How are the actions of individuals both “empowered and constrained” by their position as members of a group?Explain

Readings:

– David Treuer, “Digital Indians: 1990-2018,” from The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present (2019)

– Karen Ho, “Biographies of Hegemony,” from Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (2009)

Prompt:
In previous essays, we examined whether individuals could create societal change, and to what extent individuals were responsible for making these changes. Many of your essays took aim at the “elites” of our world, arguing that they, as a generalized whole, were responsible for stopping or subverting efforts at genuine social change.

In “Biographies of Hegemony,” however, Karen Ho argues that “elites” are also individuals working within a particular social framework. She points out that “that the particular biographies, experiences, and practices of investment bankers, who are both empowered and constrained by their cultural and institutional locations, create social change and financial hegemony on a daily basis” (Ho 163). The actions of individuals are both defined by and create the power and identity of the group to which they belong.

In a similar way, Treuer discusses how individual Native Americans are making changes that affect Native American identity as a whole. He points out that “to be Indian today seems to be more a matter of action” (442), and that it is the actions of individuals within a particular “cultural and institutional location” that define whether or not they are “Native American.”

Utilize ideas, terms, and quotes from Treuer and Ho to address the following question:

How are the actions of individuals both “empowered and constrained” by their position as members of a group?

Questions to get you started:

What defines a “group” and how are these groups created? You might want to think through Ho’s idea of “kinship networks” and/or Treuer’s notion of “culture.”
What does it mean to be part of a group? Can individuals be part of multiple groups? What effect would that have on their position as “empowered and constrained”?
Are individuals “empowered and constrained” in different ways when they are part of an “elite” or more powerful group, as opposed to a “subaltern” or less powerful group?
Use these questions to focus your thoughts and generate ideas as you work to answer the central question of the prompt.

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