, joyful, and strong—that’s how you’ll grow! ♪
Although this idea emerged as a warming up for my pre-service language teachers’ class, we became aware of the importance of opening these kinds of spaces for resistance and equity, spaces where deeply rooted colonial and patriarchal narratives, unconsciously reproduced for generations, can be challenged, resisted, and decolonized within the EFL classroom. I strongly believe that what we co-constructed was not merely about altering lyrics but about fostering awareness, agency, and transformation in education, especially in a context as Boyacá in which machismo is still present nowadays.
You can listen to our version here: https://voca.ro/1iToK8IFNvdY
Hi Jhonatan,
DeleteYour reflection on how songs like "Arroz con Leche" shape cultural perceptions of gender is fantastic. I clearly remember this song from my kindergarten days, and it's true that almost everyone in Colombia knows it by heart and considers it an innocent tradition. Yet, as you point out, beneath its catchy melody, the song hides harmful patriarchal and colonial ideologies that unconsciously reinforce gender norms and make women invisible and subordinate.
What I value the most is that you didn’t just focus on critiquing the song, but also proposed an alternative, which is a kind of countertext that reflects your stance within the decolonial project. It shows that changing a song’s lyrics is not a minor or superficial act but rather an entry point into deeper cultural and epistemic transformation. I also appreciate how you draw on Maldonado-Torres' concept of the “decolonial turn” as a space for ethical and political change, an invitation to rethink not only classroom practices but also our everyday engagement with cultural texts. Your reference to Bhambra’s idea of rewriting narratives to include historically marginalized subjects strengthens this perspective.
I really appreciate that you're not just talking about a theoretical idea but actually putting it into practice both in your classroom with your students and in your personal life with Salomé. Your actions show how educators can actively engage in the decolonization of education in meaningful and grounded ways.
Best, Juan David
Jhonny Segura, how you approach the analysis of patriarchal and colonial norms in a song that we have sung as children and to our kids, nieces, nephews, etc., is compelling. You discussed the song, revealing how we unconsciously reproduce social conventions and reinforce power matrices by teaching these types of songs to our kids. The decision to modify the lyrics calls for ethical and political transformations, which shows the approach to decolonization is not merely a critique but, most importantly, actionable change.
DeleteLikewise, your pedagogical approach to turning Arroz con leche into an empowering version is an inspiring example of how language teaching can enhance critical awareness. Instead of passively reproducing songs, reimagining the songs is a powerful approach to challenge narrative and social norms. You mentioned, "Questioning and transforming these narratives becomes a crucial step toward dismantling colonial and patriarchal legacies, allowing for more inclusive and emancipatory ways of being.” This approach exemplifies the importance of recenter historically marginalized voices, through which we can change narratives and expectations passed on through rough cultural products such as songs, books, etc.
Hi Jhonatan
DeleteI haven’t seen or listened that song from that perspective, I consider that normally we don’t tend to pay attention to the message of children’s songs, because they seem to be naive, but the messages of this song as you mentioned tied to narratives of family and domesticity, what in Lugones’s words is part of the heteronormative frameworks imposed by colonial systems, which assign roles for women and men, continuing patriarchal structures introduced during colonialism. Something important to highlight in this song is the way in which women are presented, waiting to be chosen by a man as it would give worth to her, in this part of the song I find Lugones’s view when she says “…the emergence of women as an identifiable category, defined by their anatomy and subordinated to men in all situations, resulted, in part, from the imposition of a patriarchal colonial state” (Lugones, 2007, p.197).
Maria Alejandra Villa
Dear All,
DeleteVery nice discussion about Jhonatan’s reimagining of Arroz con Leche. I think the place where we can most clearly identify the colonial matrix of power is in children's educational and socialization practices, which range from how we teach them to sit at the table to what we sing or read at bedtime.
I remember reading Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls to my daughter and then to my son. It is fine to read traditional children's stories with a critical mind, but it is also important to be more direct in targeting the colonial modern gender system. This reminds me of what Carlos Alberto Flóres presented in our reading about Derecho Mayor. He states:
"La división de géneros no se ha caracterizado por la diferenciación de los actores, sino por su capacidad de complementarse” (p. 12).
Reimagining the lyrics of the song is a great move, and as you infer, bodies are indexed either by how they look—as in the analyses of Yuranny and Juan David—or by what they can do. In the case of Arroz con leche, women are situated geo- and biopolitically. The song says:
"...con una señorita de la capital."
It does not want una señorita del campo—it has to be a city lady with specific skills:
"Que sepa..."
