What Is The Meaning of Home?

During this past year in Humanities Core, themes of diaspora have consistently come up in the material, referring to the movement of people away from their homeland, oftentimes unwillingly. From Professor Sharon Block’s lecture on the forced African diaspora perpetuated by white European colonialists, to Professor Linda Vo’s discussion on the movement of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees after the destruction of their homes by American violence, to the search for a place to settle found in works such as The Aeneid and The Tempest, the loss of one’s homeland and/or the desire for a new home has been a constant throughout the material presented in lecture. However, this brings up an important question, a question that I personally have been contemplating as of late: What defines a home? And what does it mean to leave home in search of a new one? As someone who experienced homelessness recently, I’ve been left to consider if my journey is about losing one home or finding another.

Consider The Aeneid or The Tempest. In The Aeneid, the future founders of Rome are attempting to migrate to the starting point of their empire, while in The Tempest, Prospero and his daughter flee their place of origin, eventually settling on a small island. Threats of violence forcing movement and the desire to lay claim to a place unite these two groups, as their exodus shares multiple similarities due to consistent perpetuation of destructiveness. It is important to note that in both cases, with Aeneas and with Prospero, the definition of home revolves around power, establishing a settlement through the displacement of others, continuing the violence that motivated their migration in the first place. Both pieces of literature delineate home through the institution of power and dominance. This continuation of violence separates these communities and their version of diaspora from that of the African and Vietnamese/Cambodian exoduses.

With the African and Vietnamese/Cambodian diasporas, there was little to no choice involved in their movement and in the establishment of home. Africans were kidnapped and taken to the Americas to be used as slaves; their bodies violently separated from the roots they had planted over hundreds of years. Since then they have been left to try to form a home in a country that forced their exodus from Africa, yet punished them for their presence in the United States. Nevertheless, communities formed in response to this violence, creating a home whose foundation rests on solidarity in the face of oppression. The Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees, in a similar fashion, entered America as a result of American brutality, leaving their homeland behind in a “mass exodus as the destitute ‘boat people’” (Lieu 3). In both cases, these groups created new communities based on their shared trauma, characterizing home around concepts of identity and refuge, rather than the dominance based definitions seen in The Aeneid and The Tempest.

From the ancient Romans to the Southeast Asians of the 1970s, Humanities Core provided a universal connection between these subjects through concepts of diaspora and homelands. Even now, the definition of home in the United States proves to be so much more complex than that quintessential American dream of a little house in the suburbs with a white picket fence. Home proves to be more than a structure of wood beams and dry wall. It is something outside of the realm of tangibility. Home, especially to those who are denied those physical structures, is the formation of community. Instead of concrete, its foundation lies in the decision not only to survive, but to thrive. To take the first step forward, whether or not by choice, in that beginning of one’s diaspora is a statement of strength. It is impossible to measure the trauma associated with being displaced from one’s home. However, a beautiful antithesis to this trauma presents itself in the sense of liberation experienced when you define and experience what you deem to be home.

 

Works Cited:

Lieu, Nhi T. The American Dream in Vietnamese. University of Minnesota Press, 2011.

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Signet Classics, 1998.

Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin Books, 2006.

A Forgotten Tragedy: The Man in a Cage

Ethnography: the observation and systematic analysis of human cultures.

Voyeurism: the practice of obtaining sexual gratification from observing others in a public or private setting.

Together these words create ethnographic voyeurism, the practice of observing other cultures for erotic/sexual pleasure under the guise of intellectual pursuit and scientific research. This system was a major part of European colonialism, with white European men sexualizing and exploiting native bodies under the excuse of “research”. However, ethnographic voyeurism, the objectification of the “Other”, is not an ancient part of history that can be pushed away and forgotten. A clear example of this racist and disgusting practice can be seen in the 20th century, with the tragic case of Ota Benga.

A portrait of Ota Benga taken in Congo. His sharp teeth were the result of tooth chipping, a practice that was popular among young men. Photograph: American Museum of Natural History (Newkirk, The Man Who Was Cage in a Zoo)

