Victorian Orientalism was all pervasive: it is prominent in fiction by William Toward the end of the Victorian era, the image of the opium addict and the Chinese opium to Literary Studies, Literatures of the Middle East, Literary Studies (19th Century) Keywords: the Orient, the East, imperialism, empire, exoticism, fantasy.
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- Orientalism in the Victorian Era - Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature
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But, like everything which is historical, they undergo constant transformation. Far from being eternally fixed in some essentialist past, they are subject to the continuous play of history culture and power. Far from being grounded in a mere "recovery" of the past, which is waiting to be found, and which when found, will secure our sense of ourselves into eternity, identities are the names we give to the different ways we are positioned by, and position ourselves within, the narratives of the past. Stuart Hall "Cultural Identities and Diaspora" in hooks, Images of who we are in relation to others are part of both our conscious and sub-conscious reality.
We own these images, they form part of us and also part of the imagined "Other. Their hold is so powerful that they dominate, control and affect many aspects of our lives, whether we are aware of the fact or not. Every human being, whatever their gender or racial group, is a product of social construction from their own particular cultural background. These cultural identities, while containing aspects of belief systems whose origins have long been forgotten, are being constantly reshaped to suit the historical moment.
The social construction of women and people of colour have survived for centuries in Western discourse and reflect the ideas of a patriarchal system that seeks to construct both groups as the outsider and the "Other. You and I are close, we intertwine; you may stand on the hill once in a while, but you may also be me, while remaining what you are and what i [I] am not Trinh T. This is because "race," as a social construction, affects the lives of both "White" women and women of colour in Western cultures; therefore "our understanding of the problems of'real' women cannot lie outside the 'imagined' constructs in and through which women emerge as subject" Rajan, However, due to the reality of being part of a "White" dominated society "White" women occupy a privileged position in relation to women of colour.
Most "White" women, even those who profess to be anti-racist, are influenced greatly by their socially constructed "Whiteness," and this affects both consciously and sub-consciously their dealings with women of colour. Therefore, for "White" women to adequately address the issues of racism experienced by women of colour, they need to examine the racialness of their own "White" experience and acknowledge their own privileged standpoint in Western societies Frankenberg, For to "ignore white ethnicity is to redouble its hegemony by naturalizing it" hooks, This thesis therefore, will examine the social construction of "Whiteness" by investigating its historical origins.
For "a self-conscious re-definition of ourselves as separate from our object of study will provide us with a sense of who we are and where we wish to go" Gilman, For it "is through the effort to recapture the self it is through the lasting tension of their freedom that [wo]men will be able to create the ideal existence for a human world" Fanon, An historical investigation into the development of racialized images would initially focus on discourse, "on meanings, conversations, narratives, explanations, accounts and anecdotes" but would also consider all the forces that went into their construction, and therefore "must also focus 3 on institutional practices, on discriminatory actions and on social divisions" Wetherall and Potter, As history is not easy to define it is important to acknowledge that our approach to it reflects both our own particular standpoint which is determined by the culture, geographical location, and time in which we live.
We need to remember that there are many versions of history and that: The story never stops beginning or ending. It appears headless and bottomless for it is built on differences.
Orientalism in the Victorian Era - Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature
We - you and me, she and he, we and they - we differ in the context of the words, in the construction and weaving of the sentences but most of all, I feel in the choice and mixing of utterances, the ethos, the tones, the paces, the cuts the pauses. The story circulates like a gift; an empty gift which anyone can lay claim to by filling it to taste, yet can never truly possess. A gift built on multiplicities. Chapter one examines the social construction of "race" and gender as products of the historical influences of Greco-Roman thought, Christianity, Western Imperialism and scientific theories based on assumed racial and gender inequalities which are used to maintain the dominance of "White" males in Western cultures.
This creates an ambiguous identity for "White" women who are viewed as lesser than men, but more privileged than "Blacks", especially "Black" women. These images are a result of the male dominated Eurocentric construction of the imagined "Black Other" created in contrast to positive images of the "White Self which are based on the physical differences of skin colour and supported by a symbolism that views "Blackness" as bad and sinful and "Whiteness" as pure anji good.
This chapter also illustrates the complex interconnections between "Black" and "White" women and how the are influenced by religious, cultural, political and scientific ideologies. By 4 examining the collective experience of women during colonialism and slavery an attempt will be made to illustrate that women do not fit these stereotypes completely, neither are they entirely restrained by them. Both "Black" and "White" women are actively involved in the structuring of society as well as being passive recipients.
