Spring break was fun as it lasted....to be honest I was to lazy to do blogs and other homework assignment. But, there is no more excuses since Spring break is over and finals are just around the corner. Chapter 19 mentions;China, the Ottoman Empire and Japan. What got my attention was the small section "New Perceptions of the "Other." "They held many aspects of Chinese and Indian civilization in high regard; they freely mixed and mingled with Asian and African elites and often married their women; some even saw the move technologically simple peoples of Africa and America as "noble savages" (Strayer,p.563). Very interesting that before anything, that change the current events in the world... not too much racism occur. Examples given in the text mentions during the eighteenth century they were honored but decreased by the nineteenth century, known as "John Chinaman" traits given as weak, shy, and etc; later in the late nineteenth century the European were scared of them, another nickname "Yellow Peril." That wasn't the only race that was disrespectful to, Africans were known as slaves then demoted to be "primitive." Demoting anyone by using the word primitive has no feeling.... that word can understood like prehistoric, barbaric, rude, unsophisticated, undeveloped and the list can go on. The biologists in the nineteenth century started to rank human beings as plants and animals. They declare that the WHITE RACE was the HIERACHY of all baby races, just reading that small paragraph made me laugh...that is the most ignorant idea in science, proving that the white race is the REAL HUMAN RACE. This idea of white race is the real race, spread all over Europe, many people started to agree that other races are "weaker races."
I know the blog has to be more about the whole chapter 19..but this section was the only interesting topic that got my attention. Will be posting Chapter 22 soon!!!
-KMR
No comments:
Post a Comment