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Assignment 8

Outsiders can contribute to the field of sociology and our understanding of society and culture through their experiences and everyday life challenges that they face and how they would tackle that challenge. Collins mentions how African American deals with the oppression that they face from the whites. In one example she mentions how African American women take care of each other because they are in the same position and only have each other to help each other out. By doing this this allows the Afro-American women to deal with the oppression in their own ways while also keeping themselves safe and fighting the oppression in their own quiet way. Collins also mentioned how these Afro-American women consciousness is hidden because they are being oppressed and by not revealing anything they are protecting others African American. One way for them to reveal something without being pressured by the oppression is through creative expression where they are aware of themselves being oppressed and they find different ways to cope with it and continue different activities without letting the oppression get into their ways.

Also outsiders tend to be able to see things that the insiders or sociologist don’t see such as the oppression/racism in a certain area. Collins mentions how Judith Rollins was hired to work in a place and while working the people (employer) there ignored her existence and had a conversation as if she wasn’t there. The people that ignored Rollins were playing the part of the norm that the society had set. Collins mentioned earlier how the dichotomy of white/black and male/female was unstable and that one will always be superior to the other counterpart and this is that norm that was set by physicians (people with the knowledge). Also another example is if you are traveling to another place you will see a different perspective of that place you went to compared to if you were to live there. This is because each person has a different perspective and experience of that place and they each view the place differently. Similarly the African American women has a different perspective compared to white American because they are the ones experiencing the oppression not the whites. That’s why they will find ways to cope with it, but if it were to be the other way around what would happen then?