Blog 4 : The Destruction of Indigenous Culture.

Humans have lived in the North American continent for at least 14,000 years ago. Europeans would not touch the North American until 1000 AD, by then the Indigenous people of the continent had over 10,000 years of history and cultural evolution. The Vikings had arrived in modern day Newfoundland in the 9^th century but did not remain for long. Their touch on the North American continent had a little importance on its history and culture. 500 years later, the Europeans arrived once again and this time they did not leave. While the many Indigenous had evolved for over 10,000 years, so did the Europeans. It did evolve quite similarly at first but by the time these new Europeans settlers arrived, their technology was far better. The forceful destruction of Indigenous cultures by Europeans would change the face of the earth. The largest economy in the world is now in North America but it is connection the people who lived on its land for 14,000 years is forgotten and the surviving ones, live with the trauma of the atrocities that happened to forcefully be removed from their land. 

Since 1492, Indigenous culture has been in a constant state of crisis due to its major differences between the settlers that became the ruling class on their land. The conflicts that naturally happen between these two opposing cultures have shaped the modern-day indigenous person regardless of what tribe they have connection to.

Strict gender roles have shaped Europe. A man should not participate in anything deemed feminine or a women should not dream of participating in anything masculine. Women in politics and in roles of leadership were possible in Europe. A female ruler could happen if any possible male candidates simply did not exist. By the time the English had arrived in North America, they had a few female rulers in the recent years coming to that. But these were women of royal blood, they were already more privileged than your average man. For any other women born in Europe, they would never be able to achieve any sense of control on their world. The many indigenous societies view the power of gender differently. For example, Iroquoian societies were both matrilineal meaning that your descent was based on your mother bloodline and were also matrilocal which meant lived with their wife’s family and hunted for them (…. p.17-18). While men still were the primary hunters, they brought back home to a matrilocal household where the decision on how the food would be distributed was made by the women. This is the opposite of every European culture that landed in North America. In no world, did the average English/French women would be able to make equal decision with their husband or the husband living for her family. Europeans found the equality in Indigenous and lack of a strong hierarchy as a sign of weakness. While certain parts of Indigenous cultures influence the Europeans. The Europeans were very much of the mindsets of only taking the parts they like, ignoring anything else.

Gender in European culture is simply put into two boxes. You couldn’t change or escape the gender you were assigned to at birth. If you felt in your heart that you were different, it wasn’t allowed. For that simply didn’t fit into society and you would be rejected from it. The Indigenous people of North America treated gender differently. While two-spirit is very much a new word, the idea of what two-spirit isn’t. While two-spirit can be included in the broader umbrella of LGBTQ, two-spirit itself isn’t an equivalent to being gay or transgender. Two-spirit is a uniquely Native American. Two-spirit were either men, women, or intersexed individual who did both male and female activities while also using traits of their own. In many of the tribes two-spirit weren’t necessarily seen as man or women but very much its own unique and distinct gender role. Most tribes considered two-spirit as a third gender completely equal to cisgender individuals.

Flash forward to 2016, Donald Trump was elected at the 45th president of the United States of America. In 2017, Trump would announce on his twitter account that transgender members of the United States Military would not be allowed any more. This would affect a two-spirit member of the military named Shane Ortega. Despite fighting in many wars for the nation, he was kicked out, not for his capabilities but completely for something that didn’t truly manner in the grand scheme in a fighting war. A gunshot hits the same no matter on your gender or race. Trump tried to make reason with his decision by claiming that transgender service members were too costly to the largest military by budget in the world. Keep in mind the military budget in America is as high as the next 10 on the list. Ortega refutes the claim by mentioning it would only cost a million to pay for the necessary medication. While the spend more on pills for erectile dysfunction that has absolutely zero effect on a person capabilities of fighting wars.

