Category: Essays

I read 110 books in 2022!

TemidayoLeave a comment

This year, I read the most number of books I have ever and it was the busiest year I’ve had since – with school, writing my undergraduate thesis, part-time work on campus, looking for a job (which is a full-time job in of itself), and then working full time.

I often get asked how I manage to read a lot, so I have taken some time to reflect on my reading habits. Here’s what I have learned so far, which will help you read more books in the new year.

  1. Read what you enjoy
    • Since the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in 1440, it’s estimated that about 156,264,880 books have been published. I’m sure there’s even more if we consider books of different languages across the globe. With so many books worldwide, you don’t need to stick to a genre or book you don’t like. You can learn a lot from reading any single book. Thus, reading what also brings you joy is essential.
  2. You can read more than one book at a time
    • You don’t have to finish one book before going on to the next. For example, sometimes you might not be in the mood to continue reading the historical fiction novel you had started. That’s fine! You don’t have to force yourself or wait till you are back in the mood. You may read a fantasy novel in the meantime.
  3. Listen to audiobooks
    • In 2021, I read 55 books. I could double the number of books I read this year by including audiobooks on my reading list. They are a great option while doing chores, commuting or cooking (which I often do). In addition, audiobooks are a great experience. You get to hear dialogues between characters and music that was supposed to be playing in the background of a scene and immerse yourself in the book world differently.
  4. Share the books you read
    • When you read a new book, please share it with those around you. Even if you didn’t like the book, a great conversation could come out of sharing so. I often share my 5-star reads with friends and family, so I am always happy to share new 5-star reads (which means I have to read more to find more). Likewise, sharing my book reviews (however short) on the blog motivates me to read more (though I have realised writing a book review on a book I didn’t enjoy is far easier than writing one on a book I did).

Of all the 110 books I read, 22 were five stars reads (a nice coincidence). Here are just five I would like to highlight, as listed in the order I read them this year. I have explained why I enjoyed them in one sentence and included the links to book reviews for those I wrote.

  1. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
    • It tells a heart-wrenching yet hopeful tale of family and belonging, set in the Ojibwe reservation. (It was also my first 5-star read of the year!)
  2. Lovely War by Julie Berry
    • By far, the best audiobook I have listened to this year.
    • Book Review
  3. Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1) by Tomi Adeyemi
    • It is an engaging and brilliant fantasy novel based on Yoruba mythology.
    • Book Review
  4. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
    • This book lives rent-free in my head; I think about it often despite having read it in July.
    • Book Review
  5. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth
    • I don’t think I ever felt as angry from reading a book as I did reading this.

Here’s to the joy of reading and more 5-star reads in 2023! Happy New Year!

Analytical Approaches to Primary Source Analysis

TemidayoLeave a comment

An Orientalist Approach to the Human Zoo at St. Louis World’s Fair 1904

Over 100 years ago, in 1904, peoples from across the globe were taken by various means and brought to the St. Louis World’s Fair in the United States of America to be ‘displayed’.1 During and shortly after the World’s Fair (April 30th – December 1st, 1904), several newspapers articles were published by the St. Louis Post-dispatch to advertise the exposition of peoples, inform readers of how they had gotten the peoples to come to the United States, and what ‘use’ the peoples would be off in the United States after the end of the World’s Fair.2 The newspaper articles, while limited as they may reflect uninformed public opinion, are useful in providing an interpretation of the World’s Fair during that time. An Orientalist analytical approach to the set of newspaper articles shall help us investigate what Edward Said would have interpreted as a tool that helped constitute ‘difference’ as the negative to the West and provide insight into how anthropologists and citizens alike could have participated in and allowed what we know today was a racist act violating human rights. 

In the work Orientalism, Edward Said argues that the orient was almost a European invention that had helped to “define the West as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience”.3 This contrasting image portrayed the orient as inferior, uncivilised, and weird, while simultaneously portraying the Europeans as superior, civilised, and cultured. This example of a contrasting image was evident in the ‘display’ of peoples at the St. Louis World’s Fair 1904, which 20th-century scholars have termed a Human Zoo. By putting peoples from all over the world on ‘exhibition’ in the United States, the focal point of the visitors, who were predominately white, was the awareness that they were different from those in the Human Zoo. However, this awareness of ‘difference’ in the audience would not have immediately equated to them feeling superior to those participating in the exhibition. The condition of the exhibition spaces, the treatment of those being ‘exhibited’, and the dialogue regarding the people being ‘exhibited’ would have been the key factors that influenced visitors of the exhibitions to think that they were superior to those they had come to watch. As such, Said would view the newspaper articles by St. Louis Post-dispatch about the Human Zoo, which presented itself as what the general public was thinking and facilitated discussion about the exhibition, as a tool that helped constitute ‘difference’ as the negative to the West.

