Gender and Race are both used by Imperialist empires to justify their actions. Both of them go hand-in- hand in justifying the ability of an imperialist nations to interfere with and take over other cultures. In Kipling’s White Man’s Burden, Forster’s Passage to India, Silko’s Ceremony, Limerick’s Legacy of Conquest, and Kent’s Gender and power in Britain , 1640-1990, Gender is used as a justification to defend a gender in another country, and to “teach” them how to “live”. Additionally, Race is used as justification managing another country; the reason to keep races and minorities separated, and as justification for actions during ethical incidents. Race and Gender are used as justifications for intervention and takeover of other nations by …show more content…
Essentially, these races had what were considered feminine qualities, and needed manly mastery in order to be properly disciplined and guided (Kent 211). These races, because they appeared different, and the standards of society were different from that of the their own, the imperialist nations felt that they, being superior, manly, were the betters compared to the weaker nations, the effeminate ones. The nations seen as effeminate were not worthy of ruling themselves, and so needed a stronger, manly figure, to teach them how to take care of themselves. Race was also a reason that Imperialist nations used to interfere and takeover other cultures and races.
When it comes to the use of race, imperialist empires used this to justify intervening in the affairs of other races, even those that are different from their own. The first example is when an imperialist nation, such as the United States, regards another race that is completely different from its own. The United states, during its rise and westward expansion believed that it should “take up the white man’s burden[,] send forth the best ye breed—go send you sons to exil to
...usion that race is deployed "in the construction of power relations."* Indeed a "metalanguage" of race, to use Higginbotham's term, was employed by colonial powers to define black women as separate from English women, and that process is deconstructed in Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, Anxious Patriarchs. However, Brown's analysis rests mainly on the shifting English concepts of gender and race imposed on colonial society by the white elite, becoming at times a metalanguage of colonial gender. Nonetheless, Brown's analysis of overlapping social constructions is instructive for understanding the ways gender and race can be manipulated to buttress dominant hierarchies.
Compare The Successes And Failures Of Patriarchy In Colonialism, In “The Tempest”, “Translations” And “Things Fall Apart”.
In her essay, Lauren Onkey reveals how colonialism and nationalism victimize women in the past. Traditionally, woman is considered inferior and weaker whereas man is superior and powerful. This sexist characterization of gender is based on the assumption of sexual dominance. During the period of colonization, Colonial power deliberately describes the colonies as feminine “to justify its ‘civilizing’ mission” (160). Since then, woman becomes the symbol and property of nation. Thence, the nation assumes the right to ‘supervise’ her behavior. Richard Kearney suggests “the symbol of woman as nation as a somewhat benevolent response to colonial conquest” (160). The ‘elevation’ of woman as a symbol and property of nation is problematic at least to women because it makes self-determination inapplicable to women. In Ireland specifically, women’s issues are defined as trivial compared to the more important issues of nationalism. The Field Day group which is supposed to “rethink ideas about the nation, literature, politics and culture” fails to include the issues of women in its agenda. Onkey argues that Field Day simply ignores the creative works produced by women and topics of women, sexuality and gender are absent in most literary discourse. Female writers are also marginalized since “of over 300 writers included covering 1500 years, only 39 are women” (162).
Troops in the armed forces of these imperialistic nations justified their actions through Social Darwinism. Troops in the Royal Armed Forces of Britain invaded more land than any other empire that ever existed. The troops invaded so successfully because they had sound motivation. Their motivation was the glory of their country and their belief that by invading these countries, they were eliminating the world of weak races. The British believed that they were the highest race of people on earth and so they plundered diff...
... of power and they also felt as though they needed to help smaller nations like if it was their burden, which Europeans called it the “white man’s burden”. Mother countries were destroying ethnic groups and causing civil wars between smaller nations.
Though colonial imperialism was in stark decline following the turn of the 19th century, its theme perpetuates even today through mass privatization and rigid global capitalism. The need for personal, racial, and national superiority arises from a need to stay competitive culturally and economically. The question is: why does this need perpetuate? I believe the answer to be quite simple. Personal interests and a desire to maintain ones own standard of living places the needs and cultural interests of others second in the global race for more capital.
First, let us examine how the West justified imperialism. Ideologically, they used Social Darwinism, “The White Man’s Burden”, masculinity versus effeminacy, “whiteness” versus “darkness”, and the civilizing mission (Age of Imperialism I, 31:57). Social
...hey were servants, like Ariel and Caliban, representing the traditional social world of European societies. The other men’s power came from the inheritance of their social positions, asserting their will on those below them, without little physical work. While in both stories, women were dominated by male power and their greatest values appeared as possessions of men, on certain occasions, women were able to break away from being subservient by standing up for what they believed in. Ekwefi risked her own life to be with the man she loved and to save her only surviving daughter, while Miranda stood up to the mistreatment of Ferdinand and openly admitted her feelings. However, these small scenes cannot fight the male dominance in both Things Fall Apart and the Tempest, and show the same gender problems in both the civilized and “savage” societies of the colonization.
American's concept of their superiority over all other races did not just promote the idea of Empire but justified and mandated imperialism (Healy 39). "It would seem that the White race alone received the divine command, to subdue and replenish the earth! for it is the only race that has obeyed it -- the only one t...
Before Freud introduced psychoanalysis and psychosexual behavior in the 20th Century, women were extremely confined in their options for their sexuality and sexual behaviors. Women were restricted to the gender roles implemented by the law and customs, as means to enforce traditional marriages between men and women. It was difficult for a woman to form an emotional connection with men because of the deep gender segregation, so they formed close emotional relationships with their close female friends instead. This also made women cautious to form relationships and marry men, so physical intimacy had to be hidden through abortions, lest the woman would be forced into marrying a man she was not entirely ready to commit to.
Women and gender studies contribute greatly to our understanding of the social and cultural world we inhabit. Studying the complex issues of this field has instituted many key insights. Two major insights that positively affected our society are the awareness through learning and through this awareness activism that can ensue.
Throughout mankind’s brief history, an easily observable multifaceted male power slant has stymied human potential, gaining stability in neither fact nor philosophy. Females are treated as inferior in almost every aspect of society. The need for male supremacy in civilization found its way into obsolescence during the age of early pastoralism, long before the common era. Nonetheless, the majority of the world persists to oppress women for a myriad of reasons, all of which unjustifiable and antiquated.The effects of female oppression, while instantaneously beneficial to men, are ultimately detrimental to mankind.
For hundreds of years, white European men have claimed the top level of the social hierarchy, demeaning anyone else not like them. This self-proclaimed white superiority is apparent in the novel Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya, a story that revolves around the life of Rukmani, a poor Indian farmer woman whose life is forever changed by British imperialists, as well as during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when European countries imperialized places such as India, The Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Blatant disrespect for imperialized people, a forced economic divide, as well as the merciless snatching of resources, explicitly reflect imperialism as a system of dominance rather than one of global progress.
Bolt, Christine. “Race and the Victorians,” in British Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century, ed. C.C. Eldridge. St. Martin’s Press: 1984.
It is flawless that it is impossible to interpret some of these 19th-century texts without coming across concepts of imperialism. The English, the social system used widely in England and the entire English community placed the male gender on a social platform that disregarded any advancement of the female sex (Pui-Lan). The ruling class made the authority and were not to be challenged, prompting them to put the woman in her place, considering her as physical property belonging to men and could be possessed. Although women had their ideologies and independent thoughts, they were to be represented by their men. Bronte in Jane Eyre gives a critical evaluation and contributing statements on the facts about female Other in the form of oppression and