Week 6 Questions Pleming

 1. I found Hall's conclusion in "Race, Articulation, and Socieities Structured in Dominance" particularly striking. Specifically, Hall offered a compelling balance between the two extremes of class and race reductionism. Hall highlights the ways in which class is "reproduced" within a capitalist society, providing the general structure that informs the economic system. Hall also places race within this framework as a stumbling block to a united class struggle. Crucially, Hall argues that racism cannot be understood without careful consideration of the ideological shifts that racism undergoes through different periods of history. As someone who is interested historically in class and race, it is often difficult to balance my inquiries. Hall offers a way to frame both as the interwoven things they are, while giving each the independent attention required.

2. I am also still grappling with Slack's conclusion to "The Theory and Method of Articulation." Specifically: "context is not something out there, within which practices occur or which influence the development of practices. Rather, identities, practices, and effects generally, constitute the very context within which they are practices, identities or effects (126)." If my understanding of this quote is correct, I find the idea of reeaxmining what specifcally we consider context to be compelling. However, it seems to me that Slack is saying that context is nothing but identities, practices, and effects. I'm not sure that I understand this correclty or fully grasp what it would mean to conceptualize context this way in my own work.