Chapter two outlines theories concerning the social construction of "race" and gender. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an analytical framework to examine the social constructions of racialized female symbolism in the early historical narratives of British Columbia. This will be achieved by combining an anti-racist perspective with that of Marxist feminism. The main objective will be to illustrate both the intersections as well as the connections and differences between the social constructions of "Black" and "White" women.
Chapter two, therefore, examines the following: The review of theories on gender and race differences in chapter two illustrate that new ways need to be developed to analyze racial and gender inequalities which would involve combining a macro-historical study of racism and sexism with a micro-analysis of women's lives. Therefore, the case study in chapter three examines the social constructions of "White" and "Black" women in the historical discourses of British Columbia and how these images were affected by ideology, economics, politics and geographical location, but more significantly how they were reworked and resisted by these early female pioneers.
These were the two main centres of "Black" migration and this was the period when the first major migration of "Blacks" to the province occurred. Furthermore, the period is significant as not only did a large amount of "Blacks" arrive into a relatively small colony dominated by "White" Americans and English, but also, at the same time a large number of racially diverse groups, mainly men, passed through Victoria on their way to the gold fields of British Columbia.
In addition, during the same period, there was a shortage of "White" women due, in part, to restrictions on their immigration. These conditions resulted in distinct social constructions being created of "Blacks" generally and "Black" and "White" women specifically. A major section of the case study is devoted to an account of the early settlement of the "Black" community in Victoria and their experiences with racism. This racism developed as a result of their being perceived as a threat to economic stability and racial purity due to their visible prosperity and the large size of the "Black" community in relation to "Whites.
Racism was therefore not experienced by the "Blacks" of Saltspring Island. Finally accounts of individual "Black" women are given to illustrate how they were active in fighting stereotypical images of women and of "Blacks. However, these accounts are limited, due to a scarcity of historical material.
An examination of the social construction of "race" and gender at a specific moment in history and a defined geographical area, is an attempt to understand the broader social processes 6 that give rise to racism and sexism. The case study also points to the fact that, although both "Black" and "White" women are in many ways confined by the social constructions of "race" and gender, many individuals in the early history of our province managed to rework, recreate and at times resist these images entirely.
Representations of "race" and gender in Western cultures have developed as a result of the complex influences of: Greco-Roman thought; Christianity; Western Imperialism; slavery; colonialism; the spread of capitalism; and scientific theories on perceived "racial" and gender inequalities.
Queen Victoria: The woman who redefined Britain’s monarchy
These processes, which serve to maintain and justify the privilege of men and "Whites", are methods of structuring power and, although distinct from one another, intersect in a variety of complex and often conflicting ways. Both "Black" and "White" women are dominated by a "Racialized Patriarchy" which simultaneously provides negative images of women generally, contrasted to positive ones of men, and negative images of women of colour especially "Black" women , contrasted to idealized images of "White" women Eisenstein, The latter creates an ambiguous identity for "White" women which positions them in society as being "lesser" than men but more privileged than "Blacks," especially "Black" women.
This legacy of myths, stereotypes, and images, of "Other" versus "Self," of "Blackness" versus "Whiteness," of "Ideal" versus "Negative" woman, originated partially from the Greco-Roman era where society was divided along strict sexual lines, and the barbarian "Other" was 8 viewed as inferior to the civilized "Self Miles, Greco-Roman images of the imagined were altered, expanded upon, and integrated into medieval literature where they were used to link physical appearance and morality.
Greco-Roman culture had a colour symbolism that attributed "Whiteness" with positive values, and "Blackness" with negative ones, however, it was Christianity which applied these symbols to skin colour. Christian doctrine, whilst acknowledging "Others" as descendants of Adam, portrayed them as sinners deserving of God's punishment. One of the physical features used to distinguish the "Other" from the "Self was skin colour which reflected a colour symbolism imbued with meaning Ibid: These symbols of the binary opposition between "Black" and "White" were used to make "distinctions between vice and virtue, hell and heaven, devils and angels, contamination and purity" Tajfel, In the nineteenth century "race" in Western thought became a way of categorizing people with dark, especially "Black," skins.
Polygenism, the idea that races were created separately and 9 were not the result of environmental factors, became an increasingly popular idea Stocking, At the end of the nineteenth century Darwin's "Origin of the Species" which implied the survival of the fittest was used to justify perceived "White superiority" and the enslavement of millions of "inferior Blacks" in the colonies of the New World.
The idea that there were biological differences between the "civilized White" and the "savage Black" persisted and gained greater urgency, and was eventually transplanted onto sociological thought in the form of Social Darwinism which stressed the survival of the fittest races, individuals, classes, and nations Ibid: Social Darwinism provides an example of the durability of Polygynist thought and of how "traditional ideas may persist - modified in various ways, juxtaposed in new combinations, but at the bottom relatively unchanged" Ibid: Another important influence in the construction of the "Other" since the late eighteenth century has been Orientalism, an academic discourse used by the West to construct the Orient.