One reason the set of newspaper articles was a tool that helped constitute ‘difference’ as the negative to the West is that it used the audience’s culture to put down the culture of those being ‘exhibited’. The Human Zoo was highlighted in the newspaper articles by St. Louis Post-dispatch as the “Grand March of the Barbarians” and advertised as an exposition of “strange peoples” and “types of mankind from many continents”.4 The use of such degrading terms in the newspaper articles portrayed the “varying degrees of a complex hegemony” that Said had discussed was part of the relationship between Occident and Orient5, and more specifically, a “cultural hegemony”.6 Just like how Orientalism distorts our understanding of people and cultures different from us, and turns them to a stereotype, the use of the degrading terms in the newspaper distorted the readers understanding of the peoples and the cultures of those who participated in the exhibition. For example, the newspaper article entitled “Barbarians meet in Athletic Games” described a mud fight amongst the Pygmies as an athletic competition but portrayed it as a violent the manner by writing that it did not stop until “one side was put to rout”.7 Consequentially, the culture of the Pygmies, just like the cultures of the other peoples in the Human Zoo, was attacked simply because it was different from the American culture or way of being that the readers were familiar of. This act of cultural hegemony is significant because it justified and further played on the stereotype that those from Africa and Asia were backwards. 

Secondly, the set of newspaper articles was a tool that constituted ‘difference’ as the negative to the West because it justified the Human Zoo. The article entitled “Pygmy Cannibals Coming Up River” engaged with the willingness of the Pygmies to be in the United States and stated that the “saw-tooth savages were glad to be here” and “tickled to death to be in America”.8 This depiction of excitement was used to frame the anthropologist’s decision to bring the Pygmies as a favour and a good deed. However, the anthropologist bringing the Pygmies to the United States portrayed how “knowledge” authorises the assertion of power. Said explained in Orientalism that the discourse of the Orient allows Orientalism to be a “western style for dominating, restructuring and having authority over the Orient”.9 This notion was evident from the fact that because there was a discourse about Africans, and because the Pygmies were different from Americans and had never been seen before, the decision to bring them to the United States was justified in the public eye. Consequentially, this assertion of power created a power relation between the Pygmies and the anthropologist that affected their time in the United States – at just a primary level of analysis; the power relation resulted in the Pygmies being in a Human Zoo. 

Thirdly, the reduction of the peoples ‘exhibited’ into stereotypes in the set of newspaper articles is another reason why it was a tool that helped constitute ‘difference’ as the negative to the West. The peoples participating in the exhibition were advertised based on their stereotypes, such as the “Pygmies from Darkest Africa”, “Head Hunting Dog Eaters from Luzon”, and “Dwarf Negritos from the Philippines”, to attract the readers to visit.10 In addition, the illustrations of the Pygmies in the newspaper articles were depicted stereotypically with them having big feet and hands, huge lips that took up one-third of their faces, and sharp teeth that looked like a shark’s, thus depicting them more like an animal than human beings.11 This depiction is significant because the newspaper published an anthropologist’s sketch of the Pygmies that depicted them looking like human beings a month before the illustrations.12 The drastic difference between the illustrations and the anthropologist’s sketch highlights the politics of stereotypes, as the newspapers had used stereotypical differences between Africans and white Americans to attract readers to the fair. In Orientalism, Said discussed the politics of stereotypes, informing readers of how the “reinforcement of the stereotypes by which the Orient is viewed”13 in Orientalism created a justification for colonisation.14 This notion was evident from the newspaper’s illustration of how the foreigners who participated in the exhibition could be ‘used’ in St. Louis after the fair ended.15

The front page illustration entitled “Those Foreigners at the Fair – A Few Ways to Make Use of Them Here in St. Louis After the Exposition Closes” justified the type of human exploitation under colonisation by discussing how human beings could be ‘used’ for economic benefits.15  Furthermore, the identified ‘uses’ for the foreigners were based on their stereotypes with “Esquimos” portrayed as the ideal icemen, “Hairy Ainus” portrayed as beneficial in providing hair tonics, and the “Geisha Girls” portrayed as solving the servant girl problem.15

Using a model of analysis based on Edward Said’s Orientalism that ‘difference’ is constituted as the negative to the West, the racial and cultural tensions in the United States are much easier to understand. Said argued that cultural hegemony gives Orientalism durability and strength.16 Applying this notion if cultural hegemony is exercised upon any other culture simply because it is different from ‘American culture’ or American norm, that culture and the racial group that practices the culture will immediately be seen as negative. In addition, Said discussed that “Orientalism assumed an unchanging Orient, absolutely different” from the West.17 This notion means that once a culture has been seen as inferior, it will be continued to be seen and defined as such. Thus, the reason why African Americans are still depicted as violent and commonly degraded by associating them with animals (in particular monkeys), why Muslim men are still commonly seen as terrorists and Muslim women as oppressed, and why the stereotype that all Asians eat dogs is still so prominent is much clearer. Those perceptions began and continue till today in the United States because part of American culture has been the constitution of anything different from the norm as negative and thus inferior. Furthermore, Said argued that Orientalism “is involved in worldly, historical circumstances which it has tried to conceal behind an often pompous scientism and appeals to rationalism.” This notion provides insight into how anthropologists and citizens alike could have participated in and allowed the Human Zoos – they believed it was a rational scientific project. However, the anthropologists’ actions and the audience’s complicity were rooted in the fact that because the peoples they saw were so different from them and had cultures, they could not understand, it was easier to deem them strange and inferior. 

