AFRI 200 Lecture : AFRI200STUDYGROUP.docx

• School: McGill University
• Department: African Studies
• Course: AFRI 200
• Professor: John Galaty

Document Summary

The general perception of africa during this period was being shaped by the views of africans from the eyes of the europeans, an example is philosopher. Rosseau s sentiment that blacks were mentally inferior by nature . l: those who opposed abolition argued that slavery was the natural law of africa , and that is was as much a ppart i, j&j comaroff (south africa) Differences in natural features such as skull variation which were correlated to aesthetic appearance and mental capacity. This all culminated into a form of scientific racism. The manner in which africa was portrayed as a woman, was an extension of a gender ideology fast taking root in late eighteenth century europe. Women were thought to be easily susceptible to external environmental factors much like non-europeans. Unlike women, european men were thought of as a self-contained individual and were driven by inner reason, not by external environmental factors.