GEN&SEX 50B Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Theodor W. Adorno, Eurocentrism, Psychoanalysis
20 Jun 2018
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Section 15: Representing Women in Colonial Contexts
Reading A: Woman is an Island- Femininity and Colonization
(Judith Williamson)
- Capitalism feeds on colonial economies, takes control of their different value systems and emphasizes their
symbolic differences
- The mystery of foreign places and people depicted as “natural” and “exotic”
- Establish ourselves as powerful in the capitalist culture
- Pond’s cream and cocoa butter:
“white looking” South Seas woman
Tradition of another culture becomes the modern achievement of our own
- The subjects of “primitive” (women/ foreigners) become commodified and lose their own meanings and speech
- By utilizing these “different” subjects we are trying to convince ourselves of the liberality of our system and
representing differences in a tamed form
- Fashion for tans:
In the past, suntan was the norm for working people so pale skin was prized (sign of leisure time; mark of
luxury)
Currently, a tan means the thing
Fake-tan v. real tan
- Almost a public imagery assumes its audience to be white
Key Term:
-Commodity form: a commodity can be defined as a thing produced for exchange or sale, the Marxist concept of
commodity argues that it is not only the thing that the worker produces that can be bought and sold, it is also the
labor itself that becomes commodified and therefore something that can be purchased.
Reading B: Excerpts from Reading National Geographic
(Catherine A. Lutz and Jane L. Collins)
Whose Representations? Power and Geographic Knowledge
- How people are acculturated to a set of views about the third world:
Television, film, mass circulation photographs in magazines and textbooks (image based)
- National Geographic Society:
Produces National Geographic magazine
Cultivates ties to government officials and corporate interests
Believes itself to be a national- institution on the basis of its reputation for supplying important scientific
knowledge about the world and all that’s in it and for safeguarding American values and traditions
National Geographic is located within mass culture
- Mass culture: materials created and disseminated by powerful interests for the consumption of the working class
Commercial production of art and entertainment
Seen by Frankfurt theorists as degenerate and manipulative
- Difference between mass culture and popular culture:
Mass culture: production for the masses by dominant classes
Popular culture: remnants of autonomous culture produced by working class communities
- Messages contained in National Geographic images espouse the views of white, educated middle class
Speak to highly educated professionals and managers, white collar clerks and technicians, working class
and lower ranks of service sector
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Reading a: woman is an island- femininity and colonization (judith williamson) Capitalism feeds on colonial economies, takes control of their different value systems and emphasizes their symbolic differences. The mystery of foreign places and people depicted as natural and exotic . Establish ourselves as powerful in the capitalist culture. Tradition of another culture becomes the modern achievement of our own. The subjects of primitive (women/ foreigners) become commodified and lose their own meanings and speech. By utilizing these different subjects we are trying to convince ourselves of the liberality of our system and representing differences in a tamed form. In the past, suntan was the norm for working people so pale skin was prized (sign of leisure time; mark of luxury) Almost a public imagery assumes its audience to be white. Reading b: excerpts from reading national geographic (catherine a. lutz and jane l. collins) How people are acculturated to a set of views about the third world:
