Expectation and Lived Reality

This post is inspired by They Are Weighted With Authority: Fat Female Professors in Academic and Popular Cultures by Christina Fisanick.

The central theme of my Keyword Project is the idea that the identity of an individual (labels one associates or is associated with) are both internal and external. That is, the final identity of a person consists both of how they self-identify and how they are perceived. In light of this theme, I read They Are Weighted With Authority within the dichotomy of 'student expectations' and 'lived realities'.

After recounting the historical shift away from "pride in plenty" to "gluttony shame", a shift which placed fat people squarely within the perception of gluttonous (and therefore shameful), Fisanick speaks culturally about the "normal body" and the "normal professor body". Culturally speaking, the "normal body" is:

• White
• Male
• Able
• Heterosexual
• Middle-Class

Fisanick argues that this "normal body" carries over into academia, and therefore the "normal professor body" is also:

• White
• Male
• Able
• Heterosexual
• Middle-Class
• Middle-Aged (additional)
• Thin (additional)

The above provides for us the 'student expectation' half of a professor's identity. That is, we now have the external perceptions of what a professor should be. These expectations arise from cultural affirmation and the studies cited in the article suggest that cultural affirmation carries over into the academic landscape (found via student evaluations, promotion and tenure statistics, etc.).

The other half of the final identity of a professor, the internal half, exists within the 'lived reality' of that professor. If the body of a professor does not match the external expectations, then the 'lived reality' does not match the 'student expectation', and from this discord arises discrimination. It is a discrimination born out of the imaginary conditions which one is culturally trained to accept as appropriate and capable. The opposite, then, is the belief that the body which does not match the "normal body" (or "normal professor body") is inappropriate and incapable. That is, incapable of teaching, extolling knowledge, succeeding, advancing, etc.

In my original consideration of the creation of identity (again, labels that one associates or is associated with), I looked at labels one can choose and labels one is given. You can choose to be a Feminist, Pro-Life, or a Democrat, but you are given the label Woman, Black, Gay, or Lower-Class. There is a difference, then, between my original conception of internal and external sources of identity and the way I am considering 'student expectation' and 'lived reality'.

I place both 'student expectation' and labels one is given under the heading of external sources of identity. One cannot control what is expected of them any more than one can control the labels a society gives to them. However, there is a notable difference between being labeled something and someone having a particular expectation of you based on cultural training. The common ground between these two external sources of identity at last, of course, is lack of agency in their determination.

I place both 'lived reality' and labels one intentionally associates with under the heading of internal sources of identity. One has (some measure of) autonomy over their lived reality as well as the labels they choose to associate with. Certainly, there is more to be said about the level of relative autonomy which exists in the 'lived reality' of an individual, but to the degree that there is more control over 'lived reality' than there is over expectations, I place it (along with chosen labels) squarely within the realm of controllable sources of identity.

Q: Do you agree that one's identity is half perception and half intention? Why or why not?

Q: To what extent do you feel that external sources of identity (sources you cannot control) affect your daily life? How could/should one combat negative external identifiers?