The main topic of this dialogue is whether virtue can be taught. In the myth discussed in the story, Epimetheus provides humans with nothing whereas he provides many talents to non-human animals. This imbalance was fixed by Prometheus, who stole fire and wisdom and brought it to humanity. As such, humans have language, make artifacts, and worship gods. Before Prometheus, humanity could not take part in god-like activities. Afterwards, they could, but they still lived in isolation and were destroyed by strong animals. They lack the art of politics, so any attempts to organize as a city ends up in injustice. Hermes then brings humanity justice and shame, which form bonds of friendship and bring order.
How might this relate to Bacchae?
Dionysus' first miracle is to release the jailed women in the city. His second miracle is an earthquake (586-588) and his third is his escape from jail (613-617). Dionysus claims that whereas Pentheus thought he was chaining Dionysus, in fact Pentheus never touched his hands. It is also important to note that Dionysus says that Pentheus was feeding on his desires. Dr.Giannopoulou claims that this is part of Pentheus' transformation into Dionysus. In the following lines, Dionysus explains that he was placed in a stable, as if he were an animal. He then turns into a bull and in this form he is imprisoned as an animal. Pentheus tried to restrain this bull, but Dionysus was also watching from the outside. Then he explains how Bacchus came and brought an earthquake and fire. He also claims that Bromius appeared in the palace. In lines 618-632, there are thus at least four versions of Dionysus. Dr. Giannopoulou argues that when Pentheus takes a sword against Dionysus, this is a futile attempt to use a phallus to destroy his sexual desire (as represented in Dionysus).
In the mountains, we have a much more peaceful picture. The Maenads are enjoying sober rest. Importantly, they were also being modest, which is the most important female virtue. In other words, they are acting very Greek. When the women awaken, they let their hair loose and they use snakes to attach their fawnskins if they need it. Lactating women suckled animals and the women cried out for Bacchus until the beasts were wild with divinity "And when they ran, everything ran with them" (727). In short, this "society" of peaceful women includes harmony with animals and nature. One women uses a thyrsus to strike a rock and create a fountain of water. Another makes wine spring from the earth. Women who wanted milk scratched at the ground and pure honey spurts from their wands (702-711). The women are thrusting a phallus into a surface in order to eject liquids. Women, as changing and fluid entities, were often associated with liquids. Whereas Pantheus is unable to be successful with his phallus, the women are able to use the thyrsus with success. This represents a reversal of roles.
Then, after being seen by villagers, the women pillage and destroy a town and kidnap the children (747-754). The townspeople take up arms against the Maenads and the men's spears make no wounds whereas the women's spears do cause damage. Eventually, the men turn and run, having been defeated by the women. This represents the main problem of the play for Pentheus: the men are ineffectual. The men are incapable of fulfilling their roles, but the women have success in masculine roles.
When the women are spotted by men, they perform sporagmos on men, but they also do the same to animals sometimes even when they do not think they are being observed (736-747). In lines 811-816, Pentheus admits that he wants to watch the women of the Bacchae.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Pentheus vs. Dionysus
From Pentheus' point of view, Dionysus is merely an impostor--an effeminate charlatan from a foreign land who spends his time polluting women and girls. Pentheus wants to bring Dionysus under the roof of the palace and decapitate him. This is symbolic of his desire to bring him into the confines of society's rules and concepts. Pentheus wants to classify Dionysus as a mortal woman and to capture him and constrain him as a woman was normally constrained. Pentheus thinks that the Dionysian religion means that the women act like animals. For him, the irrational nature of both makes women like animals and makes animals feminine. Pentheus also thinks that Maenads actually serve the lust of men rather than the divine interests of Bacchus. By claiming that the women adore Aphrodite, he attempts to demean Dionysus and deny him legitimacy. Pentheus makes a big point of displaying civic authority. He says the women will be "captured" and "hunted down". He also wants to destroy the place where Bacchus prophecies with a metaphorical earthquake.
When Dionysus is actually captured, he acts as a tame animal. This could mean that Dionysus is purposefully trying not to be treated as an animal. As Bacchus is captured, the women in the dungeons are freed (444-449). Thus, his first miracle in Thebes is an act of liberation. When Dionysus and Pentheus meet, Pentheus comments in detail about Dionysus' looks. Dionysus is evasive in order to arose Pentheus' curiosity. He does not reveal his rites, as only initiated women can know his religious rites. Dionysus warns Pentheus and the other fools of Thebes not to enchain him . Pentheus represents repressed sexuality and xenophobia, whereas Dionysus represents release of sexual power and is adored by foreigners. Pentheus decides to punish Dionysus by removing his golden locks, making him surrender his wand and confining him in the palace (492-496).
One theme that comes up in the exchange between Dionysus and Pentheus (499-507) is the different between knowing and being ignorant. Accusing Pentheus of blasphemous ignorance, Dionysus invokes the Greek concept of hubris while warning Pentheus. Metaphors of sight are used. Blindness is associated with ignorance and sight is associated with knowledge. Even though Pentheus knows who his parents are, Dionysus reminds him that Pentheus does not know who he himself (Pentheus) is! Dionysus says that Pentheus will repent his name. His name is from the greek penthos, which means grief. Only after he knows grief and repents will he become himself. This happens right before he dies at the hands of his mother while mobbed by Maenads.