Despite Orientalism providing a valuable model for understanding to set of newspaper articles and understanding the racial and cultural tensions in the United States, it has its own strengths and weaknesses. One strength of Orientalism as a mode of analysis is that it represents the consciousness of knowledge producers. Understanding the mindset of those who produce knowledge and the knowledge they produce is crucial because knowledge gives power.18 More so, this power could be detrimental as having certain types of knowledge enables the domination of and authority over what is known.19 Similarly, another strength of Orientalism as a mode of analysis is that it provides insight into the European-Atlantic power over the Orient. A significant part of history has been Europe and the United States exercising authority and enforcing power over those in Africa and Asia. However, authority is not mysterious nor natural; it is formed and thus must be analysed. Orientalism is the best tool for such an analysis because it is a western-style “for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient”. 20

On the other hand, one weakness of Orientalism as a mode of analysis is that it does not provide insight into the consciousness of the consumers. Although knowledge is relational in the sense that one party takes on the role of being informed and another party takes on the role of the informant, Orientalism does not provide the means of understanding how exactly those being informed responded and why they responded the way they might have. Another weakness of Orientalism as a mode of analysis is that it does not enable a means for those who have been labelled Orient or impacted by Orientalism to represent themselves. Although it is acknowledged that the Orient could not represent itself because “the Orient was almost a European invention”21, Orientalism still affects how the Orient sees itself. More importantly, Africans and Asians impacted by Orientalism might see themselves differently due to its impact. However, this is not accounted for. For example, regarding Human Zoos, very little is known about those who ended up participating in the exhibitions.22 Furthermore, there is a very limited amount of testimonies, which means that journalistic descriptions are often used to deduce the type of experiences those who were ‘exhibited’ had and how they truly felt about being ‘exhibited’.22 This limited personal account in addition to how Orientalism fails to account for those affected by it, almost leaves the peoples ‘exhibited’ silenced when talking about their experience in Human Zoos from an Orientalist perspective. 

A critical relation between idea and methodology in Orientalism is understanding the distinction between “the Occident” and “the Orient”. Orientalism as an idea helped to “define the West as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience”.23 For this definition to have occurred, there had to be a fixed universal notion of what an Orient was and what an Occident was. As such, the methodology is rooted in understanding how the notion of “the Orient” turned from an opinion to a belief and how this believed Orient turned into a real identity in itself. This relation is most evident from how Orientalism is “a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between” the Orient and the Occident.23 A key relation between idea and conclusion in Orientalism is whether Orientalism and its effects can come to an end. Said viewed Orientalism as “a way of coming to terms with the Orient based on the Orient’s special place in European Western experience”24. Unfortunately, this “special place” is constantly evolving. Its evolvement is evident in how even in the “electronic, postmodern world”, there has been a “reinforcement of the stereotypes” of the Orient, which is an effect of Orientalism.25 Hence, even though eliminating the Orient and Occident altogether would allow us to unlearn the “inherent dominative mode”, getting to that point seems almost impossible. 

1 Jacobson, Nate. “America’s Forgotten History of Scientific Racism.” Human Zoos. https://humanzoos.org/. 

2 “Pygmy Exhibit at St. Louis World’s Fair.” STLtoday.com, April 22, 2020. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1.

3 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 1. 

4 “Pygmy Exhibit at St. Louis World’s Fair.” STLtoday.com, April 22, 2020. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1.

5 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 5.

6 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 7. 

7 “Barbarians meet in Athletic Games”, 11 August 1904, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. STLtoday.com. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1.

8 “Pygmy Cannibals Coming Up River”, 28 June 1904, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. STLtoday.com. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1.

9 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 3.

10 “St. Louis Day”, 11 September 1904, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. STLtoday.com. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1

11 “Money! Money! Is the Cry of Even Babies at the Fair”, 17 July 1904, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. STLtoday.com. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1

12 “African Pygmies for the World Fair”, 26 June 1904, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. STLtoday.com. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1

13 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 26.

14 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 39.

15 “African Pygmies for the World Fair”, 26 June 1904, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. STLtoday.com. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1

16 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 7.

17 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 96.

18 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 36.

19 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 32.

20 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 3.

21 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 1.

22 Andreassen, Rikke. “Human on Display: The Era of Human Exhibitions.” In Human Exhibitions: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Ethnic Displays, 29.

23 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 2.

24 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 1.

25 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 26.

26 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979, 28.

Bibliography

Andreassen, Rikke. “Human on Display: The Era of Human Exhibitions.” In Human Exhibitions: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Ethnic Displays, 1–32. London: Routledge, 2020. 

Jacobson, Nate. “America’s Forgotten History of Scientific Racism.” Human Zoos. Accessed December 8, 2020. https://humanzoos.org/. 