As a cultural rival to the West the Orient provided some of the most predominant images of the "Other" which were not based upon reality but on created images of "Them" versus "Us". Orientals were depicted as "irrational, depraved, fallen , childlike, 'different'," contrasted to the European who was portrayed as "rational, virtuous, mature, 'normal'" Said, As representing the "Other" involves a dialectic of inclusion and exclusion, by excluding and inferiorising "Others", both "Blacks" and Orientals, Europeans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were at the same time including and superiorising "Whites" Miles, For example, there were no female citizens in the Greek city-state Duby and Perrot, Although Greek myths contained stereotypical images of women as passive and under the control of men, they also credited women with possessing a certain amount of understanding.
Unfortunately the same can rarely be said about other mythological traditions, such as the Old and the New Testament Lefkowitz, Christian ideology played a major role in the negative social construction of women and the perpetuation of their subordination to men in Western societies. For example, the Bible portrays women as transgressors, and stresses that they should be silent, should not have authority over men, and urges wives to submit to their husbands Zeitland, Advances in philosophy and science during the European Enlightenment did little to improve the status of European women.
Rousseau, for instance, while supporting the separate education of women, also advised them to be "weak and passive," and "offer little resistance to men. Mary Wollstonecraft , whilst influenced by great male thinkers such as Rousseau, was critical of their prejudicial attitudes towards women which she traced to classical Greece and Christian doctrine. However, she also blamed women for submitting to these negative images of the "so-called feminine virtues of gentleness, passivity, and submission," which they had been taught from childhood Ibid: During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in addition to the influences of Christianity, the philosophy of The Enlightenment and scientific thought, ideas and images of women like those of race , were also influenced by evolutionary anthropology, medicine, and the literary traditions of Empire Calloway, The writings of Darwin, Spencer, and Galton 11 were used to reinforce popular views of men's superiority over women based upon physical differences.
The reproductive capacity of women, believed to limit their intelligence, was used as an excuse to restrict their social and educational advancement Ibid: The idea that women were "naturally" inferior to men was similar to Aristotle's view that the "natural" inferiority of the barbarian justified slavery in the Greco-Roman era.
Capitalism also played a major role in creating the myths and stereotypes about women and their subordinated role in society. Engels, in "The Origins of The Family, Private Property and the State" , argued that male supremacy was an automatic result of economic progress which excluded women from social production Zeitland, He makes connections between women's position in society and changes in kinship relations and the division of labour, and between the control of female sexuality and male economic and political domination Ibid: Art was also influential in the social construction of European women.
For example, in the late nineteenth century there was a revision of the older images of feminine subservience in American art in response to the uncertainties of a changing industrial society. Female characteristics, which were taken for granted by earlier generations, were romanticized and exaggerated by artists Abrams, By idealizing women as goddesses and portraying them as angels, madonnas, and beautiful pure young girls, the artists of the era placed them on pedestals separated from men and from the real world Ibid: Henry James summed up the "imagined" European woman of the late nineteenth century when he wrote that they "did with themselves nothing at all; they waited, in attitudes more or less gracefully passive, for a man to come their way and furnish their destiny" James, "Portrait of a Lady, in Abrams, The image of "White" women as being "pure" and "asexual" was constructed as a means of controlling them and their potential offspring.
This idealized portrayal of the "White" female was contrasted against the "impure" and highly "sexual" image of the "Black" woman, which was also constructed as a means of control and domination. Images of the "White" Goddess threatened by the "dark villain" are central to Western myth, poetry, and literature, and originated in Greek mythology with fair Persephone, appeared in the form of Shakespeare's Desdemona, and Thomas Heywood's "The Fair Maid of the West", and continued in mythologies of the American South Hoch, In the Catholic literature of South America the colour "White" is used to depict purity, innocence, and virginity, and "White" women are portrayed as the objects of legitimate courtship and marriage and are worshipped like the Holy Mary.
They are "desexualized, if not disincarnated, or at least dematerialized" Bastide, The perceived need to protect the "White" goddesses of civilization against the "sex-crazed barbarians at the gate" was used to support colonialism, slavery, and doctrines of racial and social supremacy Hoch, Therefore, "To be "White" and female is to occupy a social category that is inescapably "racialized" as well as gendered" Ware, These constructions provide valuable insights into the way that academic discourse of the nineteenth century was limited and restrained by economics, Eugenics, Polygenism, Social Darwinism, and Orientalism Said, In contrast to the portrayal of "White" women, "Black" women were frequently depicted as the "Exotic Other" in Western literature and became metaphors for the wild and untamed colonies which were "available" for exploitation by the European.
