Class notes
Pol 1004f - Race and Racism Notes
- Course
- POL1004F
- Institution
- University Of Cape Town (UCT)
This is a comprehensive and detailed note on Race and Racism for POL 1004F. Essential!! To your success in Cape Town!!
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RACE/RACISM WEEK 4Race/Racism
Colonialism/Neo-colonialism
Black Consciousness
Race/racism Discrimination on the basis of race is a phenomenon that preceded
the modern period. Race and racism as it emerges from the
modern period has been fundamentally impactful on life that
nothing today is unrelated to race.
Transatlantic slavery transformed the meaning of slavery itself.
Race/ racism weren't known as race as we know it today. Islam
got to Africa prior the western influence and was as
discriminatory to black people as Christianity. they both had the
same ideology, even worse than white philosophers. Islam also
justified enslavement of black people by Arabic people. It
justified enslavement on the basis of religion.
The definition of race and racism are given to us by developments
in the modern period. During which modern race science emerged
and constituted of an array of disciplines. The most important
being:
- Taxonomy
- Comparative anatomy
- Physical anthropology or phenology
They played different roles in the emergence of race and racism
as we know today.
1. Comparative anatomy is a discipline firmly lodged in
medicine. It studied the anatomical makeup of different
human beings/ races. SA, CPT, was the laboratory of this
study. Its interest was to compare to compare the
anatomical makeup of different races. But reduced it to the
sexual makeup of different races.
The objective of comparative anatomy was to prove that the
African had an overdeveloped labia which explains their
hypersexuality.
This assumed that the African has a different makeup compared
to the European.
a) Over developed libido
b) Overdeveloped sexual organs
, It propagated that the sexual organs of Africans were
overdeveloped and has an overdeveloped sexual capability [
hyper sexualization of Africans]
Cuvier was a comparative anatomist who le mass experiments of
African bodies. Cuvier set the Cape as the laboratory o his
hypothesis. Comparative anatomy is best understood through Sara
Bartman. A large part of colonialism was the European trying to
have sex with Africans and these were based on the assumptions
of black sexuality
His point of study was to prove the superiority of the European
because they had measured sexual desire. This proved that they
were measure because of how they engaged in sex and their
libido.
The object of the stud was prove that the African has an
overdeveloped vagina which explains their hypersexuality. The
supposition was that this was distinct by an overdeveloped labia.
Sara Bartmann stood with her legs apart, above people so that the
parts that were deemed to be proof of her hypersexuality can be
examines. This suggests that notions of humanity did not extend
to black people. What constitutes human was only a white person.
Cuvier was focused on her genitalia and measured her sexual
organs. And published a report stating the length of her labia and
the extent of the opening of her vagina. Steatopygia was a
medical condition made up by the Europeans to state that SB
suffered from a medical condition of over exaggerated buttocks.
This proved the superiority of the white European. After death
SB’s postmortem was conducted by dismembering her to examine
her sexual organs more closely. This was a concerted program to
develop knowledge of the sexual difference of the African. Sara
remained Frace’s property till 2012.
Comparative anatomy stated that Africans never had virginity
because the hymen was 2cm below, therefore, biologically born
disvirgined.
It was necessary to publish findings or studies of such nature to
justify the way in which black people were treated through
colonialism. At the time there was an evolutionary theory that
supposed that the African was something between the human and
the animal. They were stated to be lower on the evolutionary scale
than Europeans. Enlightenment helped develop modern race
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