Ota Benga was kidnapped from the Congo and sold into slavery to Samuel P. Verner after having found his village slaughtered. Throughout the years Verner would continually change his story of how he obtained Benga, but two details would remain the same: Benga had been held captive by cannibals and Verner was his rescuer, a demonstration of the enduring white savior narrative (lie) used to justify horrific acts of racism. Verner had Benga “”exhibited” at the “anthropology exhibit” at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904″ with other Africans from a tribe called Batwa, before later being exhibited at the Bronx Zoo in 1906 (“Eugenics and Human Zoos: The Case of Ota Benga”). These exhibits were excused as educational, allowing for the ethnological study of African people, and claiming that since Benga was an inferior species he was most comfortable in a cage, even going as far as specifically putting Benga with the monkeys. Furthermore, placing Benga in the Monkey House section of the zoo was an obvious attempt to push scientific racist concepts linking Africans with apes to demonstrate supposed racial inferiority. To take a human, a man capable of emotion and speech, and put him on display like a wild animal is the ultimate act of dehumanization. Benga was reduced to a caricature, reduced to nothing but a body, for the sole purpose of exploitation by white people. His experience was used by eugenicists to support concepts of racial superiority based on “science”.

New York Times report on the “Man and Monkey” show, which put Benga and an orangutan in the same cage to perform, September 10th, 1906

Ota Benga’s experience was degrading and immoral. Therefore, it is tragic, but unsurprising that in 1916, 12 years after Benga first came to America, he took a pistol and shot himself in the heart. Benga’s treatment through the lens of ethnographic voyeurism as an “Other” took away his humanity and resulted in a variety of physical and psychological torture. Putting Benga in a cage did not result in any scientific gains. It did not contribute to new knowledge, or provide new perspectives. Rather, it served as nothing more than another excuse to exercise racist beliefs and exploit a black body. Benga is one more tragedy that cannot be forgotten, lest we forget the inhumanity that shaped America long after slavery “ended”.

Works Cited:

“Eugenics and Human Zoos: The Case of Ota Benga.” HAUNTED FILES AT APA, 15 Dec. 2014, apa.nyu.edu/hauntedfiles/eugenics-and-human-zoos-the-case-of-ota-benga/.

Newkirk, Pamela. “The Man Who Was Caged in a Zoo | Pamela Newkirk.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 3 June 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/03/the-man-who-was-caged-in-a-zoo.

Zielinski, Sarah. “The Tragic Tale of the Pygmy in the Zoo.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 2 Dec. 2008, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-tragic-tale-of-the-pygmy-in-the-zoo-2787905/.

Gandhi vs The Gulabi Gang

Gandhi was many things. He was a lawyer. He was an activist. He was an author. He was Hindu. Gandhi was also outrageously sexist. This is not an opinion. It is a fact. Thought he left behind a legacy of passive resistance and Indian independence, he also left behind a legacy of misogyny that continues to haunt the women of India in present day.

Mahatma Gandhi with his grand-niece Manuben (right) and wife of his grandnephew Abhaben (left), “Gandhi and his women associates” India Today

Specifically focusing on his writings, Gandhi views women through an extremely negative light. In his writings on Parliament, Gandhi uses an incredibly sexist metaphor, remarking that Parliament has not “done a single good thing”, making it like a “sterile woman”, and since the ministers continually change, it is like a “prostitute” (29). Gandhi’s metaphor both implies that the only use for a woman is to bear children and shames sex work, ignoring the complex factors dictating how a woman can end up as a sex worker. Furthermore, Gandhi’s personal emphasis on celibacy proved to be more of a campaign in repressing female sexuality. To test his supposed celibacy, Gandhi would “[sleep] with naked young women, including his own great-niece”, a practice equally disgusting and disturbing (Connellan “Women suffer from Gandhi’s legacy”). This was only the tip of the iceberg. Gandhi’s views included concepts that raped Indian women lost their value as human beings and that murdering sexually assaulted Indian women to protect family honor was acceptable. His ideals placed full blame on the victim of any kind of harassment or assault, perpetuating rape culture. In terms of what a woman’s place was, Gandhi unsurprisingly believed that women belonged at home serving as mothers and nothing else. These concepts are a continual issue in India, where it “ranked 114th among 134 countries” on the gender equality index according to the World Economy  Forum. While Gandhi is not fully responsible for the repression and abuse of women in India in modern times, it is important to recognize that Gandhi was a major contributor. However, there is hope. Hope wearing a bright pink sari and wielding a bamboo stick.