Often colonies were described in feminine terminology. For example, Africa was sometimes portrayed as a "mysterious sensual virgin to be conquered". These images reveal how the Western European male dealt with his fears of the unknown and his own sexuality Corby, The image of the Oriental woman in European literature was also used to express unlimited sensuality and availability, although she was given a secondary place in Orientalist literature Said, She was not permitted to speak of herself, her emotions, or history, and essentially represented a product of the European male's sexual fantasies Ibid: The Orient was associated with available sex, a place where the European "sexually constrained" male could find a freer, less guilt ridden sexual experience Ibid: In the literature of South American Catholicism, women of colour were also depicted in negative sexual terms: The slightest gesture she makes, such as the balanced sway of her body as she walks barefoot, is looked upon as a call of the female sex to the male" Bastide, ; Visual representations of "Black" females provided even stronger messages than the textual ones and can be found as early as the Middle Ages in Western art in the image of the "Black" Madonna, who was portrayed as sorceress, rain-maker, worker of miracles, and 14 possessed "the magnetism of the strange, smacking of gypsies and Moors.
In nineteenth century European art representations of "Black" women together with those of prostitutes , were used as icons of deviant sexuality Gilman, Famous examples of the European male's fascination with "Brown" and "Black" female bodies in nineteenth century art can be found in Picasso's depiction of "Olympia" as a sexualized "Black" woman, and Gauguin's fascination with Tahitian women, whom he described in the following way: Boime in "The Art of Exclusion" describes how Western artists rationalized the power and privileges that were held almost exclusively by "Whites" in their depictions of "Blacks", specifically "Black" women, in such works as Manet's, "Olympia" , and Blake's "Europe supported by Africa and America" Boime, Attitudes towards both groups in colonial societies intensified and became intricately linked as racial and gender categories 15 became the language of dominance which ordered and divided society Cooper and Stoler, At the root of these colonial attitudes towards women and the colonized "Other" was the "acceptance, often unstated, of the natural superiority of the English gentleman.
There was an immense variation in the social construction of the "Other" and "Self in European colonial situations as social boundaries between the colonizer and the colonized changed constantly. These images of the "Other" were neither "inherent nor stable"; they required constant definition and maintenance Cooper and Stoler, Although this thesis addresses representations of "Black" colonial women, juxtaposed with images of "White" colonial women it is important to note that in the European context the "Other" has not been solely represented in colonial settings and that Europeans were not the only group to use skin colour to depict those who were "perceived" as different Miles, A great deal of the differences that occurred in the construction of identities and social boundaries between "Other" and "Self was dependant on the presence or absence of "White" women.
In many colonies before the arrival of "White" women interactions between European males and indigenous women forced colonial regimes to examine who should be in the colonies, for how long, and where and with whom they should live Cooper and Stoler, In the Dutch East Indies the immigration of European women was restricted for over two hundred years with the result that concubinage was legalized and European men were given sexual access to the indigenous woman and were able to make demands on her labour and have legal rights to her offspring Stoler, As sexuality is believed to be the "most salient marker of "Otherness", and therefore figures in any racist dialogue," it is not surprising that colonizers and the colonized, "expressed their contests - and vulnerabilities in these terms" Stoler, In fact, sexual prescriptions by class, race, and gender were central to the politics of the Empire.
The "White man's burden", according to Gilman , became his need to control his own sexuality, a need which was easily transformed into a need to control the "Other", a sexualized female who was believed to be sexually different, and therefore pathological Gilman, This perceived need to control sexuality affected the nature of colonial society and was a marker that implicated a wider set of relationships which included class, Nationalism, and European identity Stoler, A contributing factor in the development of colonial attitudes towards race and gender was the fear that "White" European racial stocks were declining.
It was thus necessary to discourage racial mixing as it was believed this led to "pollution" of "White" racial stocks. European colonists attempted to keep races separate by protecting "White" women from the perceived threat of the "Black" male. Nineteenth century European males feared political impotence and loss of control in the colonies and "White" women's safety often became an ongoing ideological question which was linked to the legitimation of colonial power and perceived threats to European prestige such as nationalistic threats or internal dissention among "Whites" Ware, For example, in a Sepoy uprising in India evoked images of "White" female vulnerability 17 threatened by "Black" male aggression and such images were used to legitimate a retaliation by colonial powers Ware, Similarly in the early decades of this century "White" women in Vancouver, Canada were perceived to be threatened by the presence of the Oriental male depicted as a "lascivious" trader in "White" women , and in need of protection.
