I have seen this word before, but never took the time to look up the meaning. It is a loaded word for sure and now that I know what hegemony consists of, I am very aware of it and see it constantly. I was in the grocery section at Target the other day and needed some ingredients to make an Asian dish. There was one aisle for "international foods section." There were Oriental foods, Latino foods, and Indian foods assigned to only one section in the whole grocery store. It got me thinking, why can't they just be regular foods with all the other groceries? Spices can mix with other spices, rice can mix with other rice. Mostly all the food we have in America is imported from other countries. The word hegemony came to mind when I observed this and thought about how this is a small, everyday part of making sure there is an organized social structure/system.
Then I started to think, how many other small, everyday situations do I stumble upon that would be considered hegemonic? It is in movies, radio talk shows, advertisements, retail stores, schools, books, work places, and politics. It may not always be in your face, but it is the millions of subtle small things that we as a society as so used to seeing and hearing. It is almost like we are walking through life with subliminal messages being thrown at us each day. Are we not too far off from the way things were fifty plus years ago? I know people think we have made progress, but there is still an enforced hierarchy in society today. Thinking this way makes me feel hopeless and I do not like feeling hopeless. Of course, life and people are not all terrible with terrible intentions. Some people have similar realizations and try to do something to change the status of society. I feel like I am one of those people who is aware, but am not active enough in making a difference. This is part of the reason why I want to teach. If I can create lessons and bring new meaning to student's lives in some way that reaches them, then maybe it will trickle down.
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale
Leigh,
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about hegemony being everywhere even in the grocery store is so interesting. When you think about the international food aisle it is bizarre that those foods have to be labeled as outside the norm or international. I never took the time to look for those subtle hints of hegemony but now I will. If each of us can teach even one other person about this, we could make a change.
-Katie Landon