SOCIOL 3R13 Lecture - January 20, 2025 PDF

1/20/25 SOCIOL 3RI3 JANUARY 20, 2025 1 Agenda Post-colonial Group Chapter by 8-10 minute studies of Discussions Ann Stoler break...

1/20/25 SOCIOL 3RI3 JANUARY 20, 2025 1 Agenda Post-colonial Group Chapter by 8-10 minute studies of Discussions Ann Stoler break race 2 1  1/20/25 Learning Goals 1) Racial boundaries fluctuate in relation to changing political circumstances; 2) In moments of political instability, racial boundaries are created anew to protect the colonial order; 3) Racial boundaries are maintained through codes of class, gender, and sexuality. 3 Post-Colonial Studies of Race 1) Examine “colonial racialization” to identify roots of racism in colonialism and imperialism. ØFor example: a) how the US empire exported a black/white binary around the globe; b) how Europeans imposed Victorian ideals of gender in colonized lands. 2) Colonial racialization has not disappeared; it evolves and changes across time. ØFor example: a) sexual exploitation of racialized and Indigenous women; b) hiring of racialized women in subservient roles in service economy (e.g., domestic workers, senior care homes, low-wage work, etc.). 4 2  1/20/25 Stoler (2002) Stoler (2002) expands knowledge of colonial racialization through: i. Focusing on how racial boundaries were directed not only at controlling Indigenous people but also shaping the subjectivities and behaviors of Europeans; ii. Analyzing how gender codes affected European women differently from men; iii. Recognizing that European communities were not homogenous but also stratified by class; thus, racial boundaries created to ensure White conformity to colonialism. iv. Racial boundaries are constantly re-worked because of threats to colonial hierarchies (e.g., opposition from working-class Whites and Indigenous people). “Redefinitions of acceptable behavior and morality emerged during crises of colonial control precisely because they called into question the tenuous artifices of rule within European communities” (p. 75). 5 Stoler (2002): Methods Combines evidence on colonial racialization in Asia and Africa, though focuses mostly on Dutch colonies. Colonial racialization took shape in rules about: Concubinage and marriage European women’s family roles Sexual relations between European and Indigenous males White European health and degeneracy Hence, colonial norms addressed to: European male settlers European women Indigenous men and women New School for Social Research, NY 6 3  1/20/25 Stoler (2002): Methods Colonial racialization elevated monogamous European household as symbol of “white male and female respectability.” Norms were enforced through discourse AND policy. Ultimate aim was to: Protect colonial political order; Stifle resistance and bind the White working class to colonial order. Exclude Indigenous people from European entitlements; Discourage political alliances between Europeans and Indigenous peoples. 7 Stages of Colonial Racialization In the chapter, Stoler breaks the story about colonial racialization into two main stages: STAGE 1: 1600-1800 European male migration and concubinage STAGE 2: mid-1800s to early 1900s European marriage and “white respectability” 8 4  1/20/25 STAGE 1: European male migration and concubinage §Only European males allowed to migrate to colonial territories; European women are barred. §European women barred because of belief that European men could not afford to maintain families and that European women would convince their husbands to return home. §Therefore, concubinage (exploitative unions between European men and native women) was tolerated and even encouraged. 9 STAGE 1: European male migration and concubinage Concubinage was preferred over European marriages because: § Colonial elites felt it would keep European men from turning to sex work. § Indigenous women could meet European men’s sexual and domestic needs (cooking, cleaning, etc.) and the colonial government would not have to pay family expenses; § Children of the unions were considered “illegitimate” and had no rights; they came to be seen as “threats” to colonization and “White haters.” 10 5  1/20/25 Stage 1: European male migration and concubinage “By controlling the availability of European women, colonial state and corporate authorities avoided salary increases as well as the proliferation of a lower-class European settler population” (p. 53). “Irregular domestic arrangements (e.g., sex workers) were thought to encourage subversion while acceptable unions (concubinage) could avert it” (p. 53). 11 STAGE 2: European Marriage and White Respectability Beginning in mid-1800s, colonial system come under threat due to mounting demands for decolonization and opposition by White working class. In turn, colonial elites decide to: 1) Remove the ban on migration of European women and recruit them to marry European men in the colonial territories and set up households. 