The reaction of "White" society to this believed threat to "White" womanhood was to restrict "White" women from working in Chinese restaurants, and to establish the "Woman and Girl's Protection Act" of This reaction, according to Anderson, was similar to the complicated relationships between "White" women and "Blacks" that exists in the United States Anderson, Colonial men constructed an ultra-feminine ideal of the European "White" woman as a contrast to the ultra-masculine image of themselves fighting against the difficulties of colonial life.
As a result European colonial women were assigned a limited role in society, subordinated to colonial hierarchies, and subjected to restrictions in the domestic, economic, and political fields, restrictions which were more oppressive than the ones they had left behind in the capitals of Europe. As both observers and participants European women became active agents of Imperial culture Stoler, In the Western Canadian fur-trading society of the mid-nineteenth century, for example, attitudes of men, and the limitations they imposed upon women, are easily 18 definable.
Their charms of beauty, youth, and talent were exaggerated and they were portrayed as "delicate flowers of civilization", as "lovely tender exotics" whose destiny was to "pine and languish in the desert" Van Kirk, Colonial literature was responsible for fostering the racial stereotypes of European society. In many of these writings there was a fascination with colonial sexual encounters. One of the most common sexuality myths depicted was the myth of the Destructive woman which had two aspects: Ware outlines three other popular fictional depictions of European women which appear repeatedly in colonial history, the good; the bad; and the foolhardy.
The good were spiritually opposed to the oppression of colonial authority, the bad had a relatively uncomplicated attitude towards racism, which they accepted with limited questioning while performing their "imperial duty" gladly. However, the foolhardy were unwilling to conform, being attracted, and at the same time repelled, by the exotic nature of the colonized, and sometimes broke the taboos of colonial culture Ware, These three contrasting characterizations were defined in relation to particular constructions of "Black" femininity and "White" masculinity and illustrated the complexities of social, political, and economic relations, and how gender, as well as race, was an important component of key ideological symbols in colonial cultures Ibid: Negative characteristics, such as the above, of the stereotypical colonial woman arose from her performing the female role in a society where 19 she existed only in relation to men Strobel, For example, the White" upper class women Tapadas in Peru were depicted as sexually available by European artists by the exaggeration of their buttocks traced to the perceived deformity of the Hottentot buttocks, known as steatopygia , which gave them the ambiguous identity of being both separate and above the "Black" and "Indian" women, and yet somewhat sexually deviant, and thus available Poole, Therefore, although "White" women, in some contexts, were viewed as "uncivilized" and "primitive" due to the lack of control over their emotions, in the colonial setting they were also placed in the "civilized" category in contrast to women of colour.
The result was, and continues to be, a great deal of confusion in the ideology of gender relations with "White" women occupying "both sides of a binary opposition" Ware, Imperial perceptions and policies fixed European colonial women as instruments of race and culture, and the delegated responsibilities with respect to children, husbands, and servants, affected their social space and economic activities Stoler, Motherhood was the centre of Empire building and "White" women were expected to increase the "White" race by colonizing the Empire, and transmit group values and traditions as the bearers of a re-defined colonial morality.
Unfortunately, the guarding of these new norms, which promoted the solidarity of the European colonizers, was done at the expense of the European women. They were given the complex roles of being keepers of the peace, hygiene, and economy, and custodians of family welfare. In addition, as dedicated willing subordinates and supporters of colonial men, colonial women were expected to provide them with leisure and creature comforts, and to control their men's sexual appetites.
However, despite the many expectations placed upon 20 Colonial women, many fell outside the acceptable norm, and some, in fact, actively resisted these images Stoler: Racial attitudes of the colonizers varied enormously according to the colonized response to domination, the influences from the European metropolis and the presence, or absence, of "White" women in the colony. One view is that "White" women were guilty of racism and created the rift between colonizer and the colonized Strobel, ; Van Kirk, An alternative view is that the arrival of "White" women was tied to other developments such as: European women were depicted as wanting tighter boundaries which they achieved by marking out social spaces with distinctive dress codes, housing structures, food, and by creating social taboos.
In Algeria, The Indies, Madagascar, India and West Africa "White" women were often accused of constructing the major racial cleavages within the colonial societies, and yet at the same time new "White" female immigrants were blamed for failing to keep racial distances Stoler, As "the inferior sex within the superior race," some would argue that European colonial women benefitted from the economic and political subordination of the indigenous people and shared many of the accompanying attitudes of racism, paternalism, ethnocentricism, and national chauvinism Strobel, Others would argue that it is not certain who set the standards, women or men, and that "segregationist standards were what women deserved, and more importantly what "White" male prestige required that they maintain" Stoler, In any event it is hard to deny that European women reformers in Africa and 2 1 Asia shared certain commonalities which transversed geographic region and century - they all benefitted from the privilege of being "White" and having a greater access to power and higher skills than indigenous women.
