Ngofa 1

Nyla Ngofa

Professor Agosta

UWRT 1104-103

July 13, 2020

Question 1: Inquiry affects academic conversation because it encourages free expression and

allows the student to actively engage in the discussion taking place. Questioning the things

around you can develop your understanding of how things engage and function around you.

Additionally, being in a space where being curious is accepted, one inevitably challenges and

is challenged with the introduction of different ideas that were not considered before.

Fortunately, these challenges are significantly beneficial to advancing one’s way of thinking,

and, hopefully, they can learn somethings as well. Academic conversation affects inquiry by

contributing to the effectiveness and intellect of the conversation. Understandably, when a

person is inquiring something, what they are studying is something that they are passionate

about or is worth inquiring about. Academic conversation influences inquiry to be beneficial

and filled with depth and not a topic that is considerably inconsequential. If done right,

academic conversation and inquiry will hold a positive correlation regarding each other.

Consequently, as the conversation advances intellectually, the level and engagement of

inquiry raises as well.

Question 2 & 3: The videos that I watched and articles I read were very enlightening, and I

was pleasantly surprised at the information that was given to me. These pieces of information

showed me how significant and influential names can be. One of the things that caught my

attentions is how oppressive a name can be. When I read the article for “Jobs, Race, and

Names,” I was unpleasantly surprised with how much of a discrepancy the percentages for
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the chance of being employed based of whether a person’s name sounded white or black. In

the article, Jalen Ross shared the findings of a study that showed that “every day, a black-

name resume is 50 percent less likely to get responded to than a white-name resume.” This

study shows how oppressive and judgmental a workplace can be and how miniscule things

such a person’s name can be detrimental to their chance of getting a job and can hold more

importance than their accomplishments. While on the topic of oppression, the video I

watched titled “Slurs and Identity” provided me some insight on how members of the

LGBTQ+ often suffer from homophobic and transphobic slurs. I was surprised about the man

in the video was easily target by just walking down the street and laughing. When he said

that, I thought of how easily judged people of this community are and often find myself

questioning what they deserved to be treated this way. Additionally, I noticed how casual the

guys who said the slurs were; it’s unfortunate how normalized those slurs were at the time.

The last thing I gathered from the information given that showed how oppressive names can

be was the mention in the last video titled “History of Names” that talked about how in

wanted ads, runaway slaves were referenced as having two different names: a “country”

name and a “proper” name. The country name was a slave’s actual name, while their

“proper” name was the name their slaveowners forced them to adopt and use on the

plantations. I found it very oppressive that slaveowners tried to take a slave’s name away in

order to further remove their sense of self autonomy. Fortunately, the slaves were adamant

about keeping their original names and refused to use them unless they were forced to.

In addition to the ability of names having the power of influence, I also noticed situations

where names served to a person’s benefit. Names can be impressionably impowering and can

be a chance for someone to start over and rebrand themselves or for people to make a
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statement for themselves whether it address a public or private issue. For example, the article

titled “Changing Your Name” showed how impowering names can be. Alina Simone, whose

name was originally Alina Vilenkin, talked about how she felt restricted by her old name and

how changing her last time helped her overcome her personal struggles. Simone writes,

“Then I changed my name and it changed me. In my new incarnation as Alina Simone, I had

no reputation, no history of unmet expectations, nothing to lose. I poured my best self into

my new name.” She also recounts a meeting she had with a woman who had also changed

her name to Alina Simone to start over after a life changing event and tells us how it

impacted the other woman as well. Ironically, the “new Alina Simone” recalls changing her

name as an effort to discover who she was as a person because she had “never really been left

alone to find out.” When I mentioned the video about the man being a target of a

homophobic slur, I also recall him saying how, because it was his first time being targeted,

he was able to really come to terms with his sexuality. So, despite being targeted, the man

used the slur and the situation to impower him by allowing for him to fully comprehend how

beautifully unconventional his sexuality is to societal norms. Lastly, when I mentioned the

attempted repression of slave names by slaveowners, the video also talked about how, years

after slavery was abolished, black Americans eventually began to “change their name to one

that was combination of Arabic and Africa origin to renounce slave names.” For instance,

Stokely Carmichel had changed his name to Kwame Ture to make a political statement. As

demonstrated in this paragraph, while one’s name can be extremely oppressive, it can also be

very impowering and serve as a meaningful representation of one’s culture or background.

Question 4:
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I wonder why someone changing their whole name is weird but changing only a part of it

such as their maiden name is acceptable.

Is changing your maiden name acceptable because it’s a cultural norm or because it conforms

to patriarchal ran society?

I wonder how white people believed that they were and are the superior race.

Do white people’s tendency to take over other’s cultures and successfully control it

contribute to their idea that they are the superior race?

I wonder if society can be fixed as to where a person’s name or race is not a consequential

factor for how they are treated.

Is the inability for society to rid itself of their instinctive racial oppression the result of

discrimination and prejudice being one of the things that America was built on?

I wonder about the individuals of those who have slave ancestors that do not have any

record of their origin, how they deal with insufficient amount documentation, and how it

affects them.

How are the individuals who have slave that lack documentation of their evidence affected

by this, and how are they put at a disservice in society?

Question 5:

After reading the articles and watching the videos, I realized that I knew a

considerable amount of information about the influence of names than I originally thought.

Although, from personal experience, I was not surprised at the information I discovered. I

think that it so no secret of the ingrained racial inequalities that is extremely evident when

exposed to it. I have not had a job before, but, based on observation, I have noticed that

minorities tend to occupy lower level job than white people. Also, when you look at mass
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media, the lack of minorities in television, news channels, and movies is painfully obvious. It

is one of the first things I notice.

When constructing my questions, I thought about all the information that was

presented to me. I felt that all of it was important to mention and reflect on because they all

introduce me to a new level of understanding that makes me realize how regular things such

as a name or a word can hold so much value in our society and to people. As I thought about

what to write, I started to question myself and recognize the inquires that I had about these

topics. I thought about systematic oppression, racial inequality, the normalization of

homophobia, the effects slavery had on African American even after it was abolished over a

century ago. So, I am proud of the statements I made and the questions I asked because of

how effectful they were in relating to the topics at hand.

Before I concluded my assignment, I wanted to include some of my own personal

experience in relation to the topic of name changing. I often thought about changing my last

name to my mother’s in hopes of making life a little less complicated than it already is. My

last name is “Ngofa” and it has a Nigerian origin, while my mom’s name is “Richardson”

which was most likely an effect of white washing in the past before my mother was even

born. Obviously, my current last name is harder to pronounce than my mom’s. This is the

primary reason why I frequently thought about changing it. Whenever people see it, they

think to themselves, “How do I even pronounce this?” There is nothing wrong with asking,

but I honestly believe that if you just put in just a little effort to sound it out the right

pronunciation will come out. Also, my last name always gets made fun because of how it

sounds and how African sounding it is. Ironically, most of, if not all, of my encounters with

the teasing has come from black Americans?! It is crazy to me that people of your own race
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would make fun of an African name. White people just look on in amazement or desperate

confusion to understand how to say it. I would prefer the constant, naive questions they ask

over the ignorant comments I receive from people of my color. Despite this, though, I am

appreciative of last name because it symbolizes where I came from and some people don’t

even get to showcase where they came from. So, even though life would be a bit easier with a

last name like “Richardson,” I take pride in my culture, and I am glad to be able to broadcast

it wherever I go. I am unabashedly proud to be Nigerian.