“Pygmy Exhibit at St. Louis World’s Fair.” STLtoday.com, April 22, 2020. https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/pygmy-exhibit-at-st-louis-worlds-fair/collection_16f4a93f-5ac4-56c1-ba20-5069e09b1d67.html#1.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979. 

Black Venus

TemidayoLeave a comment

Black Venus as a Depiction of How Science, Academic Knowledge and Popular Entertainment Supported White Supremacy and Colonialism in the 19th Century

Black Venus is a French film based on the true life of Saartjie Baartman, a South African woman who moved to Britain with her employer Hendrick Caezar on the promise of a better life, sharing her musical talent. Baartman became a trope for popular entertainment in Britain and France. The movie portrays the traumatic experience she endures after being coerced into letting audience members touch her body, mistreated by French scientists and later forced into prostitution as a means of survival. Black Venus is an effective educational tool because it depicts how science, academic knowledge, and popular entertainment supported white supremacy and colonialism in the 19th century through the vivid portrayal of characters in the movie believing they had a right to Saartijie Baartman’s body. (Black Venus)

The film is an effective educational tool on how science supported white supremacy and colonialism because it revealed to the audience that the science practised in the 19th century was “race science”, focused on distinguishing the white race from all other races. In the movie, the French scientist George Cuvier announces to other scientists that the examination of Baartman’s skull proves that the “Negros didn’t give birth to Egyptians whom the world has learnt science and religion from”. He concluded that the discovery justified the “cruel laws” used to oppress non-whites because the white race’s skull and brain were as voluminous as the Egyptians. (Black Venus) Likewise, in Human Exhibitions: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Ethnic Displays, Rikke argues that the black female body “served to illustrate the underdevelopment of Africans” because it was “considered an incarnation of the past that could be examined to undercover information about the development of humankind” (118). This means that scientists had preconceived notions of black females as primal human beings and believed they could prove that claim by examining their bodies. In Black Venus, the notion is present in how George Cuvier approached Caezar thinking the South African man would allow Baartman to be examined in the name of science. In addition, it is evident how Cuvier pushes Baartman, despite her resistance, to show her vagina to all the scientists because her “guardian” gave permission. (Black Venus) Cuvier’s action is significant because Baartman as a black woman is reduced to a child who can’t give consent. The consequence of Baartman being infantilized is that after her death, she is reduced to just a body for Cuvier and his team to examine, even though it would have been against her wishes. Hence, depicting how the French scientist thought they had a right to Baartman’s body and how science supported white supremacy and colonialism. 

Black Venus is also an effective educational tool on how academic knowledge in the 19th century supported white supremacy and colonialism. It makes the audience question the ethics of museum acquisition methods and the ethics of using remains as commodities. In Making Representations: Museums in the Post-Colonial Era, Simpson argues that collecting activities in the 19th century “were undertaken without regard for the spiritual beliefs of relatives or descendants, and their permission was not deemed necessary”. This means that museums collected and kept human remains without considering how the individual or the community of that individual would feel about it. This is evident in Black Venus from how after Baartman died a painful death from illness, her body was sold to Cuvier by Reaux, who did not have any right over her body. Reaux’s successful action is significant because it highlights the French scientist’s lack of ethical consideration about how Baartman’s body was acquired. In addition, Baartman’s body, particularly her buttocks and genitalia, was cut up and displayed at the Paris National History Museum until 1974, after South Africa asked for them to be returned (Black Venus). The consequence of the display was the museum profiting from having Baartman’s body seen as “abnormal” and “explained as a physical reflection of the inferiority of her race” (Rikke 117). This message that the museum profited on is significant because it questions the ethics of using remains as commodities and highlights how academic knowledge in the 19th century supported white supremacy and colonialism. 

Finally, the film is an effective educational tool on how popular entertainment in the 19th century supported white supremacy and colonialism. It depicts a large part of the British public willing to pay money to be entertained by a racist trope. Rikke argues that “Africans were considered less intelligent and more primitive than Europeans…regarded as more explicitly sexual, with more direct and animalistic…sexuality” (115). This meant Europeans felt superior to Africans and thought they were justified too because of their perceived higher intelligence and reserved behaviour. This mindset is evident in the film from how Baartman is described as a savage who Caezar has captured from Cape Town. She is forced to put on a collar, make animal noises, and is fed treats when she listens to Caezar’s command. More so, Baartman is manipulated into allowing the audience members to touch her butt to prove it is real, while Caezar praises them for being brave. The consequence of Baartman being touched and poked at without her consent is emotional trauma and dependence on alcohol. (Black Venus) The fact that Caezar used a racist trope at the expense of Baartman, forced her to be touched by the audience and that the audience abided is significant because it depicts how Caezar and the audience believed that they had a right to her body. Hence, highlights how popular entertainment in the 19th century supported white supremacy and colonialism. 

Works Cited

Andreassen, Rikke. “Human Exhibitions: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Ethnic Displays.” Taylor & Francis, Taylor & Francis, 9 Mar. 2016, http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315587318.

