Ahmed today is making a new documentary with the working title \u201cThe Injured Body.\u201d The film was inspired by the book \u201cCitizen: An American Lyric,\u201d by the poet Claudia Rankine. In a slim volume that itself blends genres\u2014it\u2019s part prose, part poetry, interspersed with photography and visual arts\u2014Rankine illuminates the microaggressions that accumulate like toxins in the lives of people of color in the United States.<\/p>\n
A microaggression is an insult aimed at someone based on their membership in a marginalized group: A security guard follows an African-American shopper in a department store. A man makes a sexist joke expecting his female colleague to laugh. A teacher refuses to pronounce an immigrant student\u2019s name properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMicroaggression can be related to racism, but it can also be about gender, sexism or class,\u201d Ahmed says. \u201cI wanted to explore all those nuances in the film.\u201d<\/p>\n
What makes an aggression \u201cmicro\u201d isn\u2019t that it\u2019s trivial but that it\u2019s often fleeting, possibly unintentional\u2014and all too common. Asked if she ever experiences microaggressions, Ahmed says yes, often, and recalls that long-ago lunch with colleagues\u2014although on reflection that strikes her as more blatantly aggressive. Asked if she\u2019s ever committed a microaggression, she says yes, she recently assumed someone\u2019s religion based on his name. Few people are immune from acting out unconscious biases.<\/p>\n