fAituar has 14 post(s)

Jennifer Morgan in, Male Travelers, Female bodies, and Racial Ideology, discussed about a lot of themes on a very strong topic. The most interesting from my perspective was a topic about how different writers and travelers implemented different ideas about white supremacy in the early sixteenth century. I believe that, Morgan probably connected the female bodies and racism through presenting us different opinions of those famous writers and travelers.

At the time when colonization began, Europeans didn’t really know what was out there in the world. And, as colonization gained a momentum, many people travelled to different parts of the world. They found something new in the horizon and it was definitely very strange and exotic for them. So, they wrote stories about these indigenous people and especially women. For some travelers, these indigenous women were very beautiful and others saw them as some kind of devils and unnatural monstrosity. So, the special propaganda began. Although, the propaganda word might be strong but for my purposes in serves well. Therefore, writers wrote that black people were animalistic and cruel. Black women and men were physically strong but they didn’t have any civility. Many travelers of that time saw indigenous people as a work force because they thought they could give them a purpose and use them as slaves. So, the propaganda played a huge role in validating the use of black people as slaves and Europeans would feel sorry for them. All those horrible stories about childbirth, child scarifies and cannibalism had an impact on European people and the idea of white supremacy. European people just simply thought that they were better. The black females’ bodies were compared to white female bodies and slave owners figured that black female were better in labor work. They were physically stronger and they presumably didn’t feel pain. Black female bodies were always shown as devils in women form as well as other forms such as six legs form and sagging breasts. Thus, Europeans writers and travelers implemented the idea that black people didn’t matter and it was used to justify the strict control and supremacy over the black indigenous males and females.

Question: Why most of the writers of that time concentrated mostly on women and not men? Was it Jennifer Morgan’s choice to do that?

The beginning of sixteenth culture was very difficult for the entire world. It was a time when countries like England, France, Portugal and Spain began their expansion. Colonization began all around the world and it had effects. Some of the consequences still didn’t resolve in a modern world. However, the colonization was an issue of a colonized new worlds at the same time people of these power countries experienced local problems too.

Silvia Federici in the chapter “The Accumulation of Labor and the Degradation of Women” explains that government started to privatize the land and forced people into labor. Enclosing of a land had a huge impact on people’s lives because before that people could provide for themselves. They grew food and sold it to others. After privatization, people lost their old way of life. Now they had to work for somebody and get a payment. At the same time, in the other parts of the world, slavery started to emerge. Going back to England and other countries, men found themselves working for the government but women lost their purpose. Women’s task was trimmed to just reproductive labor. Land privatization harmed women more that men because the old way of life crushed and they found themselves moving from place to place and it became a thread. Women were unprotected from hunger and especially male violence. Unfortunately, it was a time when misogyny was at rise. Also, women had to care for children and protect them somehow. Some women found a job in military services as cooks or nurses but later on even these jobs were taken from them. And, if we move to the other countries that were colonized, people were enslaved into labor. There were a lot of struggles and rebellions but it didn’t make an impact and only degraded their lives.  Many men were killed by colonizers and women were left without husbands, protectors and providers. So, they and their children were exposed to even more violence from cruel masters.

Thus, from sixteenth century to twenties century people did a lot of good things as exploration and inventions as well as bad things such as colonization and enslavement of people for unpaid and unjust labor. And, only people who suffered from this were other less privileged people, who were only a different race or gender.

While I was reading this chapter, one thought was concerning me. Davis said that women were mostly mother’s and they had to cook food, clean house and raise children. The thought I’ve been having is that times have changed but some people haven’t. I’ll try to explain it as clear as possible. For instance, if we compare modern times to the time when women of any race wanted their rights to count. Nowadays women are independent and strong but in some places of the world, women live with the same old patriarchal way of live. The problem of gender occurs not only in US but in other countries also.

Girl is taught to be a keeper of a house and a good mother since childhood and it almost never changes. I’ll give a personal example and I’ll describe my mother. She was told that women have to do everything in home. In my culture men has a big role but my mother didn’t want to be a “just another woman” she wanted to become someone. She made everything to ensure that she would accomplished her own goals.  She went against all the rules and guidelines she was once told. So she got an excellent education in three different universities and she got a well paid job. In addition, she is a great mother because she always cared for her family. I’m proud of her because she accomplished what she wanted and she escaped the way of life she was told to follow. She succeeded in professional way and in her personal. Of course there are other issues such as a glass ceiling but it’s a topic for another day.

In my opinion women who wanted to be equal to men in the nineteen’s century accomplished a lot because with out them we probably wouldn’t have our way of life. Of course there are still inequalities and men and women of any race have still a long way to go to a full understanding of this question. However, for now, thanks to strong and independent people like Elizabeth Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth and many other men and women, who came along despite their gender and race differences. Although in the beginning black women’s right were not mention on conventions of that time and it definitely draw attention to it. Luckily they united for a greater goal and made powerful speeches that we study now. “And ain’t I a woman” is probably one of the highlights of the movement. Sojourner speech not only was about black women’s right but also about all women and how they can achieve the same amount of work done as men do. Black liberation movement and Women’s liberation movement realized that it’s in their best interest to unite and make changes. Thanks to them we now have some idea how an equal world can look like in a future and that we still have a long way to go.  

Hello everyone.  My name is Aituar Nugmetullin, originally I’m from country called Kazakhstan. It’s located almost in the middle between Europe and Azia. I moved to New York four years ago to get a valuable education. I’m a transfer student at Hunter College and it’s my first semester at Hunter. I completed my Associate’s Degree at Borough Of Manhattan Community  College (BMCC.) My major is filmmaking. I’ve been fond of filmmaking since I was a child and now I’m just trying to reach my goal and become a famous movie director. So, I’m excited to start this new academic year and I hope it’ll go smoothly. Thank you and nice to meet you all.