In Canada the arrival of "White" women into frontier society in the nineteenth century symbolized the settled agrarian world and resulted in the emergence of class and racial distinctions and the increase of racism within the community. Although, as Van Kirk notes, there is no excuse for the racism shown by European women to "Indian" women in the early days of Canadian colonization, it was aggravated by what, in their view, was a threat to their own welfare.
The stereotype of the "petty, frivolous, ethnocentric, and unproductive world of dependant women" may have fit some colonial women, such as the notorious memsabs in India Strobel, A number of colonial women, especially travellers, challenged Victorian stereotypes of women Calloway, Many European women in the colonies actively resisted the social space to which they were assigned, such as the management of childcare, and housework, and the performance of charitable works. For example, in the settler communities of Algiers and Senegal, some French women ran farms, rooming houses and shops Stoler, Likewise in the early eighteenth century in the Canadian fur trading frontier society of Western Canada, a frontier from which "White" women had been excluded for decades, two women challenged the notion that "White" women were too delicate for frontier life.
In Isabel Gunn disguised herself as a boy in order to be reunited with her lover and worked alongside other servants at Albany Hudson Bay Post until she went into labour and her true identity was revealed. Marie-Anne Gaboury decided to join her trapper husband, and in so doing, was exposed to a nomadic hunting life and adopted some of the native ways in order to survive the rigours of Canadian winters Van Kirk, Sometimes European women managed to rework the created image of themselves, and "Others" to gain advantages not previously available.
For example, in Peru the Tapadas, who were "White" upper class land-holding women, utilized the image of the "seductively veiled Tapadas" created by society in order to gain a mobility that was previously denied them. By capitalizing upon the intrigue of their costume the "sayo" or skirt, and the "manto", or shawl , they distinguished themselves from the images of the "carnally voluptuous" mulata or "Black" women, and the "asexual Andean Indian women" in order to move around the city more freely.
This self-representation and appropriation of existing images by Peruvian "White" upper class women reflected the class and race divisions of Peruvian society Poole, From her he will make an historical body - a blazon -of his labours and phantasms" 23 De Certeau, Michel "The Writing of History" in Montrose, These negative images of "Black" and coloured women were introduced into colonial societies from their European metropolis Cooper and Stoler, This fear of sexual contamination, physical danger, and moral breakdown was used to create European identity in contrast to the "Other". Blacks" were used to represent the loss of control and unrestrained sexuality, and sexual contact with them was believed to result in the loss of "White" self.
As the colonial mentality believed it was necessary to control the natives it was easy to transfer this notion onto the need to control the "Other" as a sexualized female Gilman, By depicting "Black" women as "animal-like" and "sexually available" European colonial males placed them outside the realm of "preferred" and idealized womanhood in which "White" women were placed. The body is commonly viewed in sociological discourse as uniquely concrete and one of the more stable points in a changing world Comaroff, Therefore, the European colonizers, already alienated from their own bodies, which had been devalued and sacrificed to Western civilization, projected their repressed primordial instincts onto the bodies of the colonized person, especially the female body Magani, The colonizers, especially the missionaries, seemed obsessed with all aspects of the colonized body and attempted to convert them into realms of conquest.
The "Black" female body in particular, with its "uncontained" sex, 24 was viewed as a threat to the European male, and required particular attention. These images were reinforced and justified by medical investigations such as Curvier's, which some believe was just an excuse for European males to fulfil their fascination with "torrid eroticism" Gilman, in Comaroff, The view is truly magnificent, such endless ranges of hills. The Queen began new royal traditions when she attended the first State Opening of Parliament in the new Palace of Westminster.
The original building had been demolished by fire in The Queen arrived in the Irish State Coach, which had been built the year before and processed through Parliament before making her speech. The protocols and traditions established then have been followed by every British monarch since. Got through the reading of my speech well. The royal procession on its way to open the new town hall in Leeds. The Illustrated London News.
Victoria, with the assistance of Albert, created a newly visible constitutional monarchy to stem a growing republican movement in Britain. Victoria became patron of institutions, including dozens of charities, while Albert supported the development of educational museums. The couple went on civic visits to industrial towns such as Leeds, and attended military reviews to support the armed forces.