When Dionysus is actually captured, he acts as a tame animal. This could mean that Dionysus is purposefully trying not to be treated as an animal. As Bacchus is captured, the women in the dungeons are freed (444-449). Thus, his first miracle in Thebes is an act of liberation. When Dionysus and Pentheus meet, Pentheus comments in detail about Dionysus' looks. Dionysus is evasive in order to arose Pentheus' curiosity. He does not reveal his rites, as only initiated women can know his religious rites. Dionysus warns Pentheus and the other fools of Thebes not to enchain him . Pentheus represents repressed sexuality and xenophobia, whereas Dionysus represents release of sexual power and is adored by foreigners. Pentheus decides to punish Dionysus by removing his golden locks, making him surrender his wand and confining him in the palace (492-496).
One theme that comes up in the exchange between Dionysus and Pentheus (499-507) is the different between knowing and being ignorant. Accusing Pentheus of blasphemous ignorance, Dionysus invokes the Greek concept of hubris while warning Pentheus. Metaphors of sight are used. Blindness is associated with ignorance and sight is associated with knowledge. Even though Pentheus knows who his parents are, Dionysus reminds him that Pentheus does not know who he himself (Pentheus) is! Dionysus says that Pentheus will repent his name. His name is from the greek penthos, which means grief. Only after he knows grief and repents will he become himself. This happens right before he dies at the hands of his mother while mobbed by Maenads.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Bacchae and Antigone
Bacchae. Pentheus, the king of Thebes, is the grandson of Cadmus (the founder of Thebes) and the son of Agave. He leads the men of Thebes against Dionysus. Pentheus refuses to acknowledge Dionysus' existence. So, Dionysus says that he must prove himself to the men of Thebes (47-48). He says that if he is attacked with force that he will retaliate (51-53).
In the first chorus, we hear a story about Dionysus' birth. The bacchae report that his mother died at the time of birth and that Zeus had to keep him in his thigh in order to keep him safe before he could be born away from Hera (88-99). Semele is merely the incubator for Dionysus' fetus for a short period before Zeus is able to be a surrogate mother for his own child with Semele.
In this story, we have a clash between Apollo and Dionysus. This is representative of a conflict between rationality and irrationality. We can contrast wisdom with foolishness to flesh this out. A prophet of Apollo, Tiresias, represents wisdom, meaning conformity to tradition, prudence, "seeing" with "clear vision", rationality and understanding human limits. Foolishness is then associated with defiance against tradition, impractical thinking, blindness, madness, silliness and hubris. Hubris means the prideful ways in which humans try to be godlike and overstep their mortal boundaries.
Antigone is a play from Sophocles. It is about a conflict between Antigone and Creon. Antigone is devoted to divine authority whereas Creon is devoted to civic authority. In general, men are portrayed as dominating nature by "taming" the wind, "snaring" birds, "imprisoning" beasts, "mastering" beasts and "yoking" the horse and the bull. Man teaches himself language, knows to avoid bad weather, has a way to face obstacles, and escapes diseases. In short, man is a problem-solver and a calculated actor. There is emphasis on the power of human rationality. Man cannot, however, escape death. This is exactly what separates us from the gods.
Now think back to the story that the bacchae provide about Dionysus' birth. Tiresias, as a prophet of Apollo (and hence rationality), provides another story about the birth of Dionysus. In this alternate story, it is not the case that Zeus used his thigh as a womb but that Zeus made a dummy Dionysus from ether (air) in order to trick Hera into throwing out the dummy instead of Dionysus. Tiresias claims that the story has gotten confused because the term for to turn someone into a hostage (as Zeus did with the dummy Dionysus), homeron, is close to the word for to sew (en meron). So the story was originally about a hostage dummy but after being misheard, it turned into a story about Dionysus being sewn into a thigh rather than a story about a dummy being used as a hostage.
In the first chorus, we hear a story about Dionysus' birth. The bacchae report that his mother died at the time of birth and that Zeus had to keep him in his thigh in order to keep him safe before he could be born away from Hera (88-99). Semele is merely the incubator for Dionysus' fetus for a short period before Zeus is able to be a surrogate mother for his own child with Semele.
In this story, we have a clash between Apollo and Dionysus. This is representative of a conflict between rationality and irrationality. We can contrast wisdom with foolishness to flesh this out. A prophet of Apollo, Tiresias, represents wisdom, meaning conformity to tradition, prudence, "seeing" with "clear vision", rationality and understanding human limits. Foolishness is then associated with defiance against tradition, impractical thinking, blindness, madness, silliness and hubris. Hubris means the prideful ways in which humans try to be godlike and overstep their mortal boundaries.
Antigone is a play from Sophocles. It is about a conflict between Antigone and Creon. Antigone is devoted to divine authority whereas Creon is devoted to civic authority. In general, men are portrayed as dominating nature by "taming" the wind, "snaring" birds, "imprisoning" beasts, "mastering" beasts and "yoking" the horse and the bull. Man teaches himself language, knows to avoid bad weather, has a way to face obstacles, and escapes diseases. In short, man is a problem-solver and a calculated actor. There is emphasis on the power of human rationality. Man cannot, however, escape death. This is exactly what separates us from the gods.
