In today's presentation our speaker proposed the idea that the concepts of primitive/cultured and irrational/rational should not be presented on a scale with cultured and rational above primitive and irrational. Rather she believed that the two were on an equal plane, with equal values, or without value at all. As an extension of her view I believe that the primitive, rational, cultured, and irrational are all present within as part of human nature, and the extent to which they are exposed is a function of our environment. Joseph Conrad demonstrates this idea in his novel Heart of Darkness. The "Savages" seem animalistic and primordial from a distance. In their dancing and celebration they "writhe". Their communication is "guttural", and their bodies are "earthen" in tone and texture. When Kurtz, the antagonist, goes deep into the forest and lives with the natives, we are given another perspective. He absorbs their culture and through his perspective the natives seem ingenious and even sophisticated to a certain degree, while the colonialist seem savage, irrational, primal, and blindly destructive. I am not proud to say that even during the lecture I found myself judging those around me on this kind of primitive/cultured basis although to a lesser degree than demonstrated in Heart of Darkness. A few rows in front of me sat Professor Long, and directly across from him sat a woman in brightly colored dress and an African style hair piece. Upon seeing both I immediately, through cultural instinct, made the value judgment and placed Professor Long above the other individual on the scale of refinement/sophistication. I realized that this was ignorant and racists, but I felt that everyone who has been raised in or exposed to so-called "sophisticated" cultures and more specifically western cultures are subject to this. Then I investigated what I was wearing and how I might be represented to others. I too had on brightly colored clothes, wore a hood and had on "primitive" footwear. So I wasn't that different. As I mulled over this experience I came to the conclusion (more of a short pause at one destination in a long journey) that the ways we are represented to others can not be given value, or placed in a hierarchy, as all forms of representation are present within us.
Primitivism
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I am glad you referenced Heart of Darkness since it relates to the issue of racism in multiple ways. If you haven't already read Chinua Achebe's "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness", I think you would find it interesting. Achebe argues that the way in which Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness resulted in a racist depiction of native Africans. Some may argue that this was merely Conrad's way of showing how the "civilized" men originally viewed Africans. Yet, I definitely see truth in Achebe's argument since Conrad's depiction of the natives as savage and primitive completely fails to illustrate the many aspects of African culture.
Your last point about placing value on how others are represented reminds me of the slightly comical reference that today's speaker made about a male researcher(?) having a "preference" for the bodies of African women, while refusing to give any value to them. The speaker pointed out the inconsistency of having a preference without having a value system. While I think that you are correct that forms of representation should not be placed in a hierarchy, there seems to be no way to eradicate value systems from our society. For instance, it seems unlikely that the high value placed on rationality will dissipate anytime in the near future.