Class Reflection #

From Aaron and Lameesa’s question in class about accountability and agency, it really got me thinking about whether any of the texts really touched on how marginalised groups can hold power, accountability over others and have agency to act.

Doing a quick search through all the texts, I saw that Tunstall has this response:

Tunstall says the issue with people who drop into communities and work with them to just fly back out haven’t “built a relationship of accountability.” She states that in her work with indigenous peoples she built a relationship of accountability where “the community has the means to punish you if you screw up.”

That was a very interesting definition of accountability. Punishment. Interesting to me from imperialism/colonialism how this aspect of punishment — meaning the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offence — is seen as a fix for wrongs. Does punishment remove wrongs? pain? or does it just try to re-equate a wrong/

I asked myself and Aaron over slack, do marginalised groups have punishing power? Also, what does it mean if a group’s power only comes from screw-ups and retribution?

The power the community has to punish is dependent on the room the company/corporation gives to be punished. I wonder what other conversations people have been having about accountability/agency for marginalised groups facing established white structures.

with the Black Youth Design Initiative