Now think back to the story that the bacchae provide about Dionysus' birth. Tiresias, as a prophet of Apollo (and hence rationality), provides another story about the birth of Dionysus. In this alternate story, it is not the case that Zeus used his thigh as a womb but that Zeus made a dummy Dionysus from ether (air) in order to trick Hera into throwing out the dummy instead of Dionysus. Tiresias claims that the story has gotten confused because the term for to turn someone into a hostage (as Zeus did with the dummy Dionysus), homeron, is close to the word for to sew (en meron). So the story was originally about a hostage dummy but after being misheard, it turned into a story about Dionysus being sewn into a thigh rather than a story about a dummy being used as a hostage.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Dionysus, AKA Bacchus, Bromius, and Evius
Bacchae is the main text of this unit. Dionysus is the main character of the play, and is an Ancient Greek god. He is the son of Zeus and Semele, a mortal. He is the god of vegetation, just as Demeter is the female vegetation goddess. He represents ecstasy and madness and is associated with theater. Ecstasy means literally beyond stability, or transcending a static or normal state. In other words, he is the god of being outside of one's self. Every spring, there was a theater festival in Athens to celebrate Dionysus.
Characteristics of the religion of Dionysus include spiritual release through music and dance, possession of the god by his followers (entheos). The wine is meant to help followers to be possessed. Sporagmos ripping apart a sacrificial animal. Omophagy is when you eat the sacrificed animal raw. The title of our text, Bacchae, means the female followers of Bacchus (which is the Latin name for Dionysus). Maenads is another term for the exclusively female followers of Dionysus.
Dionysus represents hte dissolution of boundaries. Psychologically, he represents a free emotional life without the traditional constraints of other people, society, morality, etc. Culturally, he blurs boundaries between civilization and the wild, moral and immortal, humanity and beasts and male and female. In theater, an actor is thought to fuse with his character and the viewer is meant to identify with the actors, thus breaking the boundary between self and her.
Dionysis is both a god and a beast. As a beast, we mean that he is unintelligible or unhuman. As a god, he is at the center of a civic religion, but is he worshiped in the mountains. He is male, but appears feminine. He is Greek but comes from Asia. He is neither child nor man, but a perpetual adolescent. He brings wine to men and madness to women. His Thyrsus is meant to open channels of fluid from the ground (wine, milk, water), but this can also be a dangerous weapon--a shaft or missile.
Euripides is the author of Bacchae. The text was chosen because it shows many themes relevant to the year-long Humcore course. This text was chosen because it features humans being punished for refusing to worship a god. God is portrayed as an enemy to society, and nature upsets social norms. We might also consider why god is worshiped in nature. Other themes include rationality impedes understanding divinity and divine wrath is excessive and unable to be appeased.
Another important theme is doubling. There are two opposing worldviews: the rational civic world of Pentheus and the irrational world of Dionysus. There are two sets of maenads: one group of Asia and another from Thebes. There are two Dionysuses: the god himself in the prologue and exodus and the god in disguise. When in his own form, he is presented as a deus ex machina, meaning he arrives in his god form from a machine on stage as if from the heavens. There are also two scenes of constrained maenads: one peaceful, the other murderous. When the women are left alone, they are peaceful, but they become murderous when bothered.
The structure of the work is a prologue at the beginning and an exodus at the end with a series of episodes followed by choral odes. At the beginning of the play, we are near a path to Citchaeron, a mountain. Dionysus is literally standing between nature (the mountain) and the city. The scene opens on the tomb of Dionysus' mother. Dionysus enters and stage directions describe him as looking like a woman: beardless, long hair, ivy wreath, etc. He addresses the audience and tells them that he has come back to Thebes. He says he is a god and the son of Zeus, which is exactly the question at issue in the play. At the end of the play, after he punishes the city, he reminds the audience that he is god. Dionysus indicates that Hera has had something to do with Semele's death. He tells of the spread of his religion, and tells how he has forced the women in Thebes to follow him as madwomen. As a result, they have abandoned their "womanly" duties at home.
Characteristics of the religion of Dionysus include spiritual release through music and dance, possession of the god by his followers (entheos). The wine is meant to help followers to be possessed. Sporagmos ripping apart a sacrificial animal. Omophagy is when you eat the sacrificed animal raw. The title of our text, Bacchae, means the female followers of Bacchus (which is the Latin name for Dionysus). Maenads is another term for the exclusively female followers of Dionysus.
Dionysus represents hte dissolution of boundaries. Psychologically, he represents a free emotional life without the traditional constraints of other people, society, morality, etc. Culturally, he blurs boundaries between civilization and the wild, moral and immortal, humanity and beasts and male and female. In theater, an actor is thought to fuse with his character and the viewer is meant to identify with the actors, thus breaking the boundary between self and her.
Dionysis is both a god and a beast. As a beast, we mean that he is unintelligible or unhuman. As a god, he is at the center of a civic religion, but is he worshiped in the mountains. He is male, but appears feminine. He is Greek but comes from Asia. He is neither child nor man, but a perpetual adolescent. He brings wine to men and madness to women. His Thyrsus is meant to open channels of fluid from the ground (wine, milk, water), but this can also be a dangerous weapon--a shaft or missile.