Basically, she must be a good servant to a man. Here, as Grosfoguel states, the song embodies a body politics of knowledge—the social value assigned to certain knowledge produced by certain bodies. However, that social value is assigned by a man in the context of patriarchy.
In this case, as Jhonatan highlights—and evoking Grosfoguel—the locus of enunciation and the body that speaks is concealed:
"Me quiero casar."
We know it is a man speaking, but those who reproduce the song do not know which man is speaking. The song conceals the white, middle-class, Judeo-Christian, European subject who dictates what roles women should accept and how they should use their bodies.
By reimagining and rewriting the song, Jhonatan—as commented by with Jhonny, Juan David, and Alejandra—dismantles colonial and patriarchal legacies.
[PART 1]
ReplyDeleteIndependent Women, part 1 by Destiny’s Child https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lPQZni7I18
This song is from 2000 and was part of the soundtrack of the action movie Charlie’s Angels, in which three women who work for a private detective agency solve cases and fight villains. The film, the song, and its video seek to portray powerful and independent women. The song was very popular then, and became part of the 2000–2001 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for longest-running number-one song by a female group.
Grosfoguel (2007) explains that the ‘coloniality of power’ is a perspective from which we need to challenge “social change and social transformation in a non-reductionist way” (p. 219), and this implies addressing “sexual, gender, spiritual, epistemic, economic, political, linguistic and racial hierarchies of the modern/colonial world-system” (p. 219). For this reason, I think the song Independent Women is relevant, as it focuses on economic, sexual, and gender hierarchies, from the point of view of a group of African-American women from a country where race and racism are so latent and black people have consistently been underestimated.
The song challenges colonial gender norms in different ways. Mainly, it focuses on women being financially independent, but also on being proud of it and on living on their own terms and conditions. In the first paragraph, it confronts historical practices attributed to men (like casual sex or having control in a relationship) by mentioning that’s how the singer (a girl) lives her life. The paragraph ends with an explicit example of self-sufficiency:
“Question, tell me what you think about me?
I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings
Only ring your celly when I'm feelin' lonely
When it's all over please get up and leave
Question, tell me how you feel about this?
Try to control me boy, you get dismissed
Pay my own fun, oh and I pay my own bills
Always 50/50 in relationships”
Although the song could be taken as focused on physical belongings, thus promoting capitalism, I think it goes beyond that and uses it to demonstrate that given the option (I depend on me if I want it) it is preferable to buy one’s own things as a woman than to ask a man to do it.
“The shoes on my feet (I bought it)
The clothes I'm wearing (I bought it)
The rock I'm rocking (I bought it)
'Cause I depend on me if I want it
The watch I'm wearing (I bought it)
The house I live in (I bought it)
The car I'm driving (I bought it)
I depend on me (I depend on me)”
The message from the song is dedicated to women, especially those who brag about having money but who don’t make it:
“Bragging on that cash that he gave you is to front
If you're gonna brag, make sure it's your money you flaunt
Depend on no one else to give you what you want”
[PART 2]
ReplyDeleteThe artists indirectly invite women to join the workforce. However, in a society where women are the primary carers and have a significant role at home, women who are part of the workforce end up working long hours at the job apart from working long hours at home; in this sense, working sounds more like a punishment than a liberating practice. A fairer take on the matter must involve a more conscious share of work at home between men and women. This arrangement will give both parties the same financial security and equity rights. Additionally, bell hooks (2000) mentions that women who stay at home become isolated, lonely and depressed, in contrast to women who work, which present an increased self-esteem and a positive participation in the community.
Although having a job doesn't mean being ‘already liberated’ from male domination (especially for poor and working-class women), hooks (2000) highlights the power of choice. Self-sufficient women can choose to leave a relationship, whereas women who are tied to patriarchal males usually can’t. This means they have one less barrier to face, even though they may have to face others. Knowing that class and privilege are factors that divide feminism, hooks proposes self-sufficiency as a platform of common ground where women can find collective organization and response.
I think this song could be used in the classroom to open the discussion on different types of feminism, especially when we realize that some ideas of feminism that have been widespread come from global Eurocentric, capitalist views. We need to accept that feminism (as many other concepts) must be seen through intersectionality. Lugones (2007) states, "Intersectionality reveals what is not seen when categories such as gender and race are conceptualized as separate from each other” (p. 192), implying that to understand a phenomenon deeply, we should take into account its complex context. The song has a clear feminist message, but this idea of being independent is not only associated with a change of mentality but also with privilege. So even though we can challenge the “dream” that many girls have of finding a man with money who can provide for them, we, as teachers, also need to keep our context in mind, and guide students to understand that working hard may not be the only thing they need to do to become independent. More importantly, we should lead our students to see that if we aim for equity in all aspects of social life, that also involves household dynamics.