Despite two-spirit being a thing in native society for centuries on centuries. The colonization of the new world, set America back. The process of transgender rights is a natural progression to help decolonize the Americas. It the same for equal rights between women and men. America was forcefully set back due to the European settlers. While progressive politics try to bring back American continent back to its equal society, it’s disappointing that the world has to progressed back to a state it was already was at.

Bibliography :

Glenn Gear, presenter. 29 Apr. 2024, Montreal, Vanier College

Keough, Wileen G. and Lara Campbell “Gender and Cultural Diversity in the Early Contact Period.” Gender History: Canadian Perspectives, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 16-28

Zozherafatain, Tony. “Trans in Trumpland: Idaho.” Kanopy, The Film Sales Company, www.kanopy.com/en/vaniercollege/video/11561418. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Blog 3 – The Life of the Black Man.

Blackness is a threat to society. The idea of free blacks expressing themselves has been something that society under white supremacy that has shaped the world is afraid of. A world where the color of your skin forces you to be on guard for an inevitable attack. A society where the rules that dictate society apply differently to you and only you. When the police decide that they will enforce laws they do not usually do or question you when the situation does not call for it. It is something that every black person has faced, no matter if you’re a child or a full-blown adult. Be it accidental or purposeful attacks from someone you believed you could trust or someone who society said was there for your safety. 

Police brutality is real. It is a global thing; every country has its stories about it. It is natural for this to happen, give anyone enough power to rule over the people and they will abuse it.  Here in North America, police brutality is associated with the plight of the minorities that live in the white-dominated society. Every interaction with the police is a game of sorts. How do I act as respectfully as possible? Every action is seen through the lens of making sure the police officer does not sense the slightest hint of aggression. In Get Out by Jordan Peele, there is few interactions the police that the main character Chris Washington faces. After his girlfriend Rose Armitage hits a deer while driving, they call the police to report the situation. Naturally, the driver of the car Rose, is questioned. The police proceed to ask Chris for a piece of identification and will likely question him too. He does not think about if it is right or wrong, he simply complies. He knows the possible consequences of even questioning the police authority. John Samuels is a man from Toronto, Ontario, who owns an art gallery. On New Years Eve in 2016, he was a victim of police brutality. After a police officer had seized the cashbox, he asked for the reasoning and was promptly tackled to the ground and beaten. This is the fear every black person has when talking to a police officer. The fear that if I even question their action, that you’ll be punished. That is why Chris does not think twice about giving the police officer his I.D, because he just wants to be safe. Obviously, Rose in her position of privilege can call out the officer on his wrongdoing. This is not the last time the presence of the police is used in Get Out.  “The Skin We Are in” mentions that whiteness is something treated like it does not exist, the privileges surrounding are fantasies. This is why at the end of the film, when the police arrive after Chris had escaped the Armitage household, it is a scary moment. It is a moment that you know will not end well for our protagonist. Because he is a black man, and he is going against whiteness. Rose calls out to police officers, knowing and weaponizing her whiteness. Thankfully for Chris, it was his friend Rod, a TSA agent, who came to save him.  

Black boys and girls in the Western world are aware of the role race plays in their lives. It is the small moments that non-black people would not even realize. It does not even necessarily from racist people. Microaggression does not come with malice in them. A scene in “Get Out” has Chris having a conversation with Rose’s father Dean Armitage. In the conversation, Dean mentions that he would have voted for in Obama for a third term if it was allowed. It is something that you may hear from other white people at times. But know that it is not said out of malice. But it always felt slightly weird to hear. It feels like just because I am black you assume I like Obama. It sounds like someone trying to convince they truly like black people and aren’t racist. Believing that voting for Obama a black man would exempt them from being racist. While participating and supporting institution that put black people down. In Dean’s case, he runs an operation that exclusively kidnaps and robs black people of free will.  

