5 Assignment 03

In Chapter 1 of Jennifer Morgan’s novel, she discusses how it wasn’t until European colonization/influence that African Americans – especially women were led to believe that they were inferior, because they did not look the same. They noticed a racial inequality as a result of this. Europeans were led to believe at this time period that they were superior in some ways because of the harsh treatment of the African Americans. As a result of this racism and brute labor, bills that became laws were passed to reinforce the harsh treatment of the African Americans. Morgan also writes although there is a distinct concept of races biologically speaking, that should not ratify how humanity should be like. Several people in this chapter have varying opinions of how they saw the black people during this time. For example, one Englishman saw a black woman in the Cape Verde islands and marveled at her beauty. However, people such as Lynda Boose and Peter Erickson did not view black woman at this time as people to look up to.  They viewed them as assets for their marketable labor and fertility. Not only were black women racially discriminated against, but indigenous people to Amerindia were too, and were called wild or savage. Additionally, biblical references were made to black women describing them as a symbol of the devil. Moreover, Native Americans, those indigenous to our country were described as cannibalistic for eating one another and was characterized as savagery.  The West Indies and Jamaica have also put black women to labor use and have become  profitable lands. There was a wide cultural difference between England and Jamaica in terms of black beauty. It was very hard during this time period for the Europeans to let go of this tragedy of thought. Ultimately, exploitation of the Africans for labor have led to a superiority complex of the Europeans.

When dealing with Jennifer Morgan’s ideas in the first chapter of Laboring Women, I found it both incredibly jarring and enlightening to grapple with firsthand ideas of post-1300’s colonialism and racism. Studying the theoretical principles behind these ideas was one thing—especially when dealt with through the arguably “diluting” lens of political correctness that permeates contemporary American culture in addition to my own experiences as a cisgender Filipino American male who has lived in communities with others like myself for most of my life. But to deal with the startlingly raw and unabashed racism that is interwoven into these seemingly “benign” portraits of the “New World”1 gave me new insight into what it must be like to live as someone whose otherness is a more intrinsic aspect of their existence in today’s violently prejudiced world.

I found most startling was Morgan’s discussion on the “discursive place of black women” (14-15), in which she explains how black female bodies were at first exotified and capable of evoking desire then almost simultaneously vilified and used as proof that their respective peoples were uncivilized and monstrous. This incongruity highlights how essential the conception of “otherness” (as we understand it today) was essential to the construction of Western European supremacy (and what would inevitably become white supremacy). For it was in the creation of the savage that “civilized society” came into being, in the realization of the “monstrous” that their subjugation and enslavement became justifiable, in the vilification and dehumanization of the black body that anything associated with Western European culture, ideas, and mannerisms—or “whiteness” in general—became superior.

When considering these ideas and their contemporary anti-theses—the disproving of racial eugenics as pseudo-science, that humans are one of the most genetically similar species on the planet, and that whiteness should not persist as the be-all and end-all of anything associated with superiority—the question I would have liked to ask is by what logic and by what utter lack of sense are these ideas of racial superiority allowed to persist? Why and how are these relatively young ideas of racial hegemony so utterly ingrained into our collective psyches? And what can we do to unlearn and help others unlearn this vast colonization of our cultures and our minds?

Jennifer Morgan discusses how women are viewed through multiple travelers that have wrote on their journeys to express the connection between the female body and racism. Some writers believed that women from outside of Europe were quite different like they were pleasant beings but would still degrade them, which made it all the more contradicting. Others sometimes referred these women to be savages and not pleasant to look at. Regardless of what the writers wrote, the women that were examined set how society should be run.

In Vespucci’s passage, there was a woman that really showed beauty to him. He makes remarks of the women’s bodies. In his perspective, their bodies were clean and smooth due to them often washing. The women also never refuse to do any labor while even having children. However, in after all the good remarks he made about the women, he still manages a way to degrade them on their body which can be connected through racism if you further interpret it. When he discusses about their bodies being clean and smooth, he says that they’re still filthy in other ways and have no shame but does not specify it clearly in what terms he was trying to mention. He notices that women are free when it comes to marriage. There was no legal set of rules to how to deal with marriages. A man was allowed to have as many women as he pleased, along with leaving them whenever he wanted with no obligations. These indigenous women were nothing like white women of their gentleness and modesty and were able to do more things, such as working and easier pregnancies.

Black women were able to do labor and far less complications with pregnancies than white women did. They were still degraded on the fact that they were more free than white women were. They could be in any marriages they wanted without issues versus in Europe where religion played a huge role. My question to this passage is, what makes an evolving civilization if women and men cannot make decisions for themselves?

In Jennifer Morgan’s book she often depicts a theme of how women of color were often seen as barbaric and often were synonymous to animals. The connection between the female body and racism is often seen as the downfall for women in terms of rights. An example of the connection is the description of how the size of an African American woman’s breast would make it seem as if they were a six legged animal. When people visualized this image it would make people see black women as animals. Several
European writers including Richard Ligon held this view of extreme racism. He held the view that the hanging of the breasts when symbolize the only purpose that black women served which was to produce crops. Ligon created the idea that there was foreign creatures working for white men out in the fields. This basically gave the harshest view on slavery were black women were no longer human. This had a big impact on the view that Europeans held on black women now.