Black Venus, 1 Jan. 2010, tubitv.com/movies/476646/black_venus.

Simpson, Moira G. Making Representations: Museums in the Post-Colonial Era. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006. pp. 173-189. 

Academic Book Review – Feminism For The 99%: A Manifesto

TemidayoLeave a comment

Re-envisioning Feminism

In the book, Feminism For The 99%: A Manifesto, the authors Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser discuss an intersectional, radical, anti-capitalist, decolonial, and anti-imperialist feminism that is inclusive of all, especially marginalised women called ‘Feminism for the 99%’. With organising principles and action strategies that ensure no group is sacrificed over another and that “anti-racists, environmentalists, and labour and migrant right activists” (Arruzza et al. 5) work together, ‘Feminism for the 99%’ protects the powerless and provides hope for effective change. Hence, re-envisioning feminism and the way it has been practised. This is further evident from the theses the authors discussed in the Manifesto, particularly theses 1, 3, 4, 6, and 8. 

Thesis 1 of the Manifesto states, “A new feminist wave is reinventing the strike” (Arruzza et al. 6). This refers to how ‘Feminism for the 99%’ reformed strikes, which were a form of protest only in the context of waged work, into a state of protest that withdraws labour along with housework, smiles, and sex (8). This form of protest is much more accessible to everyone from all sectors and regions. It allows for a global movement that requires little effort but has a significant impact primarily because we live in a capitalist world where labour is key to survival. By including actions related to unpaid emotional labour – housework, smiles, and sex, “the indispensable role played by gendered, unpaid work” (8) in a capitalist society, for which the system benefits but does not pay, is brought to light consequently. This deliberate attack against all types of exploitative labour is significant as it highlights that ‘Feminism for the 99%’ is radical and anti-capitalist. 

Thesis 3 of the Manifesto states, “We need an anti-capitalist feminism – a feminism for the 99%” (13). This statement is linked to how feminism today, rooted in capitalism, sacrifices the well-being of the many for the freedom of the few. For example, there has been an increased push for women to get into powerful positions, obtain a high income and establish wealth to be on the same playing fields as their male counterparts. However, this sort of feminism emphasises the individual. It assumes that a woman in power would be able to change the systemic problems that affect the lives of marginalised women worldwide. Unfortunately, that assumption is untrue as those systemic problems result from ill-capitalism. ‘Feminism for the 99%’ instead aims to work with “every movement that fights for the 99 per cent”, be it for environmental justice, “free high-quality education, generous public services, low-cost housing, labour rights, free universal health care”, anti-racism or world peace (15) to dismantle capitalism and thus tackle social justice issues from their root. Hence, once against presenting how ‘Feminism for the 99%’ is anti-capitalist. 

Thesis 4 of the Manifesto states, “What we are living through is a crisis of society as a whole – and its root cause is capitalism” (16). This means capitalism destroys anything it uses, such as nature, public goods, and human beings. As such, the political, economic, ecological, and social justice issues the world is facing are caused by capitalism. One example is the refugee crisis – marginalised folks are displaced daily due to war, violent conflicts, and environmental disasters. These circumstances that result in the displacement of marginalised folks are rooted in ill-capitalism, such as how companies pollute the air and water sources at the expense of people for profit, and similarly, how countries export arms to volatile regions for the sack of profit. Canada is one country that profits from the violent conflicts that cause displacement. Yet, Canada believes itself to be a country that practices “humanitarian exceptionalism” because it presents itself as a haven for displaced people and is more benevolent than the United States regarding accepting refugees. However, Canada predominately takes exceptional refugees, such as community organisers and activists. Furthermore, it employs immigration laws that discriminate against refugees based on race, sexuality, and ability (Phu et al. 29). Unfortunately, Canada’s performative action is also rooted in ill-capitalism, as the nation is driven by its desire to push an international and local political narrative of an “international leader in human rights and democratic freedom” (29) at the expense of vulnerable human beings. Hence, ‘Feminism for the 99%’ argues that by eliminating capitalism based on exploiting others, we can efficiently work on putting an end to the problems facing our Earth.

Thesis 6 of the manifesto states, “Gender violence takes many forms, all of them entangle with capitalist social relations. We vow to fight them all.” (Arruzza et al. 25). Capitalist social relations refer to the social links that occur under capitalism, between an employee and an employer or between intimate partners. In addition, due to the different aspects of private and work life, women are subjected to violations both at the hands of family and personal intimates and at the hands of “capital’s enforcers and enablers” (28). One example of a capitalist social relationship where gender violence is present and common is between women migrant workers and their employers. Although borders are not fixed and thoroughly ideological, they produce “hard workers” (Anderson et al. 7). This is because immigrants must work hard to keep their status in the country, which their employers have over them as citizens. The power that citizens have over migrants puts these female migrant workers in vulnerable and dangerous situations, such as when their bosses or managers in factories, for example, “use serial rape, verbal abuse, and humiliating body searches to increase productively and discourage labour organising” (Arruzza et al. 32) because they endure the mistreatment for fear of being deported. Borders, and consequentially, nationalised identities, which are colonial as most settlers do not have rights to the land they claim, are “a key strategy in dividing and subordinating labour” (Anderson et al. 13). Thus, ‘Feminism for the 99%’ which aims to fight all forms of gender violence, such as those that occur due to the construction of borders, is anti-colonial. 