Euripides is the author of Bacchae. The text was chosen because it shows many themes relevant to the year-long Humcore course. This text was chosen because it features humans being punished for refusing to worship a god. God is portrayed as an enemy to society, and nature upsets social norms. We might also consider why god is worshiped in nature. Other themes include rationality impedes understanding divinity and divine wrath is excessive and unable to be appeased.
Another important theme is doubling. There are two opposing worldviews: the rational civic world of Pentheus and the irrational world of Dionysus. There are two sets of maenads: one group of Asia and another from Thebes. There are two Dionysuses: the god himself in the prologue and exodus and the god in disguise. When in his own form, he is presented as a deus ex machina, meaning he arrives in his god form from a machine on stage as if from the heavens. There are also two scenes of constrained maenads: one peaceful, the other murderous. When the women are left alone, they are peaceful, but they become murderous when bothered.
The structure of the work is a prologue at the beginning and an exodus at the end with a series of episodes followed by choral odes. At the beginning of the play, we are near a path to Citchaeron, a mountain. Dionysus is literally standing between nature (the mountain) and the city. The scene opens on the tomb of Dionysus' mother. Dionysus enters and stage directions describe him as looking like a woman: beardless, long hair, ivy wreath, etc. He addresses the audience and tells them that he has come back to Thebes. He says he is a god and the son of Zeus, which is exactly the question at issue in the play. At the end of the play, after he punishes the city, he reminds the audience that he is god. Dionysus indicates that Hera has had something to do with Semele's death. He tells of the spread of his religion, and tells how he has forced the women in Thebes to follow him as madwomen. As a result, they have abandoned their "womanly" duties at home.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Homer, Similes and Nature
This last unit will focus on how divinity, society and nature and their interrelationships with one another and with humans. Dr. Giannopoulou will talk about nature primarily, but she will also explore these interrelationships. The Bacchae will be the main text of this unit, but we will compare and contrast ideas from this Euripides play and from Homer, Sophocles and Plato.
The Homeric Question. Who is Homer? Homer is the author of The Illiad and The Odyssey, but there is no single historical figure to whom we refer when we talk about Homer. Heroditus, an Ancient Greek historian, said that Homer lived in 850 BCE. Other sources have him living five centuries earlier. We assume that at some point in this period, there was some poem named Homer.
Homer wrote in dactylic hexameter. This means that he wrote phrases that contained six sets of vowel sounds grouped in pairs of long sounds or in groups of three with one long sound and two short sounds. In other words, he wrote lines with six dactyls. A dactyl is a set of two long vowel sounds or one long vowel sound followed by two short vowel sounds. This means that it was very difficult for Homer to compose his prose, as it was all constrained by these parameters. This would have been particularly difficult because the poems were composed orally, meaning that nothing was written down when the poetry was created.
Aoidoi were singers, or bards. Often they were authors of poems, as well, such as Homer. Rhapsodoi replaced aoidoi as a term. They were performers of poetry who would compete. Literally, the term means that they sewed songs together.
Many scholars have tried to solve the Homeric question. Milman Perry and Albert Lord were two important Homeric scholars. Perry, who wrote in the 1930s, provided the idea that Homer's formulas were inherited from predecessors. Formula here means a group of words used regularly under the same conditions in order to express an idea. For example, "the man of twists and turns" is a formulaic description of Odysseus. Another example of a formula is "swift-footed" Achilles. Albert Lord contributed the fact that every time a Homeric epic was performed by a different person, there were changes made. The texts we read are thus the result of a long oral tradition.
Homer's similes are his most interesting references to nature. Metaphors are comparisons without words like "like", "such as" "as", or "similar to". When these words are used, then it is a simile. For example, in Iliad, Eumelus' horses are described as "swift-moving like birds". Humans are also compared to animals. Gods are also able to change their own form into animals and turn humans into animals. Human and animal forms are interchangeable. In Homer, the boundaries between humans and nature are flexible.
In Iliad, Achilles has a dialogue with his horse. He tells a horse to bring him back and shames him by telling him to do better and not to leave him dead as they left Patroclus dead. He also calls his horse "illustrious", which is a term not often applied to horses but only to humans. Achilles' horse responds by bowing his head and is then given a voice by Hera. The horse says that they will do their best, but that the gods ultimately decide who dies. It is significant that the horse in this play has logos, or speech and reason. The horse not only responds with language, but he responds with good reasons and prophesizes Achilles' death. The furies then struck the horse dumb. Achilles responds by asserting his courage and superiority. In short, although the man has the last word, the animal has the capacity to act as the best humans can.
In Odyssey, Odysseus fights the Scylla, a six-headed monster. He also fights a whirlpool, the Charybdis. Both of these monsters are female. Here is an example of a male exercising his ability to make a woman submit. Even monsters such as the Charybdis that are characterized as excessive and grotesque have human characteristics, such as gulping, swallowing and spewing. Scylla, who snatches six men, is described as similar to an angler fishing for little fish. She is also described as having a cavern, referring to her mouth and throat and as being like a fishing rod. The men are described like little fish. Contrast their animalic writhing with Scylla's calculated movements. In sum, animals in Homer are like and unlike human beings. When like humans, the characteristics are extreme and monstrous. IT is the intensification of human characteristics that makes them a monster. Also, they are dominated by human beings.
