"The Wrong Sort"

I was sitting here listening to my new favorite (Hanukkah) song.  No, I am not Jewish, but I have had a slight obsession with them since Evil Bear Buddies (one of the most ridiculous professors ever) deemed them "the wrong sort".  I have always found Judaism interesting, but EBB calling them the "wrong sort" made the even more interesting.  So I was listening to this song about and by the "wrong sort" and started thinking about how we think about who the "wrong sort" are, how we treat them, and how we talk about them.

First, I want to explain what I mean by "the wrong sort".  I by no means think any group of people are "the wrong sort" except perhaps those that hurt others or something.  And even then, I don't think they are necessarily inherently a "wrong sort", but they could just be misguided individuals and are crying out for something.   And it is no reason to create preconceived notions about certain groups of people.

Back to who "the wrong sort" are.  I took a class called Topics in Identity and Culture: The Racial Dimension of America or something like that.  What I learned was, unless you are an Anglo Christian American, you are the "wrong sort".  Take for example myself.  I am Irish Catholic.  I am the really wrong sort.  Let's start with the Irish part: I (supposedly) drink entirely too much whiskey, go to work drunk, get drunk after work, and after spending all of my money on drinking (instead of feeding my family), I go home and beat my wife.  And since I am so busy drinking whiskey and getting drunk, I don't have time for civic participation.  Then comes the Catholic part: My allegiance to the Pope calls into question  my allegiance to America.  It creates unstable democracies. 

There really isn't a "wrong sort" literally speaking.  Instead, it was a term the professor used to describe the mindset of the American people at certain points in history.  (Although, it is fun to think about how wrong of a sort I am.) 

So now that you (kind of) understand where my thoughts are coming from... I have noticed some conceptions of "wrong sorts" since I have arrived here in Santiago.

One of my students is rather vocal about who he deems as "the wrong sort" in class, and frankly, it makes me more and more uncomfortable with every class.  He makes a lot of comments about certain people or things being "gay", and it is pretty clear he thinks they are not worthy of being equal to other "right sort" people.  This is really uncomfortable considering how many of my friends are gay.  Also, I am essentially told that I should make the student happy by most any means, so I feel like I can't say anything to harsh when he makes those comments.  I think this reflects a larger perception in Santiago of intolerance toward gay people- they are the "wrong sort".

Indeginous people are almost always the "wrong sort", and it is no different here in Chile.  The Mapuche are the largest indiginous group here in Chile, concentrated in the South.  (There are also Mapuche located in Argentina, and one of my favorite songs is sung by an Argentinian Mapuche woman.  You can listen to it on YouTube here.  There is also a photo montage, so that always makes it worth the watch.)  You can read about the Mapuche in this Wikipedia article  or this independent study in athropolgy.  As with many indigenous groups, the Mapuche have suffered injustices, and they are still fighting for recognition of rights and equality.  Currently, there are land disputes caused my Mapuche calling for stronger control over ancestral land claims.  This article briefly explains the recent campain to regain ancestral lands, and how some of their tactics have lead Mapuche people to be imprisoned as terrorists. 

At times, I feel like being gringa is one of two extremes: either I am the "wrong sort" or I am fascinating and exotic.  I get looks and comments occasionally, especially when I don't know the exact word I want to use in Spanish.  I hate feeling like the "wrong sort"- I have enough Irish and Catholic guilt, I don't need gringa guilt on top of it.  (The being fascinating and exotic part is kind can be saved for another time.)

Really, I just hope that some day we can stop thinking of people as being the "wrong sort" and all just get along.  Not in the "Everybody Is Finally Anglo American and Christian and Speaks English" sort of way, but in the "We Are All Different And We Can Peacefully Co-Exist Despite our Ethnic Differences" sort of way.

Peace