Last but not least!! Our final week of classes we had three discussion questions that were very insightful and in a way related to each other. We looked at the difference between the modern west and the east regions, and how the west has always seen it self as a superior region. As well we talked about the case Venus From Africa and how Saartjie Baartman was coerced into leaving a comfortable life to go be a circus act. Also after listening to Chimamanda Adichie’s TEDTalk my group was in agreement that stories are never clear, there is always a bias behind them.
Racism has been around since the beginning of time, and even in the 21st century we still see protest and organizations like Black Lives Matter (BLM) being formed. We are very fortunate that in today’s time racism is not accepted even though its still present, organization like BLM have grown and showed they will not tolerate 1900 racism anymore. We see protest where Caucasian and African Americans stand side by side to fight racism. Unfortunately though racism is fueled by the “west” and “east” mentality, where first world countries like Europe, Russia, and America are considered the modern west due to their scientific advancements. Giving their advancements the west have constantly expressed their spuriousness over third world countries (the east) like the Middle East, Africa, and Asia and label them as irrational due to the fact there heavily driven by spiritual and religious beliefs. Saartjie Baartman an African women in the case of Venus From Africa is a prime example of how the “east” countries were easily manipulated and coerced by the “west”.
Have you ever been looked down on? Or felt that you aren’t valued by the society around you? Well that’s what happened to Saartjie Baartman. Baartman is an African women who was seen as “human menagerie” (Elkins, 2007)by the upper class European men and women after being tricked into leaving her homeland. The fact that the author calls her a menagerie goes to show that she had no choice in her freedom, she was imprisoned her whole life whether she went back home where she most likely would have been slaved or she stayed in London and been paraded around. The attention that her body attracted also brought with it a traumatizing experience that lead to an alcohol addiction, to this day alcoholism is used as an escape drug for many people suffering trauma and abuse and it’s understandable why Baartman became an alcoholic after witnessing her culture, beliefs, as well as her body be laughed at and used for the amusement of the privileged Europeans.
This video clip goes more in depth into Saartjie Baartman life and how her and her family were tricked by the doctor. Monica Clarke does a great job of portraying the pain that this story possess through her voice. By listening to Clarke tell the story the you can only gain more sympathy towards Baartmans short lived life.
After listening to Chimamanda Adichie’s TEDTalk the title The Danger of a Single Story makes a lot more sense. Adichie said that if you change the story between the British and indigenous people and you start with the natives firing arrows at the British and not the British arriving onto indigenous land it shows a completely different perspective and point of view to the reader. Doing this paints the British as the victims and the indigenous as the culprits when in reality the British invaded and by doing so they declared war on the first nations. I agree with her point that if you slightly change where you start a story it can have a different outcome because I have lived in a similar scenario where the story is different between both parties and it’s a very important task to be able to understand both sides while at the same time not be bias. Personally I believe that its hard not to be affected by bias point of views, these days you can always find two versions of a story by mainstream media that are completely different and due to this it’s never certain what information is true.
In conclusion this week we covered multiple discussing points. We see how the “west” and “east” mentality plays a big part in racism and how organizations like BLM are successfully working on breaking racism between different cultures. We broke down Saartjie Baartman role in the case Venus From Africa, and how she was a perfect example of the Europeans ploy to embarrass and profit off of African traditions. Also, we got a chance to listen to the TED talk of Chimamanda Adichie’s where the value of listening to both sides of the story and making sure that its truly factual is key. This weeks topics were all eyeopeners and it was a great week to end the class on.
References
Elkins, C. (2007, January 14). A Life Exposed. Retrieved August 12, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/books/review/Elkins.t.html
Clarke-Bennett, M. (2010, January 5). Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM-MVdX7sQw&feature=youtu.be
Adichie, C. (2009). The danger of a single story. Retrieved August 12, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
Lewis, M. W., Wigen, K., Wigen, K. E., & Wigen, K. (1997). The myth of continents : A critique of metageography. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca
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