Alyssa Wallingford
November 8, 2022
English 206
Professor Catherine Frank
In chapter two of the book Venus Noire: Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France, the author Robin Mitchell seeks to establish occurrences in history which exemplify the idea that commodifying women was common practice in France during this time, as well as the political and historical reasoning as to why this occurred. In using examples such as Venus Hottentot, she is using a Marxist form of critique to show this cultural and gendered commodification. At this time, France was going through many political and cultural strifes, and as a result of having disasters in their colonies, they projected that fear and anger onto black people, especially black women, as a form of the other, to be hated and unwelcome in this new french way of life. This kind of critique leads to larger questions of why people and cultures(especially western ones in this case) choose to commodify aspects of another culture, or even the people themselves. By separating these people from “normal” society and deeming them “the other”, it allows for the continuation of hate and the trading around of unfounded discrimination and injustice. And in identifying some of the causes for this, it can allow us to recognize these patterns and behaviors and ensure that they do not apply to how we treat others today. And if it does, recognize that and work on acceptable solutions.
Alyssa, I love this summary. You are very organized and efficient at describing your argument. I would love to see more quotes from the reading to deepen your argument even more!
Hey Alyssa! I like how you’ve summarized the pages from Mitchell so far, especially the inclusion of the cultural and political unrest that helped “ground” this fear and nationalism. I love the analysis of the “us vs. them” idea, and it seems like that’s the direction you’re leaning towards.
Your explanation of the larger question of why certain peoples are commodified or certain cultures are picked and exploited for those injustices that were a source of unity within the oppressors was very insightful. The connection made me think about how I tied the visual representation of the Venus Hottentot to those printed sources that further commodified both her culture and physical body.