References:
Grosfoguel, R. (2007). The epistemic decolonial turn: Beyond political-economy paradigms. Cultural studies, 21(2-3), 211-223.
Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. Pluto Press.
Lugones, M. (2007). Heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system. Hypatia, 22(1), 186-219.
Dear Caro,
DeleteI love this song haha specially after Beyoncé played it at the Super Bowl in 2013. This song has become like an anthem for many women regarding confidence and empowerment.
Personally speaking, I enjoyed how you analyzed the song beyond just the surface-level message of independence (although it may seem like it is the focus of it). It’s true that while the lyrics celebrate financial and emotional self-sufficiency, they also reflect a capitalist mindset where success is measured by material possessions (which most of the old songs used to do. For instance, material girl by Madonna). Anyway! To be honest, I totally agree with your idea about working outside the home, while often seen as a step toward liberation for women, it can also become a burden if household responsibilities aren’t equally shared. That part really made me think because although I come from a home where women ruled, men (my dad and grandpa) also helped at home equally.
Your connection to bell hooks (one of my favorite thinkers *_*) and intersectionality is super important. It’s easy to see songs like this as universally empowering, but as you said, privilege plays a huge role. Not all women have the same opportunities to become financially independent, and not all versions of feminism look the same. Thus, that made me wonder if we could use it in class to have not only female but male students reflect on how independence may be shaped by their own contexts.
Carolina, thanks for sharing your ideas.
DeleteI remember this song, and I like it so much. I even remember watching the video on MTV! :) I agree with you that this song could be used in the classroom to discuss economic power and its impact on our lives, especially on women’s lives. It encourages independence, but I also agree that it’s important to discuss what it truly means for a woman to be able to buy her own things when, as you mentioned, the majority of caregiving responsibilities, such as parenting and household tasks, still fall on women’s shoulders.
I believe this is a great opportunity to reflect on these issues and explore how we can create a better balance in gender roles. Raising awareness of how our daily actions contribute to inequality is essential.
Dear Caro,
DeleteThank you for offering your perspective on the song and for initiating this discussion about it. I think the song cannot be more colonial than many of the things we have criticized in class. The discourse of economic independence is just another trap of capitalism and the colonial/modern gender system.
My interpretation is that back in the 50s-60s, the market got tired of only seeing housewives as consumers dependent on their husbands. Yes, they created all the ads for housewives at home and had door-to-door sellers offering vacuum cleaners and other appliances, but at the end of the day, the ones paying the bills were men. Women sellers lured housewives into wanting to buy, but then they had to convince their husbands to purchase the product.
So, they used the liberation and feminist movements to infiltrate them with the idea of economic independence as a means to consume. Yes, I totally agree, as you highlight, that being able to fend for themselves gave them freedom of choice and perhaps freedom from male domination. However, this was used to capitalism’s advantage—they had created one more consumer.
Then, they took on another narrative pushed by feminism: the idea that men and women are equal. And so, they sold—and continue to sell—the idea that men and women are equal in order to expand the reach of consumerism. Now, women can consume what men consume and vice versa. Women are no longer seen as having distinct characteristics of their own; now, they are expected to have the same traits as men and somehow as women too. So, they can play soccer like men, they can box like men, etc. They can produce movies like Charlie’s Angels, where they reproduce the same vicious male behaviors of killing and seducing as a glorification and romanticization of violence. This is basically the cultural normalization of what society should not be aiming for.
Why is this happening? Because they have inserted the idea that we are equal—which is false. Men and women are not equal. We do have equal rights; we do have equal duties, but we are not the same. We are different. We are diverse. And that is what makes us unique! It is OK that women cannot or do not want to do certain things that men do. It is also fine that men cannot do many things that women can. I am always grateful that my children have my wife as another diverse or counter-experience to the life I offer them. The difference we both provide in socializing or raising them is valuable.
What Western capitalism has been trying to do is make us behave the same so that we consume the same. Why have only men buying or paying for a service when they can have both men and women pay?
So, the song and the movie it represents through Hollywood are produced to reproduce the ideologies, discourses, and semiotic structures of the colonial matrix and the colonial/modern gender system, infiltrating feminist ideals.
I also forgot to mention that this view of female independence is intertwined with the narrative of individuality of the West, obviously tied to money as the ultimate way to achieve everything as can bee seen in the song and video clip.
DeleteDear Jhonatan, Sandra,
DeleteThank you very much for your comments, I agree with the idea of inviting our students to reflect about their own context.
Dear professor José Aldemar,
Thank you for your comment, it made me think about capitalism and about how we tend to confuse equity with being equal.
