On October 12, the Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley and the Curatorial Practice at the California College of the Arts are partnering to host a live-streaming of the Creative Time Summit, an annual conference in New York that brings together cultural producers–including artists, critics, writers, and curators–to discuss how their work engages pressing issues affecting our world. To jump-start the conversation in advance of the event, attendees have been asked to submit a paragraph on a keyword associated with one of the summit themes: Inequities, Occupations, Making, or Tactics. This posting is by Mohan Zopey, American Cyberculture student at UC Berkeley.
Keyword: Inequities
The word inequity, to me, means a lack of fairness, equality, and justice. There are several examples of inequity throughout the history of mankind, including slavery in Alexander the Great’s kingdom, civil rights of African Americans, and gender disparities in wages. Because of this long history of inequities that continues to this very day, it is likely that there will always be inequities in one form or another in human society. It is one of the many factors that make a utopian society (i.e. ideal and perfect) virtually impossible. However, inequities still play a very important role in society. They help us identify major issues that need to be looked at (i.e. civil rights, gender rights, etc.) and help precipitate change (i.e. through a movement or revolution). Through this process we can help make society better and take one step towards a brighter future. This, of course, has happened in the past and will continue to happen now and in the future. It is important to note that this is an ongoing process that likely will never cease. As we progress as a society and eliminate certain inequities, others will invariably pop up. In other words, although we may get closer and closer to an ideal standard, we can never quite achieve it. Despite this, it is important that we learn from our mistakes (i.e. the inequities) and try to ensure that they never happen again.