Women in addition to being called animals, were being shamed when they were to give birth to children. The barbaric and nomadic women would often interrupt travels due to birth. If a women were to give birth to more than one child than the she would be considered a devil and the following children would be considered monsters. Also, writers would often be thought of as sexual deviants. Instead of throwing their breasts over their shoulders, they would let them hang and crave for the love of men. It would symbolize youth and beauty. The punishment of sexual deviance would be to give away their children to any man that desired them. The constant reoccurring coming up is shame, as basically black women would be shamed for anything that they did-bending over or even walking.

Question: Why were their interracial relationships if black women were considered animals?

Before any of the New World conquest entered, black women of Africa had lived in their bodies unmarked by Europe’s preoccupation with physiognomy. Their skin color, hair texture and their facial features were seen to be a cultural deficiency. An Englishman named Richard Ligon described what it was like seeing an African American woman for the first time. His shipped had set sail from London to the Barbados and he saw a black women for the first time. He described this black woman to be the greatest beauty he’s ever seen in one woman. He said she was large, excellently shaped with full big eyes. He compared her beauty to Queen Anne. His statement with comparing her to the Queen had a lot of controversy because it was unusual to compare someone too a monarchy, especially being a black women with how everyone else viewed them. A lot of the times, many English writers had compared a black woman body and figure to a white woman’s body. Most of the other Englishman would disagree with Richard Ligons statement and said black women to be monstrous and not feminine enough. Since many people had disagreed with Ligons views, as his journey went on he changed his view of black women. He stated that their breast would hang down below their navels and would critique their bodies. African Americans women bodies were dehumanized by the way these scholars would write about them and view them. I believe that because of these writings they did about these women, sets the stage on how society should see and views a women “perfect” body.

My question is, do you think that the sole purpose for Ligon changing his opinion on how he views black women, was based off of all the other Englishman and scholars viewing them with such negative feedback?

In chapter one of “Male Travelers, Female Bodies, and Racial Ideology”, Jennifer Morgan explains the connection between the female body and racism. Throughout the chapter, a common theme was familiarity and unfamiliarity. The familiar in this case was the gender of the native women, and the unfamiliar was their race, and the features and behaviors associated with it.

Although this theme is present throughout the chapter, the last paragraph on page 28, is a good example of this reoccurring theme. Jobson starts off by mentioning the African women’s beauty and the familiarity of their features. However, he only praises their behaviors when they match his. For example, when Morgan discusses Jobson’s fascination with the African women’s modesty. She points out that the lack of modesty found in the African culture contradicts his expectations of women in his culture. Therefore, due to the traveler’s unfamiliarity with the native’s lifestyle, natives are depicted as uncivil and savages.

In my opinion, the connection between the female’s body and racism was demonstrated through the exploitation of the female’s bodies. In this chapter, travelers and writers wrote about their explorations in new countries, in which they discriminated its locals based on their (dark) features and behaviours. Most of the travelers mentioned were white males who shared common familiars. Such as, the familiarity of (white) women in femininity and modesty. Seeing the absences of these familiars lead them to exploit women in order to reconstruct a more “familiar” lifestyle for the natives. Images of women’s bodies was their mode of manipulation – exploiting women’s bodies as evidence to display the corruption of their lifestyle. Through this approach, travelers were able to direct the settlers towards a lifestyle of white male supremacy and cultural inferiority. Thus, because of the intersection of racism and sexism, women of racial minorities are objectified by being portrayed as savages and cabalist. Due to the traveler’s belief of their superiority and their familiarity of life.

In chapter 1 of Jennifer Morgan’s book she explains how African women’s bodies were dehumanized in order to justify slavery. Early European travelers wrote reports of both Native American and African women. These reports included images and writings that shaped ideologies that othered non europeans. By painting these people as savages, specially the women, Europeans were able to set the groundwork for what would result in the race classifications and the exploitation of black and brown bodies that continues today. One trope that was spoken about throughout the chapter was the idea of black women as having extremely long hanging breasts. Not only did this trope further the idea of black women as reproductive factories it also allowed Europeans to liken them to domesticated animals and beasts. The image of the black mother carrying her child on her back and throwing her breast over her shoulder for them to suck on was an image propagated throughout europe. This image not only helped to solidify black women as  monstrous beings but it allowed for a clear distinction between white women and black women. While white women were weak, dainty and pure black women were depicted as unnaturally strong and masculine. One of the main ways this difference was made clear was through accounts on black women’s childbearing practices. Much of the literature spoke on black women unnatural reproductive abilities. They were said to not feel pain during childbirth and were capable of bearing children and go tend to  their daily work almost immediately after. When compared to white women who were aided by nurses and demonstrated pain and fragility during childbirth it cast black women as in the same category as livestock. If pain during childbirth was a biblical curse that god put upon Eve, the fact that black women apparently did not feel pain proved they were not descendants of Eve and therefore were in the same realm as animals. The hanging breasts were also used to liken black women to beasts. One informant wrote that a woman’s breasts were so long their grazed the floor as she bent to do field work creating the illusion of six legs. Another example was the use of the word “dug” when describing their breasts, a word commonly used for animals. These images all worked together to solidify the idea of African women as subhuman savages. This idea was used to legitimize the enslavement of both african women and men.

