The British’s base of this racialization actually came from their homeland and the experiences with the Irish there. They ultimately projected their familiar experience with the Irish onto the unfamiliar Indians. The Indians and Irish were very similar in many ways. The way they dress, the houses they built and how they engaged in war was seen as the same. This is how the Indians also became known as savages like the Irish. Their racialization was also shown in the Shakespearean play The Tempest, where at first the savage character was an Irish, but then transformed physically into an Indian (Takaki p.31). The dark skin tone, long dark dirty hair, and other physical characteristics were used to portray the Indian. Other than the fact that the Indians looked different than the British, they were still seen as human beings. The major difference that the British focused on was the cultural differences. They lacked everything that the British identified as civilized. Some examples include Christianity, cities, letters, clothing, and their depictions of sexuality (Takaki p.33). All of these qualities and thought processes are what lead to the British grouping and racializing the Indians as they did.
The fact that the Indians were depicted as savages effected the way they were treated in the future. For example, because the Indians and Irish were compared to one another and one can assume that this lead to the Indians being treated with extreme cruelty just as the Irish. For example, the British even took the heads of the slain Irish as trophies (Takaki p.29). The Indians, like the Irish were brutally killed and seen as devil worshipers. At first, they tried to get along and even convert the Indian children to Christianity and teach them to speak English. However, the Indians knew that their land was coveted and did not trust the strangers, knowing that their true intention was to invade and possess Indian land even if this meant destroying them (Takaki p.35). The British wanted and needed more and more land in order to farm and export the tobacco crop as well as make room for all of the new immigrants (Takaki p.36). This lead to the English’s extreme violence and battles with the Indians. Also, the Indians were racialized as devil worshipers that needed to be cleared and killed off of the face of God’s earth (Takaki p.42). One may see the racialization as an excuse to differentiate and remove them from America in order to further the British’s goals in the economic world.
The racialization that the Indians have gone through is much of what any race goes through in today’s society. Our media or popular culture has formed different racial groupings and enforces them and their ideas in society and every child’s mind from the time one is born. For example, our movies today depict black people as always being in the lower class of society and being involved in gangs. Physically black people are racialized as well, known for their large butts and big lips. Now, this is not the only group that is picked out in today’s media. Asians are always seen as being smart students, with slanted eyes and yellow skin. Even whites from the country, are depicted as hicks with no intelligence. Yes, we hope that one day none of this will matter, but realistically this is a large goal that starts with education and openness to the differences from everywhere and in order to change one must first learn about how all of this racialization came to be.
I think you hit the nail right on the head right out of the gate. This wasn't the first time the English had encountered a new culture and tried to colonized their lands. When it came to the Irish its no secret that the English were brutal. The things that went on during this time was nothing short of savage, but the irony I find is that how they could consider the Native Americans savage and not themselves years before in Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your comments on our current cultures. We see those stereotypes every day.
I think that it is important for us to understand that the Indians were not the first to be recognized as "savages", and you explained this very well. The English seemed to be the ones to start the concept of stereotyping others just because of past experiences and knowledge that they had with a particular culture. As you explained in today’s culture, this still occurs. I agree with you that our society and media plays a big role in how different cultures are portrayed. I think that it is our role as educated American citizens to teach our children and the generations to come about how racialization began. As we read in the article on Ethnic Studies in U.S Higher Education, our society has a good start on this concept by requiring college students to take a course in Ethnic Studies as part of their curriculum.
ReplyDeleteYes, Michelle I completely agree with you when you say that we are taking the first step to correcting this racialization process by having our children participate in ethnic studies classes. But then again we must consider how much are our children actually getting out of these classes? Will one class open all children’s eyes to the wrongness of this and what about the kids that can’t go to college? Many of my classmates realize the wrongness of discrimination and stereotyping, but won’t change their views, because of family values or the way that we grow up. Hopefully, one day we will figure out how to truly use the past to fix this problem in the future, but for now we are doing the best we can.
ReplyDeleteFirst I wanted to comment on the comment above me that you wrote. I agree with the fact that one class many not force students to 'get' the wrongness of the discrimination, especially if the university is forcing the students to take the class and they have no real interest in the subject. But for an open eyed viewer, I think one measly class could be the trick. So maybe start earlier? High school?
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you started with comparing the Indians and the Irish side by side. Without that I didn't really put together all of the little similarities between the two. Even from the ways that the British portrayed them, in comparison to their obviously 'good' behaviors. Not at all savage-like. I wonder what made them think that they got to judge everyone else and call other races savages, when they were the obvious savage acting group. I like that you brought into consideration that this is probably where judging and racism started completely, and never seemed to be stopped! Just as in media, which we both used to portray modern pop culture, people know it's wrong to put misconceptions on other races but no one is jumping at the opportunity to stop it.
What really struck me about your blog is your application to today's world when you mentioned the media's portrayal of racial groups. You're absolutely right--it's frustrating, incriminating, and downright rude to do such a thing to people of other races, but still in this day and age, people get away with it! Why is this? Racism has no hope of being a thing of the past if we continue to bombard ourselves with racially incriminating media and the like. Furthermore, we are teaching the next generation that this behavior is okay, when we should be teaching that it should not be tolerated and instead our society should move towards a "race-blindness."
ReplyDeleteAs Marilyn notes, Michelle nicely integrates the reading and an analysis of the theoretical work, with a discussion of the modern world. Well done.
ReplyDeleteAnd, this is a very nice set of comments. Well done, folks.
I agree that the previous encounters with the Irish set the stage for British/American and Indian relations, but I believe there is another factor involved. The British and later the Americans both sought what the Native American's had, and that was the land. The racism seems to be a means explanation to try and justify or validate the right of the actions taken by the dominant group.
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