In Northern India, Sampat Pal Devi witnessed a man beating his wife. When she went to defend the woman, she too was attacked. Rather than choose to ignore about the incident, Devi returned the next day with a stick and five friends to punish the man for his actions. This event was the beginning of a snowball effect leading to Devi founding the Gulabi Gang in 2006, an organization dedicated to female empowerment through training women to ensure economic security and protecting them from abuse, whether that protection comes through fostering female confidence or attacking abusers with the now iconic bamboo sticks the women carry.  Their vision is to “protect the powerless from abuse and fight corruption to ensure basic rights of the poor in rural areas and discourage traditions like child-marriages”, an ambitious goal when considering the current status of women in India (Gulabi Gang – Vision). This model of female organization and power not only challenges in the female repression rampant in India, but also challenges the ideals held by Gandhi. There is still much progress to be made towards liberating the female population of India, but the Gulabi Gang serves as a pink reminder that the change India needs is slowly coming to fruition.

Works Cited:

Connellan, Michael. “Women suffer from Gandhi’s legacy | Michael Connellan.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 27 Jan. 2010, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/27/mohandas-gandhi-women-india.

Gandhi. ‘Hind Swaraj’ and Other Writings. Edited by Anthony Parel, Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Gulabi Gang – Women Empowerment India, gulabigangofficial.in.

“India at bottom in man-Woman equality index: World Economic Forum – Times of India.” The Times of India, India, 9 Nov. 2009, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-at-bottom-in-man-woman-equality-index-World-Economic-Forum/articleshow/5212464.cms.

The Virgin Myth: Connections Between The Tempest and Modern Societal Constructs

A virgin is defined as a person who has not had sexual intercourse. Concepts of virginity and purity are celebrated extensively in many cultures, and the act of losing one’s virginity is considered an integral, sacred part of life. To “pop your cherry” is thought of as an induction into adulthood, that somehow sexual intercourse is necessary to functioning effectively in life. However, this celebration rings hollow. Countless lives have been harmed or destroyed all together in defense of these concepts, concepts that are based on false premises. Virginity is a societal construct, and impossible to measure. First of all, sexual intercourse is not as simple as basic heterosexual, penetrative coitus. Definitions of sex and virginity are not universal and to assume that sexual intercourse is the same for one person as it is for another ignores the multifaceted nature of sexuality and human interaction. Secondly, primitive ideas of virginity dictate that a physical “barrier” breaks, referring to the hymen. The hymen, also known as the vaginal corona, is a, ” ring of stretchy tissue … leftover from the formation of the vaginal canal during fetal development”, but manages to be representative of so much more (Conger, “Sex Myth Exposed: What They Don’t Teach You About Your Hymen”). Though it is believed that tearing the hymen signifies a loss of virginity, if that were truly the case, most people born with a hymen would not be considered virgins, since the hymen is usually worn away or torn through non sexual activity early in life. So why is virginity so highly valued if it doesn’t really exist?

Richard Burton & Hazel Penwarden – The Tempest 1951

Virginity has been used as a measurement of “purity” in women, dictating that a woman’s value and worth is based off of her perceived virtue, continuing an oppressive theme in the history of male objectification of women as a method of maintaining dominance. One clear example of this can be seen in The Tempest when observing the interactions between Prospero’s daughter Miranda and Ferdinand, the prince of Naples. Upon meeting Miranda, Ferdinand is overcome by her beauty and wishes to marry her. However, this union is dependent on a single variable: whether or not Miranda is “pure”. Ferdinand’s first question upon meeting Miranda has nothing to do with her personality, her history, or anything in relation to her individuality. Rather, he asks, “if [Miranda] be maid or no?”, deciding to base his pursuit of Miranda off her answer to a single question (Shakespeare 1.2.428). Ferdinand objectifies Miranda, choosing to value a trait glorified by the imagination of a patriarchal society. The concept of Miranda as beautiful and pure is prioritized over the real Miranda as an individual. Furthermore, due to this objectification based off a fictional narrative of virtue, most of Miranda’s interactions with both Ferdinand and her father relate to her status as a virgin. When Prospero finally approves of the union between Miranda and Ferdinand, his main focus is not on Miranda’s happiness, but on the status of her, “virgin-knot” and as an, “acquisition/Worthily purchased” (Shakespeare 4.1.13-15). Miranda is basically sold to Ferdinand in order to further Prospero’s personal vendetta, reducing her to an object whose only value is based on a social construct of purity. The way Miranda is portrayed in The Tempest is reflective of the patriarchal norms that continue to be a standard in modern society.