The Homeric Question. Who is Homer? Homer is the author of The Illiad and The Odyssey, but there is no single historical figure to whom we refer when we talk about Homer. Heroditus, an Ancient Greek historian, said that Homer lived in 850 BCE. Other sources have him living five centuries earlier. We assume that at some point in this period, there was some poem named Homer.
Homer wrote in dactylic hexameter. This means that he wrote phrases that contained six sets of vowel sounds grouped in pairs of long sounds or in groups of three with one long sound and two short sounds. In other words, he wrote lines with six dactyls. A dactyl is a set of two long vowel sounds or one long vowel sound followed by two short vowel sounds. This means that it was very difficult for Homer to compose his prose, as it was all constrained by these parameters. This would have been particularly difficult because the poems were composed orally, meaning that nothing was written down when the poetry was created.
Aoidoi were singers, or bards. Often they were authors of poems, as well, such as Homer. Rhapsodoi replaced aoidoi as a term. They were performers of poetry who would compete. Literally, the term means that they sewed songs together.
Many scholars have tried to solve the Homeric question. Milman Perry and Albert Lord were two important Homeric scholars. Perry, who wrote in the 1930s, provided the idea that Homer's formulas were inherited from predecessors. Formula here means a group of words used regularly under the same conditions in order to express an idea. For example, "the man of twists and turns" is a formulaic description of Odysseus. Another example of a formula is "swift-footed" Achilles. Albert Lord contributed the fact that every time a Homeric epic was performed by a different person, there were changes made. The texts we read are thus the result of a long oral tradition.
Homer's similes are his most interesting references to nature. Metaphors are comparisons without words like "like", "such as" "as", or "similar to". When these words are used, then it is a simile. For example, in Iliad, Eumelus' horses are described as "swift-moving like birds". Humans are also compared to animals. Gods are also able to change their own form into animals and turn humans into animals. Human and animal forms are interchangeable. In Homer, the boundaries between humans and nature are flexible.
In Iliad, Achilles has a dialogue with his horse. He tells a horse to bring him back and shames him by telling him to do better and not to leave him dead as they left Patroclus dead. He also calls his horse "illustrious", which is a term not often applied to horses but only to humans. Achilles' horse responds by bowing his head and is then given a voice by Hera. The horse says that they will do their best, but that the gods ultimately decide who dies. It is significant that the horse in this play has logos, or speech and reason. The horse not only responds with language, but he responds with good reasons and prophesizes Achilles' death. The furies then struck the horse dumb. Achilles responds by asserting his courage and superiority. In short, although the man has the last word, the animal has the capacity to act as the best humans can.
In Odyssey, Odysseus fights the Scylla, a six-headed monster. He also fights a whirlpool, the Charybdis. Both of these monsters are female. Here is an example of a male exercising his ability to make a woman submit. Even monsters such as the Charybdis that are characterized as excessive and grotesque have human characteristics, such as gulping, swallowing and spewing. Scylla, who snatches six men, is described as similar to an angler fishing for little fish. She is also described as having a cavern, referring to her mouth and throat and as being like a fishing rod. The men are described like little fish. Contrast their animalic writhing with Scylla's calculated movements. In sum, animals in Homer are like and unlike human beings. When like humans, the characteristics are extreme and monstrous. IT is the intensification of human characteristics that makes them a monster. Also, they are dominated by human beings.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
"Bushmen" as "primitive" and the Human/Nature Boundary
Today's lecture focuses on changing perceptions of Khoisan people, the place of "bushmen" in modern society and the boundary between humanity and nature. Dr. Mitchell also focuses on 5 concepts and 5 skills that we should have gained from her lectures.
5 Concepts. Dr. Mitchell hopes that you have a working definition of history. History is a way of asking question and of making meaning of the past. At its core, history is about change over time. Historical materialism is the approach to history that treats the past as a collection of economic relationships (e.g., buyer/seller, producer/product). Time/place specificity means looking at the way certain ideas or events emerge in a specific time and place. Contingency is the notion that many conditions of our lives are beyond our control. Causality is how we explain the relationship between a cause and an effect.
5 Skills. First, one should be able to interpret source material. Second, you should be able to identity the steps of a historical argument. Third, you should be able to explain change over time or long-term continuity. Fourth, you should be able to identify and shift between different scales of analysis, meaning that sometimes we look at the big picture and sometimes we zoom in on a specific community or set of individuals. Different questions have different scales. Fifth, we should know how to pose humanities research questions.
Perceptions of Nature. Khoisan culture sees a constant interaction and exchange between humanity and nature. The European tradition has tended to emphasize the difference between humanity and nature as well as the hierarchy in which humanity stands above all non-human natural phenomena. In European art, science and descriptions of African landscapes, Africa has often been depicted as wild, savage and primitive. The humans living there were also treated as part of nature and as primitive. Scientists of the time categorized different races and put different people into a hierarchy where not only humans dominate non-humans, but as some people are de-humanized, humans dominate other humans.
