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book complaints general ideas thoughts

Complaining about the weather – about productive and unproductive complaining

Remember how during our first session in class we talked about productive complaining?

Well, please let me do the complete opposite today and just complain, 

because I really feel like complaining.

First of all, its winter.

People hate winter.

It is dark, it is cold, the days are so short,

but it’s also a nice topic to complain about every day.

Normally when I feel the need to complain I talk to my mother.

She is the “complaint-receiver” of the family. 

After a hard day of working, she comes home, where she finds 10 missed calls from her 4 children and a husband, everybody ready to lay off the burden they collected all day long.

But I could not reach her.

Please let me complain here about what we don’t want to talk about anymore:

I want to complain about the ongoing pandemic. I want to complain about my mental state that has pulled me into a down again. I want to complain about humanity still not able to deal with social injustices and climate change. I want to complain about the weather.  

But, who to address this to?

Some things are (seem?) too big to complain about productively.

All you are left with is just complaining.

This makes me think about whether we have never learned how to complain productively within the right structure. Watching a lecture from Sara Ahmed I found it interesting when she talked about certain procedures that are applied when you voice your concern to the official complaint procedures of institutions. They receive you, they listen to you, they nod, and they say yes. They say yes, they will accept your complaint and deal with it. It gives you a feeling of satisfaction. You were able to let off steam, you feel like you have advanced in your process of dealing with your issue. But then nothing happens. You went through the whole procedure, but in the end, you sent the file and by filing it you might put it to rest forever. The problem is that going through the whole procedure gives you a feeling of being active and of accomplishment without something happening for real. Because what happens from the part of the complaint-receiver is simple “nonperformaty”. There is a gap between what is supposed to happen (according to policies and procedures) and what is really happening1. You have to push institutions to follow their own policies and even then, it can take a lot of time as they hope that by time you will just let go. Hence in the end, all you did was letting off steam: an explosion is avoided by the one that receives the complaint2. By filing your complaint, you got a feeling of being productive even though in fact you were not.

When I think about it, I suspect the same thing happens when you complain to friends instead of directing the problem to the subject involved. I do think that it is very important to talk to your friends about weighs you down: you will realize you are not alone and learn to sort out your thoughts before you impulsively address them. But the problem might be that you complain so much to your friends and just anyone that you might not feel the urge to complain to the right person anymore. The complaint is never received, the steam is off, but nothing has changed: unproductive complaining.

Part of the issue might be that often you just don’t know who to address your complaint to. I have to be honest and say that before reading this book, I was not even aware that there are places where you could hand your issues to. And this is for sure again part of the problem why complaints are not officially dealt with. There is no general awareness of what to do when you find yourself in a state that is unbearable, where you or someone else is wronged, where you are looking for change. Looking at complaining and seeking change in within institutions there is strangeness in the aspect that there are in fact procedures set up for complaints, but it seems like everything is done for you to not use them and if you come to the point of using them, they seem to prevent themselves. Complaint-procedures are not accessible. “A complaint procedure is how you learn what to do, where to go, in order to make a complaint.”3 Before you can get through with a complaint you have to work your way through the fog of knowing how to do it. This is why you might not do it at all. And the less these procedures are used, the harder they are to find.

We need to learn how to make complaining accessible. We need to learn how to complain productively. Because for now complaints seems to be done to prevent us from complaining. 

Is our system not made to receive complaints because it is not made for change?

1 See: Ahmed, S. (2021): Complaint!, p.28.

2 See: Sara Ahmed, Complaint as Diversity Work, Joan S. Korenman Lecture, March 2019, ab min 8:15.

3 Ahmed, S, (2021): Complaint!, p.31.

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“procedures are not hanging on trees”

Understanding your position and knowing your resources is fundamental in making a complaint. However, in comparison resources like policies and complaint procedures are not hanging on trees and easy to find. in some cases it even seems like you have to plant the tree yourself, take care of it and have precision in order to harvest the goods. In her book “Complaint!” Sara Ahmed wrote, “It can be hard to find the complaints procedure. Or you can be told there is no complaints procedure” Sarah Ahmed .

The way Sara explains it, you can be told that there is no way to submit an official complaint, in order to stop you from finding a way in first place thus making complaint procedures user unfriendly as wall as sabotaging democracy and equality in society. “like an unused path: hard to find, difficult to follow.’’ _ Sara Ahmed .

Even if you bring a policy as evidence to support a complaint, it does not guarantee you will get somewhere, it might even kick you out and view your actions as insubordinate. Therefor it is worth reflecting more on how we earn about institutions from what policies they follow if they are following their own policies, to ground a base to start from. 