Members of Pakistan’s civil society hold protest to condemn the killing of Farzana Parveen, a 25-year-old pregnant woman who was stoned to death earlier this week. (Credit: AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen), Pew Research Center

Penalization for the “loss” of one’s virginity is a reoccurring trend in present times. There is a constant pattern of violence against women who are no longer considered pure, whether this supposed dishonor occurs consensually or not. Outdated concepts present females as a commodity for uplifting family honor, like how Prospero uses Miranda’s status as a “maid” to further his agenda. Traditional values in communities reduce daughters to nothing more than a prop for emphasizing social standing. By dehumanizing their flesh and blood, deciding female worth based on its reflection on the family, murdering women for embracing their agency becomes acceptable, an appropriate response to betrayal. According to the Honour Based Violence Awareness Network, at least 5,000 honor killings occur internationally per year. 5,000 women murdered for defying impossible patriarchal standards and claiming their own autonomy, a perpetuation of patriarchal oppression. Deciding female worth based on false concepts of purity needs to end; it is time to acknowledge the inherent violence in these ideals. Defining value based on imaginary standards is a continuation of problematic concepts that should’ve have stayed where they began: in the past.

Works Cited:

Conger, Cristen. “Sex Myth Exposed: What They Don’t Teach You About Your Hymen.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Dec. 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cristen-conger/sex-myth_b_1154683.html.

Pfreundner, Simona. “Pair of Cherries.” Design & Illustration Envato Tuts , 4 Sept. 2008, design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/illustrate-a-pair-of-sweet-gradient-mesh-cherries–vector-166.

Sahgal, Neha, and Tim Townsend. “Four-in-Ten Pakistanis say honor killing of women can be at least sometimes justified.” Pew Research Center, 30 May 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/30/four-in-ten-pakistanis-say-honor-killing-of-women-can-be-at-least-sometimes-justified/.

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Signet Classics, 1998.

“Statistics & Data.” International Honour Based Violence Resource Centre, Honour Based Violence Awareness Network, hbv-awareness.com/statistics-data/.

Colonial Karma: The Spanish Price Revolution

In times of economic downfall, hindsight reveals a calm before the storm, prosperity foreshadowing the inevitable depression that remains a constant aspect of capitalism. One example of this pattern of rise and fall can be seen in the imperialistic Spain of the 16th century. With the colonization of the “New World”, specifically the Inca empire, Spain gained access to both resources and free labor, in the form of an oppressive  version of the Inca labor system known as Mita. Spain exploited indigenous people to gain resources such as silver and mercury; however the extreme influx of silver and other precious metals led to inflation and a trade deficit that crippled the Spanish economy.

Cieza de León, Pedro de. Parte Primera De la chronica del Peru. 1553, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. Depiction of the silver mines of Potosí.

The so called discovery of the New World opened a gateway to riches beyond their wildest dreams in the eyes of the Spanish, and to an extent these dreams did manifest as a reality. Taking into consideration the time period in which the Spanish began their mining, the amount of precious metals produced was awe inspiring. However, this wealth came at with a steep cost for the indigenous people who were forced to partake in mita. Mita was a system of forced labor in Latin America contributing to a, “indigenous population decline in a large portion of the Andes”, due to the inhumane conditions the Andean men had face (Lane, Potosí Mines). The treatment of indigenous men under mita led to vast loss of life, demonstrating the death sentence accompanying the command to work. Mercury vapor is extremely hazardous and led to illness and death for the indigenous people trapped in the toxic environment created by the mining. Symptoms of mercury poisoning were so common within the indigenous community that, “the proverbial saying for “scared to death” was “shaking like a victim of mercury
poisoning” (temblando como un azogado)”, a clear demonstration of the devastation caused by the exploitative nature of the Spanish empire (Lane, Potosí Mines). The mines destroyed both indigenous lives and the environment, but there were consequences beyond that extending to the capitalistic Spanish.

“New World Treasures.” Spanish Colonial Coin Information, Spanish Coin Identification Guide

With the sudden influx of silver and other precious metals, Spain’s economy at first appeared to be on the road to endless prosperity. However, the increase in imports without increase in exports led to a trade deficit, damaging the infrastructure of the Spanish economy. Furthermore, the wealth that was being transported to Spain from the mines was not distributed equally, instead remaining only in the hands of the Spanish nobility. Economic booms never last and the Spanish silver bubble eventually had to pop, a phenomena known as the Spanish Price Revolution. Spain’s economic downfall arrived quickly with a, “big rise in public expenditures and the choking pressure of the overseas possessions’ consumer needs [accelerating] trace deficits and set off galloping inflation” (Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America). Booms and busts are not unsurprising to see within capitalistic systems; they are an ever enduring aspect of capitalism, with examples found in the American economic system with the Great Depression and the 2008 Recession.The exploitative nature of Mita proved to be too effective in its systematic usage of indigenous labor and Latin American resources, resulting in a unique form of karma toppling the economy meant to benefit from Spain’s oppressive operation.