Thesis 8 of the manifesto states, “Capitalism was born from racist and colonial violence. Feminism for the 99 per cent is anti-racist and anti-imperialist” (Arruzza et al. 40). This means that the foundation of capitalism is racism and colonialism. Thus any feminism that does not actively dismantles capitalism would be enabling racism and colonialism. Unfortunately, this failure was present in the first, second, and third wave feminisms. First-wave feminism was liberal feminism and focused on getting women the vote. However, Black women and their needs were excluded in the process. White chosen stead choose to dissociate themselves from white men and argued that racism was “endemic to white male patriarchy” and that they could not be “held responsible for racist oppression” (“Chapter 4: Racism and Feminism: The Issue of Accountability”). Consequentially, this ignorance from white women during the first wave of feminism birthed Black Feminism, a philosophy that “motivated black feminists to work against their multilayered oppression” and to challenge “white feminists to acknowledge their exclusion of women of colour and working-class women in the feminist movement” (“The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977)”). This effort to include racialised and working-class women is also present in ‘Feminism for the 99%’. On the other hand, second-wave feminism, which was radical and concerned about racism, failed to include transgender and non-binary people in the conversation. Lastly, third-wave feminism, which is post-modern feminism, was focused on social media, digital space, and the representation of women. Although it began being more inclusive, it supported ill-capitalism by encouraging women to obtain high positions,

Overall, ‘Feminism for the 99%’ attempts to re-envision feminism. It is intersectional, radical, anti-capitalist, decolonial, anti-imperialist, and inclusive, especially for marginalised women. It challenges all that we have been accustomed to when we discuss and engage with feminism by enforcing organising principles and action strategies that emphasise no group is sacrificed over another, that all activist and community organisers need to work together, and that capitalism has to be dismantled for long-standing effective change to happen. While this is one way to re-envision feminism and its movements, as a manifesto, it oversimplifies the severe hostility against feminists and feminism, especially today.

You may get the book here!

Work Cited

Arruzza, Cinzia, et al. Feminism for The 99%: A Manifesto. Verso, 2019. 

Anderson, Bridget, et al. “Editorial: Why No Borders?” Refuge, vol. 26, no. 2, 1 Jan. 2009, pp. 5–18., doi: https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.32074. 

“Chapter 4: Racism and Feminism: The Issue of Accountability.” Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, by Bell Hooks, Routledge, 2015, pp. 119–158. 

Phu, Thy, Vinh Nguyen, et al. “STATES OF REFUGE: KEYWORDS FOR CRITICAL REFUGEE STUDIES.” Sept. 2019. “The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977).” Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s), by Joy S. Ritchie and Kate Ronald, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001, pp. 291–300.

The Effect of Rhetoric on Representation as Argued in Signifying Bodies and Showcased in Cockeyed

TemidayoLeave a comment

Summary; 2018

In G. Thomas Couser’s chapter, “Rhetoric and Self-Representation in Disability Memoir” in Signifying Bodies, he argues that autobiographies from marginalised groups such as disabled people have the power to remove the social, economic and political domination in their lives. This is because they are given the power to represent themselves. In the chapter, Couser focuses on “rhetoric” (i.e. the way the narrator tells their story), illustrating with real disability memoirs how the various types of rhetoric – “triumph, horror, spiritual compensation, and nostalgia”, enforce the stigma and marginalisation of disabled people (33). In the end, Couser introduces the rhetoric of emancipation in the memoir I Raise My Eyes to Say Yes by Ruth Sienkiewicz-Mercer and Steven B. Kaplan. Couser explains that Sienkiewicz-Mercer illustrates disability as something that can be accommodated if society removes the ‘physical, social and cultural obstacles’ (44) that it has created, as opposed to something that requires fixing. These types of social accommodations contribute to the positive representation of disabled people.

One rhetoric that was present in the disability memoir Cockeyed by Ryan Knighton was “rhetoric of nostalgia” (Couser 38). Couser exemplifies with the memoir The Driving Bell and the Butterfly by Dominque Bauby that this rhetoric is when the narrator tells his story reminiscing when they were not disabled. The consequence of the rhetoric is it enforces the perception that disability makes someone less of a person. In Cockeyed, this rhetoric was present in Ryan denying his blindness by refusing to get a cane and enduring relentless injuries from bumping into things. This created great sympathy for Ryan, especially when he fell into “oncoming traffic” (Knighton 60) because it emphasised that his deteriorating vision puts him in constant danger. This subconsciously created the impression that he was less of a person than before losing his sight, which is in line with the consequence of “rhetoric of nostalgia” (Couser 38).