Jhonny Segura
ReplyDeleteMon Laferte - Tu Falta De Querer (Video Oficial)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT-VE9OyAJk
Part 1.
Mon Laferte’s song Tu falta de querer is an emotional, artistic piece that describes feelings of heartbreak and abandonment. The singer narrates the pain she experienced in a past romantic relationship, reflecting the emotional distress caused by her ex-boyfriend. I must admit I did not choose this song randomly for this analysis. When I saw that the activity instructions required to explore gender from a critical perspective, this song immediately came to my mind, particularly because of the following fragment:
¿Cómo fue que me dejaste de amar?
Yo aún podía soportar
Tu tanta falta de querer
I love this song, not only because of the singer’s emotional display but also because she shows an example of the power matrix behind romantic relationships, where a woman tolerates her ex-boyfriend’s lack of love and disdain.
In this analysis, I will explore how this song highlights gender roles and power structures that shape women’s emotional and social expectations. More importantly, I will examine how these structures and expectations are interiorized by women. Lastly, I will discuss how this song can be used pedagogically to analyze how dominant gender narratives permeate and influence our perception of romantic relationships.
First, the lyrics of the song Tu falta de querer describe how much she has suffered because of her ex-boyfriend's betrayal and abandonment. Mon Laferte expresses her feelings of powerlessness, highlighting the pain and how hopeless and powerless she feels. “Me siento mutilada y tan pequeña.” This expression exemplifies gender oppression as described by Maldonado-Torres (2007), in which a woman’s sense of worth relies on male validation.
Additionally, the song reflects the expectation that women should endure and sacrifice in romantic relationships, an idea perpetuated by the image of media, films, and literature. Women are often represented as mothers and lovers who face difficulties, while men are frequently portrayed as emotionally detached and benefit from women's sacrifices.
Second, the song reflects a real-life situation the singer experienced, and it is an honest and open declaration of her pain, challenging the traditional expectation that women’s suffering should remain private. This aligns with Mignolo and Walsh’s (2018) concept of the matrix of power, which naturalizes women’s emotional subjugation. For example, when she sings:
Ven y cuéntame la verdad
Ten piedad
Y dime por qué, no, no no, oh
¿Cómo fue que me dejaste de amar?
Mon Lafater is not passively accepting her ex-boyfriend’s disdain; on the contrary, she is demanding an explanation. Vocalizing her pain and asking questions are ways of exercising agency to challenge the image of a hurt woman who has to hide her feelings and keep them private.
Jhonny Segura.
ReplyDeletePart 2.
Pedagogical use of the song in the classroom
We can use this song to explore hegemonic gender narratives, particularly how emotions and relationships are shaped by power structures. I will present three possible options.
Option 1.
Students can carry out a discourse analysis to examine how the song portrays gender expectations. For example, students can analyze the phrase:
“Te quiero ver, aún te amo y, creo que hasta más que ayer”
This line shows the internalization of the idea of unconditional love, an expectation within female romantic narratives. Both male and female students can analyze the song to identify patterns that reflect the traditional roles of men and women in relationships.
Option 2.
Students can rewrite a fragment of the song, adapting it to show a different perspective, and how they believe the situation should be represented. The objective of this activity is to motivate students to rethink how relationships should be disruptive and change the way social expectations and the power matrix have shaped them.
Option 3.
Students reflect on their own experiences with heartbreak or similar situations and analyze their reactions. In groups, they can discuss how they responded and analyze how their reactions obeyed traditional gender expectations. Additionally, they can explore different ways to approach future similar situations.
Lugones, M. (2007). Heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system. Hypatia, 22(1), 186-209.
Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). On the coloniality of being. Cultural Studies, 21(2-3), 240-270.
Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, C. E. (2018). On decoloniality: Concepts, analytics, praxis. Duke University Press.
Hi Jhonny,
DeleteThank you for your analysis of “Tu falta de querer.” I appreciate how you approached this song from both an emotional and theoretical lens, and the way you showed how personal pain and structural gender expectations often intersect. I think the song you selected is powerful precisely because it appears, at first glance, to be a deeply personal narrative, but as you convincingly argue, it’s also a reflection of broader systems of gendered emotional labor and colonial power structures.
I particularly liked how you used Maldonado-Torres’ concept of the coloniality of being to show how women’s worth is often constructed through their relationships to men, especially in romantic contexts. That connection between the internalization of abandonment and the colonial matrix of power is one I hadn’t thought about before, and you explain it with clarity.
The way you frame the lyrics not as passive mourning but as an act of reclaiming voice and agency is also compelling. Her demand for explanation disrupts the idea that women should suffer silently.