Changing Perceptions of the San People. In 1925, Denver businessmen financed an expedition to South Africa. The images and film that came from Africa helped to change the image of "bushmen" from that of a lowly human being to a noble savage. Khoisan represented a time when humans had a simple existence in harmony with nature. This "tamer" image allowed settlers to feel safer from attack from locals. Ultimately, the image of a peaceful "savage" was used to garner positive publicity for South Africa. In the 1950s, Lawrence Marshall brought his family to Namibia in order to seek a more peaceful life. John Marshall, one of the sons, became a filmmaker and he documented the local people. The mother, Lorna, a schoolteacher, is credited with the advent of "Bushmen Studies". This family found new ways to present local African people to a Western audience. Sir Laurens van der Post, a writer and close friend to Prince Charles, claimed that the "noble savage" represents a kind of living that Western people should envy.
Casting Africans as "primitive" or "savage" depends on a certain notion of progress. If we only count a certain kind of technology as progress, then other cultures will appear "less evolved". This stereotype also relies on a notion about where humanity should be headed and/or is headed. If we think that all of humanity is going towards the same endpoint, then others will appear closer to this goal than others. Only with certain standards of progress and achievement can we judge ourselves as better or more advanced than others.
Dr. Mitchell notes that the Khoisan are not "people out of time", or people who are "less evolved" or "less advanced" than other humans. Nature, progress and advancement towards a goal are all ideas that we construct together.
Humanities Research Questions. One example of a humanities research question might be how the perceptions of Khoisan culture have changed over time. How have opinions of these people changed? How have our evaluations of them changed? How have we valued them differently? What has been positively valued and negatively valued at different times and how might we explain this in terms of other social or economic values in our own culture?
5 Concepts. Dr. Mitchell hopes that you have a working definition of history. History is a way of asking question and of making meaning of the past. At its core, history is about change over time. Historical materialism is the approach to history that treats the past as a collection of economic relationships (e.g., buyer/seller, producer/product). Time/place specificity means looking at the way certain ideas or events emerge in a specific time and place. Contingency is the notion that many conditions of our lives are beyond our control. Causality is how we explain the relationship between a cause and an effect.
5 Skills. First, one should be able to interpret source material. Second, you should be able to identity the steps of a historical argument. Third, you should be able to explain change over time or long-term continuity. Fourth, you should be able to identify and shift between different scales of analysis, meaning that sometimes we look at the big picture and sometimes we zoom in on a specific community or set of individuals. Different questions have different scales. Fifth, we should know how to pose humanities research questions.
Perceptions of Nature. Khoisan culture sees a constant interaction and exchange between humanity and nature. The European tradition has tended to emphasize the difference between humanity and nature as well as the hierarchy in which humanity stands above all non-human natural phenomena. In European art, science and descriptions of African landscapes, Africa has often been depicted as wild, savage and primitive. The humans living there were also treated as part of nature and as primitive. Scientists of the time categorized different races and put different people into a hierarchy where not only humans dominate non-humans, but as some people are de-humanized, humans dominate other humans.
Changing Perceptions of the San People. In 1925, Denver businessmen financed an expedition to South Africa. The images and film that came from Africa helped to change the image of "bushmen" from that of a lowly human being to a noble savage. Khoisan represented a time when humans had a simple existence in harmony with nature. This "tamer" image allowed settlers to feel safer from attack from locals. Ultimately, the image of a peaceful "savage" was used to garner positive publicity for South Africa. In the 1950s, Lawrence Marshall brought his family to Namibia in order to seek a more peaceful life. John Marshall, one of the sons, became a filmmaker and he documented the local people. The mother, Lorna, a schoolteacher, is credited with the advent of "Bushmen Studies". This family found new ways to present local African people to a Western audience. Sir Laurens van der Post, a writer and close friend to Prince Charles, claimed that the "noble savage" represents a kind of living that Western people should envy.
Casting Africans as "primitive" or "savage" depends on a certain notion of progress. If we only count a certain kind of technology as progress, then other cultures will appear "less evolved". This stereotype also relies on a notion about where humanity should be headed and/or is headed. If we think that all of humanity is going towards the same endpoint, then others will appear closer to this goal than others. Only with certain standards of progress and achievement can we judge ourselves as better or more advanced than others.
Dr. Mitchell notes that the Khoisan are not "people out of time", or people who are "less evolved" or "less advanced" than other humans. Nature, progress and advancement towards a goal are all ideas that we construct together.
Humanities Research Questions. One example of a humanities research question might be how the perceptions of Khoisan culture have changed over time. How have opinions of these people changed? How have our evaluations of them changed? How have we valued them differently? What has been positively valued and negatively valued at different times and how might we explain this in terms of other social or economic values in our own culture?
Monday, May 6, 2013
Reading Colonial Landscapes
The topic of today's lecture is the development of colonial science and the boundary between humanity and nature. We will also focus on archaeology as a science in the Western Cape. We will look at rock art as evidence and ask humanities-based research questions. Dr. Mitchell claims that the colonial development was intertwined with the development of science. Europeans grew more interested in South Africa as they pursued scientific knowledge about the land, flora, fauna and local people. Collaboration was often needed from the locals, although the white scientists were often in a significant position of power over the locals.