However, in Cockeyed, “rhetoric of nostalgia” (38) was then replaced with “rhetoric of emancipation” (44), as Ryan learned to accept his disability and that it does not define him. Couser illustrates with the memoir I Raise My Eyes to Say Yes that this rhetoric is when the narrator reveals that what causes the discrimination of disabled people in society’s perception of disability and not the actual physical or mental disability. This was present in Knighton’s memoir when he had a “shift in perspective” (71). Ryan realised that people have multiple reactions to him using a cane because of their perception of disability and feelings towards those with disabilities (72).

In conclusion, Couser’s chapter has highlighted the lost potential of some disability memoirs for challenging stigmas because of their rhetoric. In addition, Cockeyed has illustrated that different types of rhetoric can be present in a single disability memoir. This could have been because, like understanding disability, for those who are disabled, accepting it can also be a process. Hence, it is crucial that when people read memoirs from marginalised groups, they understand that it represents the individual first and foremost but are critical about how those personal narratives represent the collective.

Work Cited

Couser, G. T. Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing. University of Michigan Press, 2009.

Knighton, Ryan. Cockeyed: a Memoir. PublicAffairs, 2006.

Media Representation of Drug Addiction and How it Perpetuates Stereotypes

TemidayoLeave a comment

Amy Winehouse. Cory Monteith. Prince. Mac Miller. Philip Seymour Hoffman. One commonality these individuals have is that they were all celebrities who passed away from an overdose. In general, the media talked about their great work, the work they would be leaving behind, and how their significant others would miss them. Overall, celebrities with drug addiction are depicted as worthy victims [1] (Herman and Chomsky, 2002). The way the media represents celebrity addicts usually gives them justification for their drug addiction because of the high stress they experience from their lives being constantly in public. In addition, the media never portrays being a drug user as their primary identity.

Unfortunately, everyday individuals who suffer from drug addiction don’t have such a privilege. They are deemed unworthy victims [2] (Herman and Chomsky, 2002) of society if they suffer from addiction, which is a disease. This means that society takes little concern that these individuals need reformed government policies and a changed societal perception to help them battle their disease. This is evident, for example, from the increased number of raw, uncensored videos of people “passed out with needles in their arms” [3] (Seelye et al., 2018) posted on YouTube. One such video was an instance when Mandy McGowan collapsed from a fentanyl overdose in a Dollar Store she had visited with her 2-year-old daughter. The fact that when the situation occurred, people began taking a video of her unconscious instead of attending to her sobbing daughter highlights the lack of disregard for drug addicts. The consequences of the lack of disregard are severe too. McGowan is known as a “Dollar Store Junkie” and now struggles with addiction and the negative image of herself from a video of one of the most challenging moments of her life that shall live on the internet forever. [4](Seelye et al., 2018)

This treatment of people suffering from addiction, how society views addicts as unworthy victims and how they have been represented in the media is significant because it creates a massive stigma of addiction. This makes it harder for addicts to seek the help they need to battle the addiction, thus contributing to a cycle.

However, there is hope. Apart from the Canadian Harm Reduction Network, which promotes harm reduction as a means of focusing on “the harm caused by problematic substance use, rather than substance use per se” [5](City of Vancouver, 2017), other organisations are fighting to remove the stigma of addiction in society as one of the ways to help people battling addiction. One such example is the provincewide campaign by the British Columbia Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions in association with the Vancouver Canucks hockey team [6] (Ghoussoub, 2018) to show that an individual with an addiction identity as a drug user is just one among the many identities that link them to a community such as “daughter”, “co-worker” and “student”. In addition, health authorities such as Northern Health, Fraser Health, and First Nations Health Authority are working to reduce the stigma of addiction and prevent overdose by highlighting narratives about the impact of negative stereotypes around the disease [7] (Government Communications, 2017).

(First year, 2018)

References

Ghoussoub, M. (2018, January 29). Vancouver Canucks launch campaign to fight stigma surrounding addiction | CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-canucks-launch-campaign-to-fight-stigma-surrounding-addiction-1.4509402

Government Communications. (2017, September 07). Reducing Stigma. Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/overdose/reducing-stigma

Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (2002). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon Books.

Seelye, K. Q., et al. (2018, December 11). How Do You Recover After Millions Have Watched You Overdose? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/overdoses-youtube-opioids-drugs.html

City of Vancouver. (2017, January 20). Four Pillars drug strategy. Retrieved from https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/four-pillars-drug-strategy.aspx

[1]Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (2002). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon Books.

[2] Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (2002). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon Books.