2) Abolish concubinage and ban marriages between European men and native women. 3) Promote and enforce notions of “white male prestige” and female domesticity to re-assert European superiority and maintain the subordination of Indigenous communities. 12 6  1/20/25 STAGE 2: European Marriage and White Respectability ”In the African and Asian contexts, the arrival of large numbers of European wives followed from new terms and tensions in the colonial contract. Their presence and safety was repeatedly invoked to clarify racial lines. It coincided with perceived threats to European prestige, increased racial conflict, covert challenges to colonial politics, outright expressions of nationalist resistance, and internal dissension among whites themselves” (p. 57). “When European identity and supremacy were vulnerable, in jeopardy or less than convincing, concubinage came under attack” (p. 51). 13 STAGE 2: Colonial policies promoting White respectability (or “White prestige”) 1) European women recruited to marry European men and set up monogamous households. 2) Colonial authorities focus on protecting European feminine vulnerability, purity, and safety (e.g., women must be confined to domestic sphere); “White prestige” (or white respectability) becomes attached to European monogamy and female domesticity. 3) Colonial authorities create financial incentives for European men to sustain marriages with European women. 4) Myths about the sexual threat of native men and women intensify. 14 7  1/20/25 STAGE 2: Colonial policies promoting White respectability (or “White prestige”) 1) Unmarried European men and women in colonial territories are frowned upon. 2) Single and lower-class European men and women discouraged from migrating because would degrade “white prestige;” only “respectable whites” allowed into colonies. “In Europe, the socially and physically “unfit,” the poor, the indigent, and the insane, were either to be sterilized or prevented from marriage. In the colonies it was these very groups among Europeans who were either excluded from entry or institutionalized while they were there or sent home” (p. 65). 15 Stoler (2002): Why do racial boundaries intensify during moments of political instability? The answer: to solidify non-elite white male support for colonialism by creating opportunities for them to achieve “white middle-class respectability”: “The political etymology of colonizer and colonized was gender- and class-specific. The exclusionary politics of colonialism demarcated not just external boundaries but also interior frontiers, specifying internal conformity and order among Europeans themselves. The categories of colonizer and colonized were secured through notions of racial difference constructed in gender terms” (p. 75). ”A defense of community, morality, and White male power was achieved by increasing control over and consensus among Europeans, by reaffirming the vulnerability of white women and the sexual threat posed by native men, and by creating new sanctions to limit the liberties of both” (p. 61). 16 8  1/20/25 Exam-Type Questions 1) When did colonial elites re-assert racial boundaries between Europeans and Indigenous people? ◦ Before or after concubinage? ◦ Beginning in the 1800s or earlier? 2) How did colonial elites enforce norms of white respectability on a) European women and b) European men? Please give an example of each. 17 How Stoler’s analysis resonates today 1) Racial boundaries become more salient during periods of political instability and threats to the established order; o Election of Obama, followed by a right-wing backlash and the election of Trump. o Attacks on EDI after 2020 historic protests for BLM. 2) Political elites re-assert colonial boundaries by stressing racialized and patriarchal ideals of white masculinity and white femininity. Ø Right-wing political agendas maintain the male-headed monogamous family as a model of “white respectability.” 3) The goal is to strengthen public consent for (or solidarity behind) a racialized and gendered unequal system. 18 9  1/20/25 How racism and anti-feminism align 19 Questions 1)What does the image personify? 2)To whom is it addressed and why? 3)What impact do you think the image has on voters? 20 10  1/20/25 Religious Conservatism What does this image personify about the intersection between race, gender, and female sexuality? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQw0- AkgQGM 21 SNL skit! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 40-Ebdt_0QA&t=2s 22 11  1/20/25 For further reading! patriarchy In Mississippi, being a conservative r woman is embraced, but those who turn from the beliefs risk abuse, rejection and public humiliation.” In 2016 election, married white women sided with Trump rather than Clinton; i.e., they backed their husband’s vote. Most single white women voted for Clinton. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/the-white-women-who-flipped-the-price- of-changing-your-conservative-views 23 12