Desmond Cole talks about a story from his childhood. His experience of learning blackness in 1^st grade. He talks about drawing pencils and how the beige pinkish crayons would be called skin-colored referencing it like appearance to fair skin individuals. Those pencils would be worn out completely while the tree-trunk brown that was like his skin were fine. It’s a small thing that would make you feel slightly excluded. That skin-coloured pencil does not fit you, so why is it called that way? Why can’t you call the tree-trunk brown one-skin coloured as well? You can bring this back to Get Out. During the party hosted by the Armitage’s, Chris finds himself as the only black man at it. Not only was he a city boy now in a small town but he was also black, surrounded in a sea of old white people who may not have the greatest opinion on him because of that. You can tell that Chris kind of feels standoffish in his conversations that are filled with unnoticed racism. He only becomes himself when he sees Andre a black man at the party. But he is instantly weirded out at his old-money white way of speaking or even Georgina’s absent knowledge of simple slang words like “snitch.” 

Blackness itself is something that every single black person born in the Western world is aware of. The way you operate in life is determined by it. The different manner of speech and your decision making is determined because of it. You do not want to seem like a threat, because it could only be used as a weapon to ruin you. 

Blog 1 : Men in Society

The role gender plays have been an extremely important part of society. Masculinity and the people who participate in it have been the leaders of our societies since the beginning of mankind. To be able to play the role of masculinity is much more complicated than it seems. It is not just being born a man or identifying as man. It is a certain set of points on a checklist. The further you are from being feminine the better. This has been harmful to the young boys growing up, who may not explore their true interest or be afraid to show their true selves, in fear of being different.  The fear of being labelled a “faggot” and the negative stereotypes that come with it. 

In “Man up: Cracking the Code of Modern Manhood” by Carlos Andres Gomez. He explores many of his own life experiences and their relation to manhood. A major focus is the aspect of being gay and the stigma around it. Despite the author not being a person who sees their sexual orientation as gay. He was curious and questioning his sexuality at one point. Often time when men or boys show interest in traditionally feminine things it seen as a sign the ones gay. While being gay is normal and fine, some view as a weakness of these men. From name calling to even threats of violence. It makes many men feel guilty to even experiment with their sexuality. But as displayed on his trip to Zambia illustrated. What defines being ok in masculinity can change depending on the culture you are in. In reference to seeing men hold hands in Zambia “It was so stranger for me to see two muscular, maybe even superhomophobic guys with their pinky fingers interlinked walking down the street” (Gomez). 

In the short film “Invincible” by Vincent Rene-Lortie. We watched the final few hours of the life of the 14-year-old named Marc. At the prime age of going from boyhood to becoming a man. Marc is a troubled kid. He is in a juvenile detention center, but he does have weekend releases where he spends time with his family. Both environments are extremely different. You would just have to view how they are shot. When he is with his family, it feels warm and open, with a prominent orange color to it. As opposed to the very cold and closed off environment of the detention center. The scenes in the detention are quick and intense. In an interaction with one of his friends at the center. They talk about a new kid who cried all weekend. In a way insulting the kid for being too emotional and implying that he is weak. Despite it being perfectly normal for a young child to be emotional after being separated from their family. It’s a common aspect of masculinity, the idea that as man, no matter even if you are still a boy, that you shouldn’t feel any type of sadness. It is also seen in our previously mentioned story where the author says, “Growing up, my friends and I would always to each other to stop being a bitch or a pussy anytime someone showed weakness or vulnerability” (Gomez). We can see this in Marc too during a scene in the classroom. When Luc, a member of the administration, reads Marc’s writing. A highly emotional text that was written by him, something that a “true man” would not do. The scene itself is quiet. Compared to the liveliness from when the others read out their text. Throughout the time spent in juvenile center, Marc often feels out of place. He is an odd one out and like men who do not conform to the traditional roles of masculinity. He struggles to find his place, which pushes him to end his own life. 

To conclude, these stories attempt to show the negative consequence of the role of masculinity that is placed on boys. Forcing them to grow up too quickly in a way that might not be them. Leaving them to fight their mental struggles alone.