Your pedagogical suggestions are very inspiring. I especially liked the idea of rewriting part of the song to present counter-narratives. That activity could help students develop both critical consciousness and emotional agency.
Warmly,
Juan David
Dear Jhonny,
DeleteThis is interesting, particularly because I love Mon Laferte’s music. Sometimes, I find her lyrics a bit contradictory, considering she is seen as an advocate for feminist movements. Here’s my take: In Chile, they categorize her music as música cebolla or música cebollera for obvious reasons—it’s about despecho (heartbreak). So, when I first listened to her musical proposal, I was happy because I thought she was breaking new ground. Despecho music has traditionally been associated with male performers, reinforcing the idea that men are the primary voices of heartbreak and emotional distress. This perception aligns with the colonial/modern gender matrix, which has historically granted men greater freedom to express their emotions through music while often silencing or stigmatizing women’s expressions of pain and loss.
I do agree with you, though, that her music carries several colonial undertones, particularly in how it replicates patriarchal discourses where women need to be reified by men. In this context, a woman’s sense of worth is framed as reliant on male validation (as you pointed out).
What I want to call attention to is the concept of love mobilized by this type of music. Indigenous communities generally perceive love more in terms of complementarity and reciprocity. Love underscores a more collective experience connected with spiritual beliefs, respect for nature, and intergenerational or ancestral relationships. Unlike Western views of love, which prioritize emotional, personal fulfillment largely influenced by individualism and personal happiness, Indigenous perspectives emphasize balance, harmony, relationality, and interconnectedness.
Love, as a colonial construct, has been complicit in shaping what is considered attractive and desirable in another person. It has created yet another abyssal line—another form of abyssal thinking that disqualifies, suppresses, and marginalizes alternative forms of sociality, as described by Santos. By creating a concept of romantic engagement based on particular physical features that make a human body desirable or lovable, the colonial matrix of power feeds into the coloniality of being.
As Maldonado-Torres presents, the vision of man constructed from the idea of Cogito ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am") excluded those left behind in the abyssal line—those who did not think or feel like Europeans. Racialized bodies, those without a Judeo-Christian god, and those who spoke different languages were excluded. They did not "think," therefore, they were not considered beings; they were seen as inferior. The Cogito ergo sum postulate was not enunciated by a woman in the mind of Descartes—it was formulated by a white, educated male. This is the punto cero of modernity and coloniality.
As a result, men were not only endowed with reason but also with the ability to express thoughts and emotions, while women were often denied the authorization to express such feelings. Male emotions were rationalized, while female emotions were dismissed as less rational. This is how I connect the fact that female singers like Mon Laferte challenge the status quo by performing in a genre of music that has mostly been dominated by men—men who have historically had the right to express their disenchantment with women and portray them as villains in romantic relationships.
Finally , I don't want to make my post even longer, but the pedagogical strategies you propose are creative and very engaging.
María Alejandra Villa
ReplyDeletePoema Negra de Victoria Santa Cruz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHr8DTNRZdg
First part
The poem Negra written and recited by Victoria Santa Cruz is a wonderful mix of literary figures whereby the author intends to deny and vindicate the condition of being a black woman. This poem shows the negative social significance that these communities have faced, remarking categories like racism, discrimination, identity, black feminism and intersectionality. In this poem I can recreate what Maldonado (2007) affirms “the idea that colonial relation of power left profound marked, not only in the areas of authority, sexuality, knowledge and the economy, but on the general understanding of being as well”.
Tenía siete años apenas, / ¡Qué siete años! / ¡No llegaba a cinco siquiera! /De
pronto unas voces en la calle/ me gritaron ¡Negra! / ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Ne-
gra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra!
The way this poem starts, these three lines reveal three characteristics of that subject, black, woman and girl that are all of them discriminatory. In this part, I identify Lugones’ s ideas builds on Aníbal Quijano's concept of the coloniality of power, which highlights how colonialism introduced racial classifications that became central to global capitalism and also exposes evidence of what Lugones call “the modern/colonial gender system”.
Y pasaba el tiempo,
y siempre amargada
Seguía llevando a mi espalda
mi pesada carga
¡Y cómo pesaba!
Me alacié el cabello,
me polveé la cara,
y entre mis entrañas siempre resonaba la misma palabra
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra!
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Neeegra!
Those lines show deep feelings, the emotional and psychological weight of internationalized racism. How the principal character try to change her physical appearance to fit or be accepted in the Eurocentric beauty standards. Furthermore, it exhibits how the author struggles between the acceptance of her identity and the rejection imposed by society.