Together they helped stem criticism that the Royal Family didn't earn its keep. Nothing could have been more enthusiastic than the reception we met with, or better than the way the people behaved. It was awarded on merit instead of rank.
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The Crimean War was fought by an alliance of countries including Britain against Russia. The Queen was suspected of secretly supporting the Russian Tsar. However, she allayed suspicions by taking an interest in the nursing of wounded soldiers. She also awarded the first Victoria Crosses personally to 62 men at a ceremony at Hyde Park in It was the first time officers and men had been decorated together.
After riding down the Line the ceremony of giving medals, began How Victoria and Albert became celebrities. The World's Most Photographed: A set of 14 photos, known as Carte de Visites, was created of the Royal Family. More than 60, copies were sold, despite having a hefty price tag of four pounds and four shillings. It marked the beginning of photographic celebrity culture.
Women tried to replicate Victoria's fashions while some men copied Albert's hairstyle and moustache. Exploring the close relationship of Queen Victoria and John Brown. Prince Albert died at the age of The Queen was inconsolable with grief and wore mourning for the rest of her life. Victoria withdrew from public life after Albert's death, but kept up with her correspondence and continued to give audiences to ministers and official visitors. She decreed that monuments to honour Albert should be built across the country and Empire — including the Albert Memorial.
She became very close to John Brown, a servant at Balmoral Castle, even though her children resented him. The Queen rides with her son to a thanksgiving service after he recovers from typhoid. The Queen was frantic with worry after her son and heir Edward fell ill with typhoid. It came a year after the founding of the French Third Republic, which had provoked anti-monarchist feeling in Britain. When Edward recovered, the Queen used a carefully orchestrated event to boost royal support.
She gave a public thanksgiving service and appeared to crowds on the Buckingham Palace balcony. It marked the queen's gradual return to public life. Prime Minister Disraeli offers the queen an imperial crown in a satirical cartoon. Victoria became the Empress of India to tie the monarchy and Empire closer together. She accepted the title on the advice of her seventh prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, whose political advice she relied on.
She approved of his imperialist policies, which established Britain as the most powerful nation in the world. Her popularity in Britain soared as she became a symbol of empire towards the end of her reign. Victoria and her 'munshi'. The Queen received Indian servants to mark her Golden Jubilee year.
Karim instructed Victoria in Urdu and Indian affairs and introduced her to curry. He was just 24 but Victoria was fascinated by India, the country she ruled but would never visit. Politicians and members of the royal household resented his position but despite this, Victoria gave him honours and lands in India and took him with her on visits to the French Riviera.
Victoria's Jubilee bolstered her reputation.
Oxford University Press, , 91, , Eliot, Felix Holt , George Eliot, Daniel Deronda Oxford: Eliot, Daniel Deronda , Marina Warner provides a convenient summary of this very long tale in Stranger Magic: Harvard University Press, , — Brantlinger, Rule , , Quoted in Patrick Brantlinger, Taming Cannibals: Quoted in Brantlinger, Rule , Derek Cohen and Deborah Heller London: Oxford University Press, , 11, — Trollope, Nina Balatka , 23, 39, , — Trollope, Nina Balatka , Cambridge University Press, , 43— Valman, The Jewess , Trollope, The Way , Trollope, The Way , , , , Racial Representations, — Cambridge, U.
Valman, The Jewess , , Penguin, , xvi. It is hard to know whether to deplore more the misogyny, the anti-Semitism, or the moral intolerance in this statement. Trollope, The Way , 32, Eliot, Deronda , , Eliot, Deronda , Eliot, Deronda , 37, Valman, The Jewess , ; Eliot, Deronda , British Literature and Imperialism, — Ithaca and London: David, Rule Britannia , Colonialism and the Politics of Performance Aldershot, U.
Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Routledge, , University of California Press, Bram Stoker, Dracula Oxford: Stoker, Dracula , , , , Oxford University Press, , 40— Kipling, The Jungle Book , 92—94, — Kipling, The Jungle Book , , Highflyer Press, , 21—28, 91—97, 73— Appleton, , 27, , Nikola , , , , Nikola , , , 46— Nikola , 61—64, —, , Nikola , , — Said, Orientalism , 93— Pratt, Imperial Eyes , — The Power of the Female Gaze Oxford: Oxford University Press, , 38— Brantlinger, Rule , — Ghose, Women Travellers , 47— Narratives by Female Explorers and Travellers — , eds.
Peter Lang, , Quoted in Ghose, Women Travellers , For examples see Emily A.
Contextual Approaches and Pedagogical Practices , eds. Columbus State University Press, , 77— Oxford University Press, , —, for the argument that the picturesque trope encloses, frames, and commodifies the Indian landscape. See Ghose, Women Travellers , 74, Another woman traveler who frequently uses self-mockery and irony is Mary Kingsley, although this does not interfere with her imperialist beliefs.