[3] Seelye, K. Q., et al. (2018, December 11). How Do You Recover After Millions Have Watched You Overdose? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/overdoses-youtube-opioids-drugs.html

[4] Seelye, K. Q., et al. (2018, December 11). How Do You Recover After Millions Have Watched You Overdose? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/overdoses-youtube-opioids-drugs.html

[5] City of Vancouver. (2017, January 20). Four Pillars drug strategy. Retrieved from https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/four-pillars-drug-strategy.aspx

[6] Ghoussoub, M. (2018, January 29). Vancouver Canucks launch campaign to fight stigma surrounding addiction | CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-canucks-launch-campaign-to-fight-stigma-surrounding-addiction-1.4509402

[7] Government Communications. (2017, September 07). Reducing Stigma. Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/overdose/reducing-stigma

Intersectionality

TemidayoLeave a comment

According to Billboard, the number one streaming song of the week, January 12, 2019, was the hip hop/rap song Sicko Mode by Travis Scott ft. Drake. Like most, if not all, rap songs, the persona Travis sings about all the women he has ‘gained’ because of his music career and sex. This was evident from the lines: “All of these hoes I made off records I produced/(Don’t stop, pop that pussy!)” ( Lenniger) Likewise, one minute and forty-two seconds into the music video, Travis is seen with numerous women of African descent lying with their butts facing the camera on the floor of what looks like an abandoned car park in nothing but a bra and a G-string. On the other hand, he sits half-naked on a sofa in front of them. The display of women of African descent in provocative clothes or bikinis dancing or interacting with the two rappers continues throughout the video.

The image created is that the worth of women of African descent is based on their sexual appeal (Gordon 246), and they exist only to serve men. This is because only women of African descent are being hyper-sexualized and sexually objectified in the music video. The image denies these women the power to be equal to men as they are “reduced to body parts rather than whole persons with thoughts, feelings, and desires” (Gordon 246). In addition, they are denied the power to create their own narratives because the image normalizes the stereotype of women of African descent as naturally sexual, fertile, and submissive to men. Hence, the image is controlling, and the dominant group of men create the identity of women of African descent as “the other”. (Collins 68)

Malcolm X once said that “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman.” (Common) One area where this is very evident in hip-hop, which was birthed in America, because of “the proliferation of highly sexualized and exoticized images of women…in numerous hip hop music videos…for the most part, [are] of African descent” (Maultsby and Burnim 306-307). Hence, these women are not only perceived as inferior to men but they are also perceived as inferior to women of other races too. This sexual objectification in the hip-hop culture reflects different forms of oppression for women of African descent – their race, their gender, and their sexuality.

The group that benefits from the image discussed, apart from the music industry, which receives lots of money from the popularity of hip-hop music, is men. They get away with objectifying women of African descent and sexually taking advantage of their insecurity. When a negative image, such as the devaluing of self-worth, is constantly repeated, it is “embedded in psyche” and eventually becomes the nature of the individual (Gammage 51). In addition, due to cultivation theory (Gordon 246), young girls and women of African descent grow up believing they must be sexually appealing to get and keep a significant other. However, young boys and men are victims of the image too. They grow up thinking that having sex is equivalent to power and incorporate that into their lives and music, even if they enter the industry because the art form demands they speak of their reality. This creates not only a cycle of the image but of abusive relationships in the culture too.

The consequences of this cycle and this image are numerous. For example, girls of African descent are sent home from school because of violating dress codes when in fact, it is because the institution “deems their bodies too provocative” (NowThisNews).

Since the image of women of African descent intersects multiple areas, its solution needs to be intersectional. Liberal Feminist tools are required to tackle gender inequality because ‘female rappers’ don’t have the same opportunities or popularity in the music industry. Poststructuralist Feminist tools are necessary to educate rappers on the impact of what they say, how they talk about and depict these women. Marxist Feminist tools are required to stop the music industry from exploiting these women’s sexuality. Finally, post-colonial Feminist tools are needed to reverse the European enslavement of Africans and colonial enhancement of the hyper-sexualized treatment of these women’s femininity (Gammage 34). Action needs to be taken now!

Works Cited

Common. “Malcolm X.” Twitter, Twitter, December 24 2017, twitter.com/common/status/944995848886218752?lang=en.

Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought. Routledge, 2000.

Gammage, Marquita Marie. REPRESENTATIONS OF BLACK WOMEN IN THE MEDIA: The Damnation of Black Womanhood. TAYLOR & FRANCIS, 2017, http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315671550.

Gordon, Maya K. “Media Contributions to African American Girls Focus on Beauty and Appearance: Exploring the Consequences of Sexual Objectification.” Psychology of Women Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 3, 2008, pp. 245–256., doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.00433.x

Lenniger, Shea. “Here Are the Lyrics to Travis Scott’s ‘Sicko Mode’.” Billboard, Billboard, September 26 2018, http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/lyrics/8477102/travis-scott-sicko-mode-lyrics.

Maultsby, Portia K, and Mellonee V. Burnim. Issues in African American Music: Power, Gender, Race, Representation. Routledge, 2017, http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315472089.

NowThis News. “Author Monique Morris Shines A Light On The Black Girl’s Unique Experience In America.” NowThis, NowThis News, August 29 2018, http://www.nowthisnews.com/videos/her/author-monique-morris-on-black-girls-unique-experience-in-america.

“R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs.” Billboard, Billboard, http://www.billboard.com/charts/r-and-b-hip-hop-streaming-songs.