Reviews for Africa, America & the Caribbean

The average rating for Africa, America & the Caribbean based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-02-22 00:00:00 Max Deiner The language of “normal” has historically been used to disguise racist values as beningn and politically neutral. In the context of the U.S., normal was infused by eugenics (a racist pseudoscientific strategy to “improve the race”). Normality is not about objective facts, rather it makes specific claims about the superiority of particular traits. Take for example the construction of the two statues “Normann” and “Norma” designed in 1939 to represent the average US-American male and female, despite the fact that almost no one embodied these proportions. A contest was held to find the ideal woman who most closely resembled this sculpture. Eugenicists deployed the language of “normal” to cultivate the white race and discipline people into particular appearances and ways of living in order to become the most “advanced” civilization on Earth. They cared more about presumed perfection than the poetry (hairiness, fatness, gender non-conformity) of actual bodies. In particular, “normal” became a code word to describe “sexual fitness,” or the ability to align one’s sexual practices with the interests of the race. Racist evolutionary thought regarded reproduction as the primary mode for racial development. In the early 20th century, monogamous, heterosexual, intra-racial marriage was upheld as the only legitimate mode of sexuality specifically to foster the growth of the white population. White people were taught that they were responsible for civilization and that practicing sexual self-restraint would ensure the continued progression and advancement of the next generation. This self-restraint was in contrast to the alleged sexual decadence of “savage” peoples who were depicted as merely motivated by primal sexual urges, incapable of “civilized” romance and family structures. During this time, we see white anxieties coalesce around the figure of the “degenerate” “queer” who was seen as a remnant of weakness and primitivism in the white race. Queer people were pathologized as having a form of “sexual disability,” preventing them from evolving into appropriate “modern” heterosexuality. Exclusive heterosexuality was marketed as essential for national stability and racial progress. This normative standard conferred legitimacy and status such that later in the century one of the primary ways that (Irish, Italian, Jewish, etc.) immigrants were able to assimilate into the nation was by adopting heteronormativity (assuming traditional gender roles and family structures). As Carter argues, “aligning oneself with normal heterosexuality ahd the effect of performing one’s alignment with ideal whiteness” (98). Despite the fact that no one can actually achieve this illusive idea of “normal,” perceived proximity to normality awards legitimacy and power. This is why racialized people might respond to loss of status from racism by reinforcing traditional gender norms. This is also why gender non-conforming people experience such profound cruelty.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-01 00:00:00 Sherry Weaver While a very well-researched book about a topic that, in my opinion, has been significantly unexplored (ie "normal" race and sexuality and how the population was indoctrinated into these definitions of normalcy), the book seems overly repetitive and it seems as though there are much deeper stories to be told. If some of the repetitiveness was removed, these stories could have been told. A very good introduction for anyone new to racial or sexual history in the late 19th and early 20th century.