HUMAN 1C Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Militarism
Lecture #20: Conclusion
Individual’s Own Agency versus External Imperial Powers
● Iranians have a memory, and sometimes nostalgia, for the time when they lived in Iran.
● This is relevant to Shakespeare and Cesaire - the colonized versus the colonizer.
Prospero changed who Caliban was even as Caliban was resisting Prospero.
● Raises questions about how much control you have over your own life. To understand
this we need to evaluate what we do and how we speak - is this authentic or is this like
everybody else?
How did the attempts of some characters to resist domination work out in Women without Men?
● It’s natural to feel that the dominant force should be resisted. But there is a danger in
blindly criticizing the dominant system and leaders as the problem, this is more
destructive than helpful because it doesn’t allow you to engage with the other side. If the
dominant system disappears, those who supported it will not disappear. Dismissing the
dominant power and trying to fight it, without trying to understand the other side, will only
leave to division.
● What might feel to us as instinctual or natural, isn’t natural. Accept complexities and
have a conversation about controversies.
● In Women without Men, all the characters are very messy. They are products of the
system in which they were raised, and many of them view themselves as subservient
despite the fact that they are trying to achieve liberation from men.
● In a controversy, if each side is adhering to what they believe to be authentic, how do
you decide who is right and who is wrong?
○ We are equating natural and authentic, and assuming that was is natural and
authentic is therefore good. This relates to what it means to be human. Maybe
the true issue is not to understand what is natural and authentic, but instead what
natural and authentic means to other people and realize that we may never be
able to tap into what is truly authentic or natural.
○ This relates to the scene where Marji falsely accuses another man in an act of
self-preservation. But her grandmother condemns this as unethical.
Is there a text that made you feel uncomfortable this quarter and why?
● Waiting for the Barbarians had graphic and often creepy scenes. But this text is relevant
to the “me too” movement.
● Rousseau’s writing challenged the reasons we attend university and the reasons we are
doing what we’re doing.
● Most of the texts from Block’s lectures were also uncomfortable.
○ When we see a lion, a predator rip off the head of a goat, can we blame them for
this?
○ Humans are naturally power hungry, and humans make up countries. So how
can we change their natural inclination to strive for power and domination?
○ This relates to us personally - what is power? What kind of power will we
possess and how are we going to use it?
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Document Summary
Iranians have a memory, and sometimes nostalgia, for the time when they lived in iran. This is relevant to shakespeare and cesaire - the colonized versus the colonizer. Prospero changed who caliban was even as caliban was resisting prospero. Raises questions about how much control you have over your own life. It"s natural to feel that the dominant force should be resisted. But there is a danger in blindly criticizing the dominant system and leaders as the problem, this is more destructive than helpful because it doesn"t allow you to engage with the other side. If the dominant system disappears, those who supported it will not disappear. Dismissing the dominant power and trying to fight it, without trying to understand the other side, will only leave to division. What might feel to us as instinctual or natural, isn"t natural. Accept complexities and have a conversation about controversies. In women without men, all the characters are very messy.