Works Cited: 

Cieza de León, Pedro de. Parte Primera De la chronica del Peru. 1553, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Galeano, Eduardo. Open Veins of Latin America (Las Venas Abiertas de América Latina). Siglo XXI Editores, 1971.

Lane, Kris. “Potosí Mines.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin America History, DOI:10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.2.

“New World Treasures.” Spanish Colonial Coin Information, Spanish Coin Identification Guide, http://www.newworldtreasures.com/cointypes.htm.

The Pseudoscience of Racism: A Continuous Attempt to Justify Oppression

Allow me to provide a list of names of people with some distinctive commonalities. A few may be recognizable, others may be totally unfamiliar.

• Samuel George Morton
• William Walker
• Dylann Roof

These people all have a commonality: the belief that there are biological differences between races that define the inferiority of certain races to others. Specifically they believe in the superiority and dominance of the white race over others, and attempt to use a twisted pseudoscience to justify their concepts.

For example, one of the pseudosciences used during the beginning of America’s creation to justify racism was phrenology, a study that was briefly mentioned by Professor Lazo in lecture. Phrenology is the study of human craniums to determine brain size in relation to intelligence. The research has no scientific merit, as there is no connection between brain size and intelligence. However, what is important to note is that phrenology was used to excuse American imperialism and oppression. An exemplification of this is the physician Samuel Morton, a believer in phrenology who collected thousands of skulls claiming that Europeans were superior in their intelligence to all other races. Morton, “used his influence to make the case for black inferiority” in order to advocate his stance on pro-slavery. (“One Race or Several Species”). Furthermore, Morton’s concepts on racial inferiority based on phrenology contributed to biological arguments in favor of Manifest Destiny, the focus of Lazo’s lecture.

A phrenology chart showing the suggested divisions of the skull (“Phrenology”)

Morton may have attempted to prove his ideals through scientific research, but his concepts were not limited to a disappointing part of the scientific community. Filibuster William Walker was famed for his attempts to conquer and claim land for America in the name of Manifest Destiny. Walker not only tried to justify his actions through religious motives, he stated that, “an inferior race yielding meekly and peacefully to the controlling influence of a superior people” was a natural part of the world that was inevitable with conflicts between Americans (whites) and other civilizations/races (Greenberg 144). This kind of ideology has no scientific base, as there is absolutely no evidence of the kind of biological differences suggested by people like Walker and Morton. However, the racist ideas of these two men are part of a larger community of thought and feeling that discriminates against other races. Ideas like Walker’s are an ideological viruses, spreading quickly and leading to lasting harm.

Dylann Roof, 21, was arrested in the slayings of several people inside The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. on June 18, 2015 (“Dylann Roof Hate Crime: South Carolina Shooter Faces Federal Charges”)

Dylann Roof was a 21 year old white supremacist responsible for a shooting at a church that killed nine black individuals. Roof’s motivations were made crystal clear in the manifesto he released, claiming that he wanted to start a race war with his actions and that, “Negroes have lower IQs, lower impulse control, and higher testosterone levels in generals [sic]”, than whites, making them a violent community that had to be segregated from whites to protect the white race (“Dylann Roof Expected to Face Federal Hate Crime Charges”). Roof’s attitude towards the black community is an demonstration of ideals and concepts that date back to the Manifest Destiny and individuals like William Walker. For obvious reasons, this kind of ideology based on false “science” needs to end, but unfortunately it is not as easy as simply presenting the truth and expecting people to change their minds. The United States was founded on a bedrock of racism and oppression and prejudice is not the kind of disease that can be cured with a round of antibiotics and some bed rest. However, that is not to suggest that racism and the pseudo-scientific concepts that contribute to it are unstoppable. People have the ability to change. The best cure for prejudice is not medicine and rest, it is truth and time.

 

Works Cited:

Greenberg, Amy S. Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2012.

Hughey, Matthew W., and W. Carson Byrd. “Born that way? ‘Scientific’ racism is creeping back into our thinking. Here’s what to watch out for.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Sept. 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/09/28/born-that-way-scientific-racism-is-creeping-back-into-our-thinking-heres-what-to-watch-out-for/?utm_term=.c998505ec1d9.

“One Race or Several Species.” RACE – Are We So Different?, American Anthropological Association, http://www.understandingrace.org/history/science/one_race.html.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Phrenology.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 8 Feb. 2017, http://www.britannica.com/topic/phrenology.