Wilhelm Bleek, a linguist, studied the Zulu language in the 19th language. His first exposure to the language was through prisoners. He eventually received permission to have prisoners and their wives live with him and his family. Bleek, his wife Jemima Lloyd, his daughter Dorothea and his sister-in-law, Lucy Lloyd, created a series of notebooks. The notebooks began as linguistic inquiry and eventually transformed into ethnographic interviews about the Khoisan culture. These books are now stored in an archive at the library at the University of Capetown. An archive is a selected series of materials stored together and made available to scholars to have an in-depth set of materials to study.
It is unclear to what extent some of the locals participated willingly in helping European scientists and researchers. In some cases, travelers interacted with locals as equal in market exchange. In another case, a group of Khoisan were captured and brought to London on display. Some of Bleek's collaborators were perhaps less than enthusiastic, but many seem to be very interested in participating. But we cannot deny that there were differences in power. Consider the authors for the books Speciments of Bushman Folklore. Both Wilhelm and Lucy are listed as authors, even though Bleek had been dead for decades and Lucy was responsible for the bulk of the content. Because a woman had limited authority and legitimacy, a male author gave legitimacy to the project. Also, there may be a dedication "To All Faithful Workers", but none of the collaborators, including ||kabbo, who was a significant contributor, are listed as authors.
Now let's consider representation of landscape and local people. The cover for Le Vaillant's book is an image of animals and the landscape with a single European gentleman looking on. There are no buildings or interactions with locals depicted in the image. At this time, there was also a strong interest in phrenology, or head size and shape. Archaeology has been and still is a main way of studying the culture of locals in the area. Rock art has been a main subject of inquiry for archaeologists. The rock art depicts initiation rituals and significant animals and experiences. Entoptic lines, or series of zig-zag lines, indicate a spiritual importance and transformation.
Wilhelm Bleek, a linguist, studied the Zulu language in the 19th language. His first exposure to the language was through prisoners. He eventually received permission to have prisoners and their wives live with him and his family. Bleek, his wife Jemima Lloyd, his daughter Dorothea and his sister-in-law, Lucy Lloyd, created a series of notebooks. The notebooks began as linguistic inquiry and eventually transformed into ethnographic interviews about the Khoisan culture. These books are now stored in an archive at the library at the University of Capetown. An archive is a selected series of materials stored together and made available to scholars to have an in-depth set of materials to study.
It is unclear to what extent some of the locals participated willingly in helping European scientists and researchers. In some cases, travelers interacted with locals as equal in market exchange. In another case, a group of Khoisan were captured and brought to London on display. Some of Bleek's collaborators were perhaps less than enthusiastic, but many seem to be very interested in participating. But we cannot deny that there were differences in power. Consider the authors for the books Speciments of Bushman Folklore. Both Wilhelm and Lucy are listed as authors, even though Bleek had been dead for decades and Lucy was responsible for the bulk of the content. Because a woman had limited authority and legitimacy, a male author gave legitimacy to the project. Also, there may be a dedication "To All Faithful Workers", but none of the collaborators, including ||kabbo, who was a significant contributor, are listed as authors.
Now let's consider representation of landscape and local people. The cover for Le Vaillant's book is an image of animals and the landscape with a single European gentleman looking on. There are no buildings or interactions with locals depicted in the image. At this time, there was also a strong interest in phrenology, or head size and shape. Archaeology has been and still is a main way of studying the culture of locals in the area. Rock art has been a main subject of inquiry for archaeologists. The rock art depicts initiation rituals and significant animals and experiences. Entoptic lines, or series of zig-zag lines, indicate a spiritual importance and transformation.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Colonial Contexts of Knowledge Acquisition
How can we understand the significance of colonial acquisition? What relationship is there between colonial development and science? We will look at the mutual development of science and colonialism. In terms of method, we will focus on change over time, interpreting sources, and scale. By scale, this means whether we are looking at "the big picture" or whether we look at stories about specific individuals.
Dr. Mitchell thinks that the natural resources in South Africa help us to understand colonial development and conflict with native culture. The expansion of colonial settlement extended from the wettest parts of the interior cape region and then outward, pushing locals into the drier areas to the North and the East. Indigenous Khoisan people were forced into indentured labor by European settlers after they were forced out of their land and left without a way to practice their culture.
Technology such as guns, illness such as smallpox and ideas such as racial superiority and private property are all sources of power that were at play during colonial development of South Africa. The settlers and local Khoisan had different access to technology, science and medicine. They also had very different ideas about how humanity is related to nature. What are the long term consequences of the different ideas about and interactions with nature? And is nature still an important part of current Khoisan culture?
Early scientists, such as Galileo, did not consider himself to be a "scientist" as such. He was meticulous and methodical and the father of modern science, but he considered himself to be a philosopher. "Natural philosophy" was the name for early science. Many early scientists would display collections of curiousities and evidence. A Wunderkammer, or wonder room, could be shown to other natural philosophers or interested parties. These items were often acquired from trade with merchants who got their goods from international voyages. These precursors to natural history museums did not divide natural objects into different categories like modern scientists do.
Other displays of knowledge also reveal a shift from science as a consideration of nature as a whole to science as the study of a specific part of nature. The South African Museum, at the top of the botanical garden, features information about flora and fauna. The South African National Gallery, on the side of the garden, features European fine art. The Slave Lodge, at the bottom of the garden, now features displays of the material culture of Khoisan and white settlers. Why is there this division? Why is there this hierarchy? Other divisions, such as chronological division, are other ways to categorize knowledge.
