One thing that really stuck with me from Tracy’s presentation on Monday was the analogy of the “Invisible Backpack”. Tracy just briefly touched on this idea and I was curious about it so I decided to do a bit of research. The idea of the Invisible Backpack originally came from the anti-racism activist, Peggy McIntosh. Peggy wrote “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” which discusses acknowledging privilege (focusing on white and male privilege). Originally, the Invisible Backpack analogy came with a quiz that encouraged people to reflect on their social status. It contains 26 statements that require reflection. Here is an example of one of them: “I can be pretty sure that my neighbours in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me”.
As I was reading through the quiz, I found myself reflecting on my own social status. Although I am fifty percent East Indian as well as female, I found that I felt confident answering yes to the majority of the statements. Because I have lived in Canada my whole life and English is my first language, my race does not really affect my day to day life in the community yet Indian culture is still big part of my family life. All these things are part of my Invisible Backpack. I have attached the quiz to this blog and I suggest everyone gives it a try. You might be surprised by what you discover about yourself. (Scroll down to page 2 for the quiz)
https://uucsj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/White-Privilege-Unpacking-the-Invisible-Knapsack.pdf
shea-lyn mouillierat
November 3, 2022 — 3:57 pm
Hey Nova,
I just want to thank you for taking some time to look further into the “invisible backpack” concept. When reading your blog, the “invisible backpack” sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t seem to put my finger on it until I thought back to my Indigenous Studies course last year. We read Peggy’s book (or a part of it?) during my course last year.
I remember thinking about my positionality and how I fit in to society when I was first introduced to the idea last year, but I hadn’t seen the quiz you shared prior to reading your blog! I think it is so great that you shared this with us. I have yet to go through the quiz but I think things like these are so helpful in reminding us about the privilege we often don’t even see as privilege. Thank you again for taking time to find something you could share with us!