See Africa in Victorian Travel Writing. Leask, Curiosity , — Leask, Curiosity , Filling the Blank Spaces , ed. Anthem Press, , 74— Reading Travel Writing , eds. Haddad notes that these tropes are also often accompanied by accounts of contemporary customs such as begging, baksheesh , and bargaining. Quoted in Kabbani, Imperial Fictions , Brantlinger, Rule , —, — Macmillan, , Ali Behdad, Belated Travelers: Duke University Press, , Quoted in Brantlinger, Rule , , , Behdad, Belated Travelers , 96— Brantlinger provides a convenient list of some of the major works by these authors in Rule , Beacon Press, , 2.
Dover, , 2. Burton, Wanderings , 2. Burton, Wanderings , 1. Stanley, Dark Continent , 1. Stanley, Dark Continent , 2. Kingsley, Travels , Kingsley, Travels , , Mary Kingsley, West African Studies , 2d ed. Wordsworth, , , l. For laziness see Burton, Wanderings , 2. For Burton see Wanderings , 1. Vintage, , , , The Life of Mary Kingsley Boston: Houghton Mifflin, , Kingsley, Travels , —, — Kingsley, Travels , — Sorensen and Brent E. Yale University Press, , Chapman and Hall, , Bibliobazaar, , Froude, The English , — Penguin, , demonstrating the continuance of these Orientalist stereotypes.
Cambridge University Press, , — See Curtis, Orientalism , — Dent, , — Macaulay gives the number of dead as with 23survivors, but one recent estimate is that 64 soldiers were imprisoned and 21 survived, and it has been argued that the Nawab was not responsible for their imprisonment. Dent, , Political Writings , vol. Verso, , , See Curtis, Orientalism and Islam , , —, — Eugene Kamenka New York: Penguin, , , University of Toronto Press, , — Quoted in Curtis, Orientalism and Islam , , and see For the quotation see Brantlinger, Rule , Wordsworth Editions, , xlix; for the final two quotations, see Brantlinger, Rule , Mayhew, London Labour , 3.
Mayhew, London Labour , 4. See Brantlinger, Rule , 21— Forgotten Books, , 9, Wordsworth, , Mayhew, London Labour , 3, 5—6. Cambridge University Press, , —, Harvard University Press, provides an exhaustive account of forms of popular entertainment such as panoramas and dioramas, exhibitions, and entertainments related to science and technology, in London in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th.
While his account is not focused specifically on Orientalist spectacles, he does discuss various exhibitions, panoramas, and topics related to China and India, notably the Chinese Exhibition — , the Chinese Junk — , the East India House Museum — , and China and India, including the Sepoy Mutiny, in panoramas Ziter, The Orient , 24—27; see also Altick, Shows , — Ziter, The Orient , 38, 39—40, 40—41, 44; see also Altick, Shows , — Ziter, The Orient , 50, , Forman, China and the Victorian Imagination: Empires Entwined Cambridge, U.
Cambridge University Press, , and see — Forman, China , ,. See Ziter, The Orient , — Ziter, The Orient , Ziter, The Orient , — For further discussion of performances of Aladdin , see Marina Warner, — Forman, China , , and see — for the less sympathetic later treatment of the Chinese. Forman, China , Ziter, The Orient , 94— Henry Louis Gates Jr.
University of Chicago Press, , ; see also — Altick, Shows , — Thackeray, Vanity Fair , History, Theory and the Arts Manchester, U. Manchester University Press, , The play has a somewhat checkered publication and performance history: It was first performed in Paris in in French ; the English version was not performed in London until Faber and Faber, , 2, 5, 21—25, History, Theory and the Arts New York: Manchester University Press, , 71— Mark Crinson, Empire Building: Routledge, , 45, Crinson, Empire Building , 35, , 98—99, — Crinson, Empire Building , 61— The last two of these settings are not gendered in reality, but in paintings the slaves and the harem inmates are almost inevitably female.
Manchester University Press, , xii—xix, 1— Manchester University Press, , 59— Tate Publishing, , — These maps continued well into the s and s: Lewis, Gendering Orientalism , , Kabbani, Orientalist Poetics , 70— Penguin, , , , Wordsworth, , —, ll. Oxford University Press, , xv—xix. See Kipling, Collected Poems , n2. See Kipling, Collected Poems , —, —, —, — Poon, Enacting Englishness , — Kipling, Kim , Kipling, Collected Poems , —, —, , 49—50, —, — A Reader , eds.
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