In the poem we can see how the “word” domains but and the same time emancipates, and I refer to that because the narrator says, “and I felt a black woman as they said” but with her words and the end she could shout proudly, “I’m a black woman” and these words allow to see justice embodied principally in feminine voices. At the beginning of this poem, I identify what Anibal Quijano states there is Coloniality of power, knowledge, being, nature and life, the first is based on the social hierarquization for sex and race, imposing as Maldonado says the relation between subjects is not horizontal but vertical in characters. Also, it is evident inferiorization, subalternation, and dehumanization, understanding that "human" equals rational, civilized; "non-human" equals barbaric, uncivilized. In this case the inferiorization and subalternation of afro communities or color women.
María Alejandra Villa
ReplyDeleteSecond part
At the end of the poem these phrases are recited resonantly
De hoy en adelante no quiero/ laciar mi cabello/ No quiero/ Y voy a reírme de aquellos, /que por evitar –según ellos– /que por evitarnos algún sinsabor /Llaman a los negros gente de color / ¡Y de qué color! NEGRO ¡Y qué lindo suena! NEGRO ¡Y qué ritmo tiene! NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO/ NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NE- GRO/ NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO/ NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO
Which simbolize the need to break the domains or at least be conscious of the coloniality of power, as text, the use of rhythm and repetition in the poem connects with Afro-descendant oral traditions, which have been tools of resistance and cultural preservation in the context of colonial oppression. This poem is not only a literary work, but also a manifesto of resistance and an invitation to question the colonial structures that persist.
This kind of behaviors have not could be eradicated from the daily lives or contexts, where being black or having features related to these communities are enough reasons to minimize or prejudge people. In the school where I work, the director makes comments about teachers that are afro as “negro tenia que ser” o “que pereza negros”. In the same manner parents refer to afro teachers as “la morenita” and they don’t use phrases that refer to physical characteristics with other teachers.
The poem “Negra” can be tackling in a language class from a decolonial perspective through the following activities:
1. An analysis of the language and voice in the poem, to do this, the teacher can foster discussion with question like ¿ how the identity of the subjects is expressed in the poem? - Reflect on the use of metaphors, symbols or images that evoke historical processes of oppression or emancipation.
2. Proposing to discuss the connection between the poem and forms of cultural resistance, such as the use of language or the recovery of collective memory.
3. Inviting students to write a poem or short text from a decolonial perspective, exploring how to question hegemonic hierarchies and narratives in their own lives or contexts.
Dear María Alejandra,
DeleteWhat a beautiful message this poem has! Thank you for sharing it! It cannot only be analyzed in terms of racial discrimination, but also from other perspectives where the “coloniality of power” (Quijano, as cited in Lugones, 2007) could be perceived, as you mentioned; for instance, the word “Negra” that is shouted could be changed by “mujer”, “pobre” or “gay” to discriminate or oppress others. Those shouts are like labels to reinforce systems of oppression in our daily lives.
Besides, the first lines of the poem really impacted me; it is a sad but true reality that children from a very early age have to face cruelty and discrimination because of being in “the other side of the line” (Santos, 2014) and the confusion it generates can continue until adulthood to perpetuate wrong thoughts and psychological violence. Those lived experiences shared in the poem evidence how a comment can be normalized and even affect a person’s identity and self-perception as the examples given by Fanon when referring to the “coloniality of being” (as cited in Maldonado-Torres, 2007).
Finally, I think that the ideas you proposed to implement in class are quite good as they promote reflection and discussion. Letting students share their insights and lived stories also contributes to the process of decolonizing ourselves.
Dear María Alejandra,
DeleteThank you for sharing this poem with all of us. I really wanted to feel the poem so I put on my headphones, close my eyes, and listened to it. Then, I opened my eyes and watch the video so I can connect more with the meaning. Wow! it hit differently the second time since the way Victoria Santa Cruz delivers it, adds so much power to her words.
Personally speaking, I really liked how you connected the poem to the ideas of coloniality and gender. The part where she tries to change her appearance to fit Eurocentric beauty standards really stood out to me too. As I wrote in Juan David's comment, I experienced a situation where my parnets' black niece wanted to straight her hair becuase she was kind of ashamed of it, a heartbreaking moment but so real for many. When I watched the video, I could not stop but thinking about Victoria screaming “Negra” with so much pride—that gave me chills. It made me think about how words that were once used to oppress can be transformed into symbols of empowerment. Generally speaking, I agree with Yuranny, in this case is the word "negra", but I have heard so many words that denigrate who we are. Coloniality of being (Maldonado-Torres, 2007) has made us (including me) feel like we do not belong and specially, when it comes to race, this has been more evidenced regarding those words that have been naturalized over the years.
