Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

What if all difference is constructed? I thought we were supposed to celebrate differences. I thought the buzzword word was diversity. Look around and visualize the difference, skin color is visible, defines black or white. What about when we can’t see the difference, hidden difference below the surface? Where is difference, is it real, is it the space between? Difference as defining and measuring populations. I’m white, no I’m Norwegian, categories not so apparent but insist on claiming it. Race is important, race is not important. We are all the same, we are all different. What happened to the Family of Man? The system relies on the existence of difference. We need to read your body, not your body but out reading of it, our need to know. Hey where are you from? I’m from Bothell. No, where are you from? Oh, I guess you mean Cambodia. We want to know what makes people different. Where are you from, no really, where are you from? They look different. What is the deal with diversity? Do we have to visually present it? Isn’t there diversity in people who look visually the same? What are the assumptions in visualizing diversity? Where does diversity come from? Where does diversity live, what does it look like? Look, don’t look. See, don’t see. Categorize, assume, don’t. Recognize, forget. Do I see you? Am I trained to only see the differences? Am I trained to ignore the differences?