I was also thinking about the ways that dispossession is both the exhibition and byproduct of dominance, in that one's presence as a dominant subject can, intentionally or otherwise, displace marginalized bodies. This, too, occurs on both the physical and social levels, and serves to constitute people as racialized and sexualized subjects. Razack's article specifically was reminding me of the prevalence of entitlement in white, middle class, men, and how frequently, and with what ease, the line which separates frat boy from murderer becomes blurred, or erased entirely. Likewise, I was thinking about notions of capitalist security, and how this produces an entitlement and sense of belonging, and indeed, a perception of social dominance, which works to legitimize these kinds of subjectivities. The dominant institutions are thus co-constituting and self-perpetuating, which is extremely distressing, but of dire importance to understandings of systemic violence enacted against Indigenous women.
Friday 30 October 2015
Dispossessions and marginalizations
The film clip from, "Finding Dawn" and Sherene Razack's article, “Gendered racial violence and spatialized
justice: The murder of Pamela George," reinforced for me the idea of a connection between the violent loss of space and the violence enacted against Indigenous women's bodies, as we have already discussed in class. Within this framework, the initial dispossession of Indigenous people is rendered especially meaningful in regards to an Indigenous connection to land, and as such, it is important that we continue to trace these connections through to the dispossessions occurring today. In understanding this connection, we can see the ways that a physical dispossession of land is intrinsically related to the sexual violence enacted against Indigenous women, especially in constituting one another as consumable or rapeable through this affiliation. This concept was explored in Audra Simpson's lecture, "The Chiefs Two Bodies," and has great relevance to Razack's ideas about spaciality, especially in the linking of physical spaces and social positions in constituting one as either respectable or degenerate. We can think about the ways that people are rendered "marginalized," and how this occurs for Indigenous people socially as well as physically, with reserves and "bad" neighborhoods, as well as how these work to reproduce one another.
I was also thinking about the ways that dispossession is both the exhibition and byproduct of dominance, in that one's presence as a dominant subject can, intentionally or otherwise, displace marginalized bodies. This, too, occurs on both the physical and social levels, and serves to constitute people as racialized and sexualized subjects. Razack's article specifically was reminding me of the prevalence of entitlement in white, middle class, men, and how frequently, and with what ease, the line which separates frat boy from murderer becomes blurred, or erased entirely. Likewise, I was thinking about notions of capitalist security, and how this produces an entitlement and sense of belonging, and indeed, a perception of social dominance, which works to legitimize these kinds of subjectivities. The dominant institutions are thus co-constituting and self-perpetuating, which is extremely distressing, but of dire importance to understandings of systemic violence enacted against Indigenous women.
I was also thinking about the ways that dispossession is both the exhibition and byproduct of dominance, in that one's presence as a dominant subject can, intentionally or otherwise, displace marginalized bodies. This, too, occurs on both the physical and social levels, and serves to constitute people as racialized and sexualized subjects. Razack's article specifically was reminding me of the prevalence of entitlement in white, middle class, men, and how frequently, and with what ease, the line which separates frat boy from murderer becomes blurred, or erased entirely. Likewise, I was thinking about notions of capitalist security, and how this produces an entitlement and sense of belonging, and indeed, a perception of social dominance, which works to legitimize these kinds of subjectivities. The dominant institutions are thus co-constituting and self-perpetuating, which is extremely distressing, but of dire importance to understandings of systemic violence enacted against Indigenous women.
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I like your connection between Audra Simpon's lecture with Finding Dawn and Razack's article. As you mention, these three works do a great job illustrating the pervasive links between dispossession, marginalization, and violence. These ideas really came alive for me in Friday's class, where we were considering the concept of racialized space. Would Pamela George or Janice Acoose have experienced the violence they experienced if they felt more comfortable on their reserves, or if their bodies were not marginalized in urban centres? The link between metaphorical and physical dispossession and racialized violence is so real.
ReplyDeleteI find the role of gentrification on urban aboriginal dispossession fascinating. By making some urban spaces "safer" for the affluent, entitled body, what is that doing to further marginalize indigenous bodies, who occupy close to half of urban houseless peoples in Edmonton, for example? The role this active dispossession (like, literally happening right now in Edmonton) plays in the acceptability of violence towards these people is upsetting and intriguing.