Identifying with the Role of “Other”: “The Pink Triangle Experiment” Revisited

Noriko Milman; Jerome Rabow

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.2.2.05

Authors

Noriko Milman University of California at Los Angeles, USA
Jerome Rabow University of California at Los Angeles, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.2.2.05

Keywords:

experiential learning, gay and lesbian, identity, identity management, stigma, self and society, social oppression

Abstract

The present study examines the impact of a politically-charged symbol on the everyday interactions of student-participants. Autoethnographic data gathered by undergraduate students donning a pink triangle pin indicates that participants often became identified with a gay/lesbian identity and were subsequently “othered.” Students’ testimonies highlight how the othering process prompted greater understanding of the struggles of gay men and lesbians, as well as other historically disenfranchised groups. Finally, their writings indicate that the experiment served as an exercise in self-reflection and in some cases, produced sentiments of self-empowerment.

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Author Biographies

Noriko Milman, University of California at Los Angeles, USA

Noriko Milman (MA) is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests include: childhood, primary education, urban schooling, and race/ethnicity. She is currently using qualitative methods to study kids' culture among first graders in an urban elementary school. Prior to graduate school, Noriko was a first grade teacher in the Compton Unified School District, located in southern California.

Jerome Rabow, University of California at Los Angeles, USA

Jerome Rabow (PhD) is Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angles and Lecturer at California State University, Northridge. Recent books include Voices of Pain, Voices of Hope: Students Speak about Racism. Kendall Hunt, Dubuque Iowa, 2006; Excellent Teaching in the Excellent University, Academica Press, Bethesda MD, 2006; Tutoring Matters: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Tutoring, Temple Univ. Press. Phila. PA.1999. (with T. Chin and N. Fahimian) In 2005 he wrote, produced, and directed a documentry about teaching race at university and high school levels. The video, "Voices of Hope" is available at www.pyramidmedia.com.

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