Worland, Justin. “Dylann Roof Hate Crime: South Carolina Shooter Faces Federal Charges.” Time, Time, 22 July 2015, time.com/3967942/dylann-roof-federal-hate-crimes/.

The Cost of Progress Was Over 11 Million Lives

Some of the images in this post are very graphic, therefore, viewer discretion is advised.

It is easy to name violent periods in time, moments where history was a reflection of human depravity. One moment in particular that has always stood out to me is World War 2, specifically actions taken by the Axis powers. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that I have a personal connection to what happened in the 20th century. I am an Ashkenazi Jew, with roots in Western Europe, including Germany, Russia, and Poland. My great-grandmother was forced to immigrate from Russia to escape rampant anti-semitism. I have not-so-distant relatives belonging to a community that was forced through unimaginable horrors. I will never know exactly what happened to them, thought I cannot say I really want to know. Therefore, I admit I struggle with remaining objective in my examination of Rousseau and the connections of his ideas to the actions of countries during this time period. Rousseau believed progress was regressive, that as humans took steps forward, they also descended towards immorality and sin. After World War 2, German and Japanese human experimentation and torture were excused and ignored, in favor of gaining the research and developments owned by the Axis powers, a clear demonstration of Rousseau’s concepts that humans choose “progress” over morality.

 

 

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The more well known human rights violation can been seen in the concentration camps established by Nazi Germany. These camps used Jews and other prisoners for experimentation, examining the effects of tests to further research ranging from, “facilitating the survival of Axis military personnel” and creating treatment for illness and injuries, to pushing the ideologies of segregation and purity (“Nazi Medical Experiments”). These experiments were inhumane, involving torture such as injecting small children with deadly diseases, using freezing experiments to test effects of hypothermia, and performing horrifying experiments to find the most effective and cheap way to mass euthanize Jews and other groups. Though these actions clearly violated human rights and led to the deaths of millions of innocent lives, rather than focus on the prosecution of the Nazis responsible for these experiments for war crimes, the United States chose to instead take the research and hire a select few of the scientists to continue working on American science projects. Furthermore, the doctors who were prosecuted included in their defense the idea that their actions differed little from the experiments done by “the allies on their own prison populations, inmates of mental asylums, conscientious objectors and troops”, suggesting (correctly) that the choice of progress over morality was not limited to just Germany, but was much more universal (Bradley “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back”). These “evils caused by [their] vain curiosity” led to death and pain that was not worth the ability to announce scientific advancement (Rousseau 8). Desire for so-called progress is what led to the degradation of human decency and morality, just as Rousseau claimed in his discourse. However, Nazi Germany is not the only extreme example from that time period of evil pursuit for progress.

 

 

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Unit 731 rose from the shadows to infamy as evidence and confessions began coming forward, depicting a chilling vision of experimentation on prisoners of war to further Japanese progress in medicine and biological/chemical warfare. Developments with medicine included new understandings of various diseases such as syphilis and cholera, and better treatments for frostbite and the effects of high pressure. Biological and chemical warfare research led to the creation of plague bombs, used to spread bubonic plague, and dangerous chemical weapons such as anthrax. The experiments leading to these developments were dangerous and cruel. Scientists vivisected prisoners alive without anesthetic, killing them only once they were no longer useful. Female prisoners were injected with illnesses and forcibly impregnated, other prisoners had new weapons tested on them or were locked inside pressure chambers to see how long it took them to die. The most horrifying thing about Unit 731? Even with knowledge of the atrocities that occurred in Unit 731, the United States, “granted immunity from war crimes prosecution to the doctors in exchange for their data”, choosing scientific knowledge over morality (Kristof “Unmasking Horror”). To this day the horrors of Unit 731 and other places like it are not well-addressed by the United States, but this is not surprising. The United States is not innocent when it comes to human experimentation, with prominent examples being The Tuskegee and Guatamala syphilis experiments, which preyed on people including sex workers and asylum patients. The United States presents, “the appearances of all the virtues without having any,” lending to Rousseau’s belief in the dangers of progress (Rousseau 6). The United States disregarded the same rights they claim to protect, a despicable demonstration of hypocrisy that resulted in the loss of innocent life.

Human life in exchange for what we call progress is a reflection of Rousseau’s concepts, proving the philosopher right centuries later. By favoring science over morality, human kind allowed for the degradation of all values relating to our concept of good. A degradation resulting in the deaths of millions of people, including my people. My family. Perhaps there is a chance for humanity to redeem itself and show Rousseau that progress and morality can go hand and hand. But this redemption must come soon. Humanity is running out of time to prove it is still human.

