Eurocentrism
James Duke
Bodies in Contact- Joan Scott Analysis Paper -2
Global History- Barclay The second section of “Bodies in Contact” by Joan Scott, deals with the theme “Global Empires, Local Encounters.” In this section there are many articles that observe the effects that women have had on the development of societal structures that we see today. These social structures are a direct result from Eurocentric colonial laws and government practices that were instilled into everyday aspects of indigenous people’s lives and, I will examine the articles by Mary Fay, Lucy Murphy, Mrinalini Sinha, and Heidi Gengenbach that point out gender systems as the relevance in these societal structures specifically in the suppression of women. This analysis of world history based on male/female gender roles differed from those established through the dominant Eurocentric approach that came from many local encounters through European expeditions.
The first article that really highlights the idea of Euro centrism and Europeans ability to classifiy a group of people as being different therefore inferior to them is Mrinalini Sinha’s article which looks at British sexism and racism through the examination of the men's clubs established in colonial India. "A privileged site for mediating the contradictory logic of Euro centrism in the creation of a distinctive colonial public sphere" (Sinha, p. 184). This statement shows how British colonizers used gender as a way of “othering” not only different classes of people but oppressing the gender structure as well within Indian society. These clubs established an Elite group of white men. This establishment is another great example of how social structures in native societies have changed directly from the result of Eurocentric colonial laws and government practices. This is because new arrived white males had to establish themselves as dominate over the territory in which they came in contact with. With these clubs being formed and
Bodies in Contact- Joan Scott Analysis Paper -2
Global History- Barclay The second section of “Bodies in Contact” by Joan Scott, deals with the theme “Global Empires, Local Encounters.” In this section there are many articles that observe the effects that women have had on the development of societal structures that we see today. These social structures are a direct result from Eurocentric colonial laws and government practices that were instilled into everyday aspects of indigenous people’s lives and, I will examine the articles by Mary Fay, Lucy Murphy, Mrinalini Sinha, and Heidi Gengenbach that point out gender systems as the relevance in these societal structures specifically in the suppression of women. This analysis of world history based on male/female gender roles differed from those established through the dominant Eurocentric approach that came from many local encounters through European expeditions.
The first article that really highlights the idea of Euro centrism and Europeans ability to classifiy a group of people as being different therefore inferior to them is Mrinalini Sinha’s article which looks at British sexism and racism through the examination of the men's clubs established in colonial India. "A privileged site for mediating the contradictory logic of Euro centrism in the creation of a distinctive colonial public sphere" (Sinha, p. 184). This statement shows how British colonizers used gender as a way of “othering” not only different classes of people but oppressing the gender structure as well within Indian society. These clubs established an Elite group of white men. This establishment is another great example of how social structures in native societies have changed directly from the result of Eurocentric colonial laws and government practices. This is because new arrived white males had to establish themselves as dominate over the territory in which they came in contact with. With these clubs being formed and