Question: What were the differences and similarities between the depictions of Native American women and African women? Why did these differ? Can we see some of the same images being perpetrated in today’s society?

In the first chapter “Male Travelers,  Female Bodies, and the Gendering of Racial Ideology” of Jennifer Morgan’s book, she mainly talks about how European countries were exploding West Africa and how the white explorers looked black women for sending America to work as slaves. In 15-16th century, Europeans started travel over the sea, they knew African continent exist unlike the Americas, but they did not know what was there. Then, they found African people who are totally different from white Europeans and started label them as savage. Some documents shows that white Europeans viewed them as nonsexual animals, monstrous, human savage. Some people expressed as monsters with six legs. They basically looked them as not human, and they usually couldn’t distinguish their sex, and the only crew to distinguish their sex was whether or not they have breasts. This majority view for African women is one of the main causes racism and degradation of African women. Furthermore, they are thought to be inferior because of their cultures and customs that was totally different from European region. For example, African people at that time were naked constantly and they did not have idea of chastity because African women usually had sexual intercourse everyone in the group. Moreover, they had to work while they are pregnant. This was really savage for white Europeans. This caused them to behave inhumanly and sell them to America as slaves. These cultural and physical differences were enough for Europeans to justify racism. They might have thought like they are useful for white people and they don’t even have to be treated as human. Some document says that they are not sexually attractive at all, but they are good enough for reproducing slaves.

Discussion Question: What made European explorers think they are inferior to white Europeans?

Society has always seemed intimidated by a woman’s figure. Jennifer Morgan discusses how the female body played a major role on what we know as racism. This concept or belief was created by men, in order to have more power over valuable items or concepts. When the Americas were discovered, the differences between natives and europeans were inevitable to ignore. Coming from a more advanced place and environment, the europeans knew what to do to to secure power over the natives. They took both male and females and enslaved them, just based on physical differences. Native women did not have the same image as some of the other females who were “educated” to behave and act a certain way. This gave them the opportunity to comprare the image of strong black women to the one of the european women. These African slaves were not what these men were used to seeing, they had already been used to how their women looked like and it would a more “innocent” and “delicate” way. Female slaves were seemed as a machine that would produce money for them in every way possible. Europeans already had a different perception of what beaty was to them, and black women were not part of that definition for them. What in reality was beautiful, became a sign of threat to them. The female body was the a symbol of burden, in which anything and everything that came from it was considered bad. Europeans came into these new environments to change the way females were used to live. Seeing how normal giving birth seemed to the natives, Europeans took this opportunity to ponish them in a way. They were not used to seeing people reproduce like this, so the female body became a business for the white men. This just goes to show how ignorance in both sides led to the birth of racism.

Question: How do you think European women judge these black slaves for being “different”?

Europeans sought to categorize people by race and gender. This was not without purpose as they did so in a way to retain superiority when faced with discoveries and realizations that contradicted their own narrative of the foreigners. They sought to validate their own culture with which they thought they had an abundance of in comparison to foreigners.

Women were used as a means to express racial superiority. Morgan emphasizes how writers would frame their experiences with women from other races and foreign countries in what they had defined as femininity. They empathized how much of it these foreign women lacked.

Men seemed to have been fascinated and stimulated by the appearance of nonwhite women, but could not accept that it was the result of such different standards than what they were use to. Morgan observes that this fascination is always dominated by racism as seen in Girolamo Benzoni recounting of his experience when meeting an indigenous American women. He describes how her appearance, including highlights about the darker colors in clothing and makeup, influences why he considers this woman, as well as her people, as racially inferior.

European femininity emphasized the importance of reproduction and physical appearance. The appearance and birthing rate of nonwhite women contradicted what they considered feminine. Morgan analyzes Sebatian Munster’s A Trea- tyseof the Newe India and notices that he somewhat feared this contradiction. She also identifies the agenda of white men; that being both white women and non white women must be exploited for their labor, but done so in a way that white women were still superior than their counterparts. Labeling other races savages achieved this (Morgan, 2004, 12). White men compared white women to nonwhite women by using differences on physical appearance standards such as breasts (Morgan, 2004: 21).

Morgan also points out the importance of men having to deal with the contradiction that the African women they sought to enslave and exploit for their labor shared glaring similarities with their white counterparts. The female body was exploited by men in similar ways between races, a problem in maintaining the hierarchy which granted them superiority.

Discussion question: Were men conscious of the similarities in white and non white women?