 

Works Cited:

Bradley , James. “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: How World War II Changed How We Do Human Research.” The Conversation, 13 Nov. 2017, theconversation.com/two-steps-forward-one-step-back-how-world-war-ii-changed-how-we-do-human-research-39929.

Kristof, Nicholas D. “Unmasking Horror — A special report.; Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Mar. 1995, http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/17/world/unmasking-horror-a-special-report-japan-confronting-gruesome-war-atrocity.html?pagewanted=all.

“Nazi Medical Experiments.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005168.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Basic Political Writings: Second Edition. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2011.

The Biggest Myth In The Aeneid Is Not The Gods And Goddesses Themselves, It Is The Concept Of Equality Between Them

Throughout Virgil’s epic poem, The Aeneid, a clear, underlying concept that follows Aeneas wherever he goes is divine machinery. The interference of the gods and goddesses is a theme that continuously drives Aeneas’ journey towards the foundation of Rome. However, my focus is not on the hero Aeneas and how he goes about on his journey. Rather, I want to explore Virgil’s attitude towards women and how this connects to his portrayals of the goddesses as inferior to the gods, categorizing them based on sexist stereotypes and depicting their motivations as shallow and petty.

Rome, like many current societies, was heavily patriarchal and throughout The Aeneid Virgil reflects these patriarchal concepts, sending a clear message: The best kind of female is one that is submissive and “pure”. These concepts are a driving force in Virgil’s portrayal of the goddesses, and one strong example of this is Juno, wife to Jupiter.

Statue of Juno; Vatican, Rome; from the Brooklyn Museum Archives

The epic poem begins with Juno offering the king of winds, Aeolus, a beautiful nymph if he agrees to send a terrible storm to Aeneas and his crew. Before even focusing on Juno’s grudge against the Trojans, it is important to note that Juno’s actions objectify others who are female. The nymph has no say in this union, beginning a trend throughout Virgil’s work of forcing females into relationships without their consent. This nymph is Juno’s pawn in order to guarantee that the, “men [face] instant death” before they can ever reach land (Virgil 110.50). But why does Juno want the Trojans dead? According to Virgil, Juno’s quest to eradicate Aeneas and his men is motivated by Fate’s decree that Aeneas will found an empire that will destroy Juno’s favored kingdom, Carthage. This motivation is displayed as petty and shallow, a vindictive goal that is powerless in the face of Fate, or fatum. Additionally, when Juno attempts to destroy Aeneas later in the poem, all the deities and monsters she calls upon to help her are referred to with female pronouns. Allecto, a Fury known as the, “mother of sorrows”, follows Juno’s orders in spreading chaos and starting a war between Turnus and Aeneas in a last ditch attempt to stop Aeneas from embracing his fate (Virgil 379.224). These actions negatively impact hundreds of people, not just Aeneas, but Juno’s desire to stop the creation of Rome trumps everything else, including protecting those dedicated to her. Furthermore, Juno’s mission is futile and in the end, she is forced to reach a compromise with the other gods, ending in a subservient position.

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1486)

Though unlike Juno, Venus takes all actions in support of Aeneas, she is also portrayed similarly to Juno, as shallow and manipulative. In order to further support her son, Venus has her son, Cupid, cause Dido who was, “long numb to passion”, to fall in madly in love with Aeneas (Virgil 863.71). Dido is not given a say in the matter and the passion created in her leads to her doom, since Aeneas’ departure is too much for her to handle and she commits suicide. Rather than depict Dido as an strong political agent, the Aeneid depicts Dido as a, “sexualized figure, a woman tempted by amor to forsake both her oath to Sychaeus… and her role as a leader”, taking away any semblance of individuality from Dido (Desmond 28). Venus clearly uses Dido as only that sexualized figure in order to push her own agenda, and shows no compassion or guilt for causing Dido’s untimely demise.

These goddesses are clearly portrayed as callous and calculating, disregarding mortal lives as they fight for their own selfish goals. However, Virgil barely focuses on the sins of the gods at all, with a brief mention of, “an African nymph whom Jove had raped” being the only direct illustration of the immorality of the gods versus the goddesses (Virgil 248.134). Rape is an serious crime, one that is unjustifiable, but in Virgil’s world, the pettiness and manipulation of the goddesses warrants more focus and scorn than the unforgivable crime committed by Jupiter than is repeated by many of the gods constantly. Virgil’s portrayal of the gods and goddesses reinforces traditional gender roles and demonstrates a Roman ideal that demands subservience over all else.