So what is the significance of this division? Scientific division of plants and animals coincides with scientific division of people along racial lines. After 1492, European travelers experienced a radical increase of exposure to non-European culture. A number of technological innovations meant that they had better ships with more gunpower and more room for people and goods. Vessels became more efficient mobile fortresses. Early navigation required keeping track of landmarks on nearby landmasses. Trans-oceanic navigators had to find other ways to travel. This is how latitude and longitude markers were invented. As a wedding present, Christopher Columbus received his father-in-law's maps and maritime knowledge.
After the historic voyage of 1492, trans-oceanic voyage, many others traveled across oceans. In 1519, Magellan began the voyage that proved that the world's oceans were connected. European sailors could bring people all over the world. In some places, sailors merely made landfall. In other places, there were trading posts and rest posts set up. In yet other places, settlements were set up. In all these places, there were material exchanges with locals. Botany was of interest for local Europeans visiting South Africa.
Kolb, Sparrman and Blake represent different views towards nature. All three views fit together to create a more complete worldview. Kolb's ethnography emphasizes domestic activities of settlers and native Khoisan people. Sparrman, a Swede, gives detailed description of land, plants and animals. He uses Latin names and seldom writes about people. Wilhelm Bleek, a German, worked to categorize language of Africans with a zoologist. Bleek was convinced to come to South Africa to study the Zulu language. He provides the first written grammar of the language. Wilhelm met his wife, Jemima, during his travels from Europe to Africa. Lucy Lloyd, his sister-in-law, also collaborated with Wilhelm to study language. First they spoke with prisoners. One was brought home to live with them and another Zulu speaker joins them, ||kabbo. ||kabo became an important part of the intellectual community and provided a lot of information to Bleek and Lloyd.
Dr. Mitchell thinks that the natural resources in South Africa help us to understand colonial development and conflict with native culture. The expansion of colonial settlement extended from the wettest parts of the interior cape region and then outward, pushing locals into the drier areas to the North and the East. Indigenous Khoisan people were forced into indentured labor by European settlers after they were forced out of their land and left without a way to practice their culture.
Technology such as guns, illness such as smallpox and ideas such as racial superiority and private property are all sources of power that were at play during colonial development of South Africa. The settlers and local Khoisan had different access to technology, science and medicine. They also had very different ideas about how humanity is related to nature. What are the long term consequences of the different ideas about and interactions with nature? And is nature still an important part of current Khoisan culture?
Early scientists, such as Galileo, did not consider himself to be a "scientist" as such. He was meticulous and methodical and the father of modern science, but he considered himself to be a philosopher. "Natural philosophy" was the name for early science. Many early scientists would display collections of curiousities and evidence. A Wunderkammer, or wonder room, could be shown to other natural philosophers or interested parties. These items were often acquired from trade with merchants who got their goods from international voyages. These precursors to natural history museums did not divide natural objects into different categories like modern scientists do.
Other displays of knowledge also reveal a shift from science as a consideration of nature as a whole to science as the study of a specific part of nature. The South African Museum, at the top of the botanical garden, features information about flora and fauna. The South African National Gallery, on the side of the garden, features European fine art. The Slave Lodge, at the bottom of the garden, now features displays of the material culture of Khoisan and white settlers. Why is there this division? Why is there this hierarchy? Other divisions, such as chronological division, are other ways to categorize knowledge.
So what is the significance of this division? Scientific division of plants and animals coincides with scientific division of people along racial lines. After 1492, European travelers experienced a radical increase of exposure to non-European culture. A number of technological innovations meant that they had better ships with more gunpower and more room for people and goods. Vessels became more efficient mobile fortresses. Early navigation required keeping track of landmarks on nearby landmasses. Trans-oceanic navigators had to find other ways to travel. This is how latitude and longitude markers were invented. As a wedding present, Christopher Columbus received his father-in-law's maps and maritime knowledge.
After the historic voyage of 1492, trans-oceanic voyage, many others traveled across oceans. In 1519, Magellan began the voyage that proved that the world's oceans were connected. European sailors could bring people all over the world. In some places, sailors merely made landfall. In other places, there were trading posts and rest posts set up. In yet other places, settlements were set up. In all these places, there were material exchanges with locals. Botany was of interest for local Europeans visiting South Africa.
Kolb, Sparrman and Blake represent different views towards nature. All three views fit together to create a more complete worldview. Kolb's ethnography emphasizes domestic activities of settlers and native Khoisan people. Sparrman, a Swede, gives detailed description of land, plants and animals. He uses Latin names and seldom writes about people. Wilhelm Bleek, a German, worked to categorize language of Africans with a zoologist. Bleek was convinced to come to South Africa to study the Zulu language. He provides the first written grammar of the language. Wilhelm met his wife, Jemima, during his travels from Europe to Africa. Lucy Lloyd, his sister-in-law, also collaborated with Wilhelm to study language. First they spoke with prisoners. One was brought home to live with them and another Zulu speaker joins them, ||kabbo. ||kabo became an important part of the intellectual community and provided a lot of information to Bleek and Lloyd.
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