Regarding your activity, I am wondering it would also be interesting to have students reflect on those "words" or "labels" they’ve struggled with in their own realities. Maybe even perform their own spoken-word pieces but inspired by Victoria Santa Cruz' poem? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME, wouldn't it?
Hello Alejandra,
DeleteThis was an incredible performance by Victoria Santa Cruz. I totally agree and relate with Jhonatan's experience. It is sad but also reinvigorating that she now stands and recites a poem in this way, with so much conviction and energy. Very touching, indeed.
There are many things that I have already mentioned in my previous comments to your classmates. You do a good job in relating concepts proposed by some of the authors we have read, which, at the end of the day, coincide in calling these phenomena by different names: Colonial matrix of power (Mignolo), abyssal line-thinking, decolonial contact zones (Santos), coloniality of being (Maldonado-Torres), colonial/modern gender system (Lugones), and decolonial epistemic shift (Grosfoguel). As Lugones indicated, all understanding of the colonial being is intersectional.
Victoria Santa Cruz denounces racism; however, her experience is also crisscrossed by gender coloniality and the body politics of colonialism, where bodies that did not resemble the European white standard in terms of color and phenotype were disqualified. Along with this came the knowledge and spiritualities of these non-European bodies. They were basically taken to the zone of nonbeing, as Santos discusses.
The poem clearly depicts this feeling of inhabiting the abyssal line, where Victoria felt like a nonbeing—stripped of any sense of self-worth and humanity. Society was reproducing the narrative of the coloniality of being, where bodies are invisibilized and marginalized due to colonial difference.
I want to refer to your pedagogical activities—they are good, but I would suggest adding one that could be even more impactful for students. We are all living within the confines of the colonial matrix of power simply because we are mestizos and still don’t match the imagined body that lingers in our subconscious—the ‘desired’ body that is white and has certain phenotypical features associated with Western Europeans. These body politics, inscribed onto our very beings (see my comments on Yuranny’s entry about how society is inscribed onto our bodies), are constantly present in the way our physical appearance is questioned on a daily basis: because our hair is not straight, or our skin is too dark, or our nose is too long, or we are too short, etc.
So, one possible activity could be to ask students to remember an occasion when they were singled out because of any of their physical features and then replace the word "Negr@" in Victoria Santa Cruz’s poem with their own experience. Ask them to prepare a performance like hers. The result? I don’t know. But perhaps it could be cathartic, because that is exactly what can be felt through Victoria Santa Cruz’s poem—she drives you through a cathartic experience. Her body posture and movements shift throughout her performance in an incredibly powerful way. This is a similar activity to what Yuranny mentions in the sense of replacing by the word “mujer”, “pobre” or “gay”. But in here, smallest things such as nicknames that are a nightmare to teens in high school: cabezón, for example.
Hi everyone
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the video of the song: "Tous les mêmes" by Stromae
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAMWdvo71ls
Stromae is a Belgian singer and songwriter.
Analysis
I think this song and video are a very creative way of demonstrating how gender stereotypes are still very present in today's society and how they affect the ways we relate to each other. The singer, who is also the main actor in the video, embodies both a man and a woman at the same time, and this duality is displayed in the very first scene. Half of his body represents a heterosexual woman, and the other half, a heterosexual man. Through this powerful image, the video challenges the idea of gender as something binary, as well as traditional notions of femininity, masculinity, and the expectations placed on men and women within romantic relationships.
All of these ideas are connected to María Lugones' concept of the colonial gender system, which argues that colonialism imposed a rigid binary gender system. Before colonial rule, some Indigenous and African societies had more fluid understandings of gender and sexuality, they even had, among their plurality of gods, female and non-binary deities.
Along with its visual narrative, the song uses stereotypical phrases such as “vous les hommes vous êtes tous les mêmes” ("you men, you're all the same"). Through this, the singer portrays a man as a predictable, unfaithful “macho” with a huge lack of accountability. Meanwhile, with phrases like “non je ne suis pas certaine, que-que-que tu m'mérites” ("no, I'm not sure you deserve me"), the artist presents a woman complaining about having to endure these behavioral patterns from men, yet feeling unable to change the situation.
This reflects how coloniality has influenced our understanding of gender, placing men and women in a power dynamic where women are expected to be emotionally and physically invested in romantic relationships and family life, while men are granted sexual freedom and emotional detachment. This corresponds to Aníbal Quijano’s concept of colonial patterns of sexual behavior, which shaped the expectations of gender roles within colonial societies.