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book complaints thoughts

Unter dem Zwang

Nachdem ich den Teil drei “IF THESE DOORS COULD TALK? ” gelesen habe, bin ich von dem Artikel überrascht, in dem erwähnt wird, dass ein Hochschullehrer eine Studentin sexuell missbraucht hat. Da ich diesem Bereich zuvor weniger Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt hatte, fand ich diese Situation sehr befremdlich. Also habe ich im Internet nach der Lage an chinesischen Universitäten recherchiert. Nachdem ich die wirkliche Situation herausgefunden hatte, wurde mir klar, wie ernst diese Angelegenheit ist. Erst vor kurzem gab es ein Beispiel, bei dem eine Studentin ihren Lehrer wegen sexueller Nötigung anzeigte.

Allein die Zahl der Enthüllungen ist erschütternd, es ist schwer vorstellbar, wie viele weitere Vorfälle nicht ans Licht gekommen sind. Viele Studenten haben nicht den Mut, sich über ihre Lehrer zu beschweren. Einerseits glauben Studenten, dass der Lehrer ihre Note und damit indirekt auch ihre Zukunft in den Händen hält. Andererseits werden wir in China dazu erzogen, unsere Lehrer zu respektieren und auf ihre Lehrer zu hören. Das Bild des Lehrers ist für die Schüler immer ehrenhaft, rechtschaffend und heilig. Aber eines Tages schließt der Lehrer plötzlich die Tür, zeigt ein anderes Gesicht und will den Studenten ohne Scham sexuell angreifen. Ich bin sicher, dass die meisten Studentinnen an diesem Punkt überfordert sind. Selbst wenn sie sich wehren und es schaffen, die Tür zu durchbrechen. Aber auch danach bleibt ein tiefer Schatten auf ihnen zurück. Das kann zu Depressionen oder schlimmstenfalls zum Selbstmord führen. Das sind nicht meine Mutmaßungen, sondern Fälle, die tatsächlich passiert sind.

Wie einige der im Buch “Complaint!” angeführten Beispiele zeigen, findet diese Art von sexuellem Übergriff im Wesentlichen zwischen Masterstudenten und Professoren oder Doktoranden und Professoren statt. Warum? Ich denke, der Grund dafür ist, dass die Interaktion zwischen Master und Professoren eher eins zu eins stattfindet. Anders als bei Bachelorstudenten, die in einer Klasse, einer Gruppe oder einem Kollektiv auftreten. Sie sind viel stärker, wenn es um ungerechte Behandlung geht. Masterstudenten sind üblicherweise eine einzige Person, deshalb sind sie sehr schwach gegenüber dem Professor. Je anfälliger eine Studentin für sexuelle Übergriffe ist, desto größer ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass einige Professoren es tun wollen. Aus diesem Grund sind Masterstudenten und Doktoranden die Gruppen, die am häufigsten von sexuellen Übergriffen betroffen sind.

Es ist nur meine persönliche Interpretation. Aber diese Ereignisse erinnern mich auch an einige der Themen, die von Masterstudenten in China häufig diskutiert werden. Einige Master sagen, dass sie in ihrem Masterstudium eher Assistenten ihrer Professoren sind und dass sie neben ihrem Studium viele zusätzliche Arbeiten leisten müssen. Ein Großteil dieser Arbeiten sind unbezahlt und helfen ihnen in keiner Weise weiter. Je mehr Arbeit sie leisten, desto wahrscheinlicher ist es, dass sie ihre Masterprüfungen bestehen. Einige andere Masterstudenten erwähnen auch, dass sie für Feste oder den Geburtstag des Professors jedes Jahr teure Geschenke machen müssen. Denn diese Geschenke können den Professor glücklich machen, und wenn der Professor glücklich ist, wird er oder sie in der Lage sein, einen erfolgreichen Abschluss zu machen. Aus diesem Grund sagen viele Masterstudenten, dass sie nach ihrem Abschluss keinen Kontakt mehr zu ihren Professoren haben. Alle Kontaktangaben werden unverzüglich gelöscht. Tatsächlich trauen viele Masterstudenten sich nicht, sich an ihrer Universität zu beschweren. Ob die Macht des Professors an der Uni zu groß ist?

Natürlich behandeln nicht alle Professoren die Masterstudenten so. Es gibt auch viele Professoren, die sich korrekt und hilfsbereit gegenüber den Masterstudenten verhalten.  Nach dem Abschluss halten sie den Kontakt und pflegen ein gutes Verhältnis. Dies ist eigentlich ein Wahrscheinlichkeitsereignis: Wenn ein Masterstudent seinen Professor ausgewählt hat, entscheidet sich auch der Verlauf des Studiums. Dieses Bildungssystem kann einige Nachteile haben und ist von vornherein ungerecht. Die Zukunft der Masterstudenten liegt nicht in ihrer eigenen Hand, sondern hängt davon ab, ob sie das Glück haben, einen guten Professor zu finden. Und wenn die Entscheidung einmal getroffen ist, kann sie nicht mehr geändert werden.