Works Cited:

Desmond, Marilynn. Reading Dido: Gender, Textuality, and the Medieval Aeneid. University of Minnesota Press, 1994.

Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin Books, 2006.

Columbus Doesn’t Deserve A Holiday and Cannibalism Needs To Be Reconsidered

On Wednesday, October 4th, Professor Rodrigo Lazo gave a lecture on Orientalism. Orientalism is a theory developed by Edward Said depicting Europe’s relationship with “the Orient” (or the East) and how Europe dominated the Orient through conceptual, as well as physical, means. Tomorrow is Monday, October 9th. Specifically, tomorrow is holiday. A day that celebrates Christopher Columbus, a man who not only failed to find the East he was looking for, but massacred and marginalized entire groups of people native to the lands that could not offer him the riches that motivated his search. However, my focus is not on Columbus’s inability to navigate. Rather, I wish to focus on his treatment of the indigenous people he met, and how the labels he gave them connect to J.M. Coetzee’s novel, Waiting for the Barbarians and concepts from Orientalism on the power of portrayal.

In a letter from Dr. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician who traveled with Columbus but was not part of the landing party, the doctor claims to have seen, “the neck of a man, cooking in a pot” and that the Caribbees (an indigenous tribe on the island) were a brutal, savage people that, “[ate] the children they [bore] with [captured young women]”, continuing on to describe a variety of gruesome and cannibalistic scenarios (Chanca 12).  Chanca portrayed these native people in a way that dehumanized them, creating a narrative that claimed these people were bestial. A royal decree from Queen Isabella of Spain stated that people who were cannibals, “[could] be captured… and be sold”, incentivizing Columbus to claim the natives were savage man-eaters (Schutt 105). These claims offer an altered and incorrect version of Carib customs, but by using the label cannibal Columbus was given permission by Spain to violate human rights and dominate the indigenous people of the island for personal profit, a continuation of Said’s concepts on the way portrayal of groups contributes to the establishment of hegemony. Furthermore, though I am not encouraging barbecuing one’s neighbor, cannibalism is not the disgusting, violent practice it is thought to be, and cannibalism has been, and continues to be a part of Western culture, the same culture that condemns it. For example,  “medications made from human parts” were a large part of European culture for centuries, a form of medicinal cannibalism according to zoologist Bill Schutt (Schutt 212). As Europeans oppressed native people by labeling them as cannibal, at the same time Europeans were eating, drinking, and even wearing creations with human as the main ingredient.

America Tertia Pars, 1592, Theodor de Bry

This leads me to Waiting for the Barbarians. Coetzee’s choice of diction by referring to the natives oppressed by the Empire as “barbarians” is purposeful. These are indigenous people who are threatened by a force stealing their land and treating them as though they are animals; yet by referring to them as barbarians, this treatment is excused. When some of these so-called barbarians are captured, Colonel Joll, “writes a single word with a stick of charcoal” on the backs of the individuals, labeling them as “ENEMY” in order to further push the Empire’s concept of the natives as an Other (Coetzee 105). Language forms labels and labels are powerful. Furthermore, the magistrate, the novel’s moral center and narrator, continually struggles with his view of the indigenous people before he realizes that the hate directed towards the natives is based on, “nothing more substantial than differences in table manners, variations in the structure of the eyelid” and he cannot figure out a way to challenge this prejudice effectively (Coetzee 51). Like the word cannibal, barbarian is a word used to dehumanize, providing a dominating power like the Empire or Spain an excuse to take advantage of that label and establish authority in violent ways through excuses of morality.

Cannibal. Barbarian. The words may different, but they can be used interchangeably in some contexts. By labeling a group with a term that has negative connotations, whether it is by the West or the Empire, the goal is the same: To take away the identity of those being marginalized and replace it with a generic concept of savagery. The Empire does this in Coetzee’s novel, Said explains this with his theory of Orientalism, and Columbus did this when he first landed in America. Columbus was cruel to these indigenous people and oppressed them not just with violence, but with a single word. Therefore, cannibalism is not quite as awful as Western culture has portrayed it to be, and Columbus does not deserve to be celebrated in any way.

Works Cited:

Coetzee, J.M. Waiting for the Barbarians. Martin Secker & Warburg Limited, 1980.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Vintage Books, 2004.

Schutt, Bill. Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2017.

Wisconsin Historical Digital Library and Archives. American Journeys Collection: Letter of Dr. Chanca on the Second Voyage of Columbus. Wisconsin Historical Society, 2003.