Part 2
ReplyDelete"Tous les mêmes" portrays modern gender roles in an artistic and critical way. This song is not just a personal story about tensions in romantic relationships, iit is also a representation of how coloniality continues to shape gender dynamics today. This is why it can be used in the classroom to help students connect modern life with its roots in colonial ideologies. It also serves as a way to explore how colonial structures persist even in aspects we may not immediately consider, such as our ways of relating to one another, particularly in romantic relationships.
From this song, we can invite students to take a decolonial perspective in the way they construct their relationships. This process can begin by questioning our own behaviors and recognizing that coloniality is embedded in all of us (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018). Then, we can think of alternative ways of acting that allow us to free ourselves from these deeply rooted stereotypes (in this case, gender stereotypes) and build healthier relationships.
Some Strategies for Using the Song in a Language Classroom:
Visual Analysis
This song has a very engaging video, where the main character is split half-woman and half-man. Take advantage of this image to invite students to reflect on how it represents gender. Encourage them to research how gender was understood in Indigenous societies.
Activity: In groups, students research specific Indigenous or African societies and how they conceived gender before colonization. They then share their findings with the class.
Lyrics Analysis
One of the most universal phrases in the song is “vous les hommes vous êtes tous les mêmes” ("you men, you're all the same"). This phrase reflects stereotypical and essentialist views of masculinity.
Discussion Questions:
Have you ever heard this phrase before? In what contexts?
Who do you usually hear it from?
How can such generalizations influence how men actually behave in relationships?
How does this connect to colonial constructions of gender roles?
Final Discussion
End with a class discussion on the following questions:
How has coloniality influenced the way we perceive gender?
What actions can we take to challenge gender stereotypes in our daily lives?
Dear Sandra,
DeleteThank you for introducing a song in French! Very refreshing, and also a very enjoyable performance. It is great that you related the lyrics and performance of Stromae to the colonial/modern gender system discussed by Lugones. I agree with you that the colonial matrix of power imposed biological dimorphism, heterosexualism, and patriarchy as the standard for understanding gender encounters and sociability practices, as described by Santos.
You could also expand on how the expected or stereotypical behaviors assigned to each gender shape one’s sense of self or being—this is how the coloniality of being was implanted. The establishment of cultural practices and ways of being, aligned with Western gender constructions, served as a matrix to suppress, disqualify, or oppress other forms of sociability between members of different genders. As you point out, for most Indigenous communities, hierarchical divisions in society did not depend on race or gender. These categories were imposed by Europeans as a way to create an abyssal line, providing them with a justification for the enslavement and subjugation of people in the invaded territories.
The song is a clear materialization of gender stereotypes that shape our perceptions of relationships. It critiques the way both men and women are trapped in predefined roles, leading to ongoing conflicts. However, I am unsure whether the song merely depicts this issue or also calls for action. I did not see a clear call to action.
Regarding the pedagogical strategies you propose, your first activity—asking students to explore gender roles in Indigenous communities—is very useful. It would be even more impactful to invite an Indigenous guest speaker to reflect on this topic and explain how Western views of gender have influenced their communities. For example, some Indigenous cultures once viewed homosexuality as special, believing that individuals who embodied both masculine and feminine traits had unique spiritual powers. However, due to the influence of the church, these perspectives have changed, and homosexuality is now often seen as sinful. Additionally, many Indigenous social structures have evolved to resemble those of dominant Western society in terms of gender roles.
There is much to explore in this discussion. Some scholars argue that Indigenous communities had different forms of patriarchy before European colonization, and that colonialism replaced or restructured these systems rather than introducing gender oppression for the first time. However, Indigenous communities were diverse, with varying social organizations.
You could frame this in terms of Santos’ "sociology of emergences"—encouraging students to reimagine social organization, epistemic justice, relationality, and sustained diversity. Are students able to think beyond the binaries of the colonial matrix of power?
Hi Sandra, I love your song, thanks for sharing! I enjoyed the video a lot, and particularly in our case (foreign language teachers), having a song whose video is appealing and related to it can help us significantly enhance our understanding of the topic, and, in this case, can also invite us to reflect on our perception of gender roles. One of the things that I really like about that song is that when you read each verse of the lyrics you immediately know if that part is from the man or the woman. I found that interesting, especially because although the composer is Belgian, we have the same stereotypes in Colombia, which demonstrates that we have all adopted Eurocentric forms of behavior and thought.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of students analyzing the “modern/colonial gender system” as Lugones calls it, so they can question their complicity in the system, but also to analyze what has been imposed to them by the society. I believe these practices are necessary and important to address explicitly in the classroom, especially after the rise of movements like the manosphere promoted by Tate, in which misogynistic, sexist, and homophobic practices are encouraged and incredibly well received among the young boys.