Ein Zitat aus dem Buch “Complaint!” lautet:

“I think of narrow corridors. They can be what you have to go through to get somewhere, to reach an open door. A professor can become a nar- row corridor: who you have to go through to get somewhere, who you have to go through to reach an open door. A going is often narrated as a gift. Those who abuse the power given to them by virtue of position often represent themselves as being able to open the door for others. When an open door becomes a gift, an open door can also be a threat.” (S. 230)

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I

While the speaker made a complaint, there was another “I” who heard the complaint.

This “I” was, usually, or could be, a close friend or family.

However, the Emotional Worker or Counter Staff was the first person – who picked up the phone and answered or provided the basic requirements and guided the procedure and this could have been their first encounter.

This “I” is in charge and makes them fill the formula, asks them to wait till next week or next month, and delivers the papers to the committee.

 I (the counter staff, the emotional worker) had the duty of encoding or numbering the REAL COMPLAINT into JUST LETTERS and categorizing these complaints according to a given method.

In this numbered paper, there was no FACE, VOICE, EMOTION or indication that ‘I’ was heard.

I felt that they gasped for breath when they were angry and devastated. But when the complaints were delivered to the superiors, they could only see the well-ordered words. There was no reality. Thus, at some point, whenever I encountered THE SPEAKER, I pretended that I couldn’t hear-see-feel their complaints. 

This is my confession which I regret making rather late in time. I worked for many years as counter staff and I still remember passing the speaker by with an empty look. These memories struck me vividly while I read this book.

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I

Unfortunately, the entire process of making the complaint is laid with privatizing the complaint. 

Compared with making criticism, during the procedure of making a complaint mostly have the I, or first person. 

So relevantly, the complaint itself involves – who struggles with making a complaint – I, the first person that is speaking.

This person is directly concerned as a complainer which is easily entailed to a label or document as Sara Ahmed said. 

And during the complaint work, I realized “Me and my complaint could not be separated.”

Internalizing the complaint naturally happens to I, but not to others. At the same time, I even experience that people equated me and my complaint.

“My complaint is not my whole, but still, this is affecting me” 

For approving the existing I, existing complaint, the first person has become a speaker again and again. 

Through enduring pain, their bodies [voice, face, tremble … ] represent testimony.

And It began to be a citation.

If bodies can end up in documents, and documents can end up in files, bodies can also be files or perhaps bodies can be filing cabinets, holders of multiple files. What is filed away by institutions can be stored in our bod- ies, experienced often as weight. The body of the complainer is a testimony to the work of complaint

Sara Ahmed “Complaints!” 2021

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The circle and hierarchy of power

The circle and hierarchy of power looms over universities and government departments.

In China, there are hundreds or thousands of people competing for every civil service or university lecturer position, and the barrier to entry is high.

When entering a university or government institution, people have access to resources and power that are not available outside, so many people are eager to enter these institutions. After such fierce competition, those who have already entered the university or government sector will value their positions extraordinarily. In order to protect their jobs, resources and power, internal staff will form their own circles and unite to protect their privileges from outsiders. Over time, the circle becomes ubiquitous, and everyone must fit into it or be isolated and driven away.

This situation is very common, which is why many of my Chinese friends choose to stay in the European workplace.

When you work in a university or a government department, your superiors directly determine whether or not your subordinates will be promoted. There is a clear hierarchy in these institutions. If someone doesn’t behave himself, his career will be ruined by his superiors. This is the Chinese officialdom, and only those who can adapt to such rules can climb higher.

The complainers will not survive long in this circle and hierarchy of power. In such a rule, people who ask questions are only seen as deviants and are wiped out.

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book thoughts

on words

One student said of her complaint, “It just gets shoved in the box.” Another student said, “I feel like my complaint has gone into the complaint graveyard”… Doing things in the proper way, doing what you are supposed to do, can lead, does lead, to a burial. If a burial should not happen but does happen, then burials might not appear to have happened; a burial can disappear along with what has been buried. 1

Growing up as a bookworm, I sense a subtle tinge of shame admitting that I have only read a handful of books during the past few years. In my defence, the past few years were anything but normal. They seem like a never-ending train of tragedies, always keeping you on edge, wondering if you should perish the moment because what is yet to come is going to be even worse. Years of therapy were undone in a matter of months, and my already dwindling attention span got absolutely annihilated.

Choosing to take part in a course where the main task is read the damn book does not seem like the wisest decision. But I wanted to push myself, and having been familiar with Ahmed’s work, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to immerse myself in the new book, finding different, personal, and artistic ways to approach it.

And I’m gonna be honest – I have become a slow reader. But to my surprise, Complaint has been a rather easy read. Now, it might be condescending to describe a book by a scholar who’s been a professor, an academic worker, and a diversity worker as an easy read. Nothing this woman has done in her life could be spoken of in the same breath as anything easy . And a book that deals with such sensitive, important topics such as discrimination and harassment, and all the ways you could fail if you seek justice – How could it be easy to read?

Yet part of what makes Ahmed such an important feminist scholar is her ability to write in a way which is both accessible and cautiously intimate. Her aim is not to write specifically for people with a similar background or knowledge, at least not in this specific book, and not in, say, Living a Feminist Life. What we have here is not a textbook, you don’t have to put a bunch of reference books next to you to get what is discussed, all you need is being willing to become a feminist ear, as Ahmed herself. 

Complaint?! Is thereby an accessible book in both the way that it is written and the way it is structured. Before reading the book I listened to a few of Ahmed’s talks about her research throughout the writing process and the experience of reading the result is very much like listening to her. Complaint?! is an unapologetically emotional book. Is a collection of testimonies, as Ahmed likes to call them, yet not a simple report. If there’s one thing I have learned from this book is that there are already enough reports on complaints in this world – somewhere in a cabinet probably. She plays with words carefully, not too much to be a distraction but just enough to make sure that she still has your attention, which makes the text – if I dare judge – poetic and very human.

If a complaint is made to create more time and more room, a complaint can take time and leave you with even less room. The less time you have, the less room you have, the more conscious you become of who is given time, who is given room. 2

 Using metaphors – sinister ones: doors, burials, bodies that have stopped functioning… -and repetitions, Ahmed makes sure that a common language, a common understanding is being shaped gradually between her and the readers – who may or may not have been in the situations described in the book, or may or may not have privileges that would make them unlikely to ever experience them. And may or may not have the attention span of a squirrel after having spent what seems like a lifetime in isolation and a constant state of fear. And it’s amazing how empowering this sense of having achieved a common language is. How relieved you could feel when you hear what you could have not expressed in someone else’s words. Even if the relief is followed by a vague sense of helplessness, it is still something. It’s like putting feelings in words makes them justified, gives them a face, their very own identity. And it might make them scarier at the beginning – “words can never hurt me” says a liar or a fool – but that’s a start.

I think.

How do you pull yourself together to share an experience if an experience is of breaking apart? 3

  1. Ahmed, S. (2021): Complaint! 2021
  2. ebd
  3. ebd

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Feint

Many people are good at hiding their true thoughts with different actions that make the complainant think their complaint is being listened to carefully. The head-up and head-down actions seem to tell the complainants that their complaint is not only accepted, but accepted well. But in fact, if the complainant leaves feeling that the other person has accepted her complaint and is not going to continue with it, the nod serves its purpose, which is to shut the complainant up. All this makes me shudder.

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“Warning”

I was reading the chapter “on being stop” when I came across this story: A junior female scholar of color was warned by a senior professor: “You are a young scholar, and if you do this now, you will be known as a complainer, so let it go.” She was advised to “let go” so as not to be known as a “grouchy person” or “someone with a grievance”. This is because people in academia believe that not complaining is a virtue, and that those who offend this virtue will be forever ostracized from the circle.

This kind of thing is very common in Chinese society, and even has been deeply rooted, my friend has also been in such a situation, She is an aspiring art teacher who has done a lot for her students, But when the students achieve something, there is often the so-called more senior people than her to take it all away. She chose to be silent because it was traditional education and she could only be endured in silence, alone. I once urged her to be brave and speak her mind, but she just chose to stay away from trouble, to do things alone in the future, to bear the burden alone. She asked me if she would become a misfit in the future, I couldn’t answer, I knew she wasn’t originally like this, it was society that turned her into this.

Institutional fatalism tends to be mentioned when things happen, and I couldn’t agree more with the author on this point. By system fatalism, I mean that the system refers to the environment in which people live, and it will always have some problems, and you shouldn’t try to change them, or you will have a miserable ending. Many people emphasize fatalism, which is very malicious. They want to use this theory to make the complainants feel afraid, because if the complainants feel afraid, then they are likely to stop complaining and end up with nothing.

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Fake Freedom

Many times we try to believe what we see with our eyes, but in fact the truth is not so. In China, as a student, I tried to find a course I really liked, or a direction I wanted to try, but because of the university system, I was not qualified to be in any class that was not related to my main major. This is not common in European art universities, but in China it is a hard rule, we don’t have a lot of space to communicate, our needs are ignored and we are buried in a lot of homework every day. Yet university is still regarded by many parents as a synonym for freedom. The university’s complaint channels are always open, appear to be very liberal, and are willing to listen to different voices. Everyone is allowed to complain. This gives a false impression, but in fact, the university will only stop you and tell you not to do so, so that it does not match the group, out of the group is a mistake. Complainers at the university are usually warned and there are consequences. That consequence is the cost of complaining.