Jumah al-Dossari, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, wrote of his soul "which has suffered at the hands of the 'protectors of peace'". Armed with a Western system of ideas, officials and representatives of the US government tortured al-Dossari through a process of dehumanization. Sindiwe Magona's Mother to Mother challenges the ideologies of Western nations through the representation of psychological concepts, such as internalized dominance, dehumanization, internalized oppression, and binary thinking. Magona uses personification, historicization, and metaphor to question the dominance of imperial ideology in South Africa and the world. Magona presents a history of police violence in Apartheid South Africa to convey the absurdity of racial …show more content…
She personifies an item of clothing to illuminate a possible result of dehumanization. The jacket represents a black South African boy. However, from the policeman's perspective, it is only a jacket. It is not a person wearing a jacket. The policeman views a simple piece of clothing instead of a living, breathing soul housed in the body of a black boy. The jacket is literally lifeless and the policeman views the boy as so. Magona deliberately uses the item of clothing as a metaphor for dehumanization theory. The psychological process of dehumanization entails "placing a person or group outside the realm of personhood" (Sternberg 206). When members of a social group deny human qualities to members of another group, violence is not only excused, but it is encouraged. As a metaphor for Apartheid, the jacket represents the incapacity of the oppressed to retaliate against the structure of domination that promotes violence. On the national level, members of the dominant group dehumanize members of the subjugated group. South Africans viewed one another on the basis of their group membership rather than their character. Apartheid was perhaps the most extreme case of institutionalized racial oppression. The architects of Apartheid designed the laws to exclude the black majority. As a police state, Apartheid South Africa was a dichotomy of black and white, assumed guilt and impunity. Authority in …show more content…
Ideology violates the minds of the oppressed, resulting in feelings of inadequacy, powerlessness, and abjection as well as self-destructive thoughts. During an interview with Magona, she reveals how imperial ideology penetrates the mind of Mxolisi's mother. Magona discusses a result of racial oppression when she states "her potential was just never anywhere near being realized... it was lost to apartheid," (Orantes 46). The ideology of Apartheid forced black South Africans into social abjection. In Sapphire's Push, Precious mentions tendencies toward suicide and exhibits suicidal behaviors. The ideology of white supremacy poisons her mind throughout the first half of the novel. With an undying optimism and resilient self-respect, Precious realizes her potential. Years of slavery, segregation, and forced displacement programmed Black South Africa to believe in their inferiority and to dispel any hint of human dignity. The system of beliefs, or ideology, preserves an "unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed" (Freire 44). In extreme instances, the oppressed believe they deserve the oppressors' infliction of psychological and physical violence. The success of the system is the instance in which the ruling class has convinced the marginalized class of the normalcy of their oppression, exemplified by the concept of Social
The police officer is a fundamental illustration of how stereotypes are created by discrimination and fear when he was described as “nervous because of the neighbour-hood, who is suspicious because of the car and because he has been trained to see an unshaven man in blue jeans as a potential thief” The main character expects to be helped by the police officer but instead he is seen as a thief because he is unshaved, he wears expensive clothes and drives a Mercedes Benz. All those things together got him in trouble. Because of that he gets shot trying to show his identity. His mistake was that instead reaching for his wallet it was to put his hands up when the police officer told him that. The police officer was sure he is a “typical street thief” and thought he was reaching for a gun and shot him, which ended the character’s life. He was just wanting to prove who he really
In the United States, the hierarchical system that dominates the social landscape has created a pool of power for those who sit at the top of the social ladder. This system has power trickling down from the top to those at the bottom: those who work hard and get recognized the least. This creates a conflict between the oppressed and the oppressor, and eventually those who are oppressed use those drops of power to fight for their basic human rights. In an excerpt from Gloria Anzaldúa’s book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Anzaldúa explains the complications of oppressed people developing counterstances with their oppressors. In Helena Maria Viramontes novel Under the Feet of Jesus, Viramontes develops a female character named Estrella
Her description is full of emotional words and phrases which enable the reader to feel indignant about the case’s verdict-Nelson is convicted of vehicular homicide following the death of her son. Malchik emphasizes that “[T]he driver who had two previous hit-and-run convictions pleaded guilty,” but the mother who lost her son is forced to be jailed for a longer time. This part of description shapes a poor image of a mother who in order to feed her tired and hungry children, has no choice but to jaywalk. The author explains to the reader that Nelson chooses to jaywalk not because she is crazy, but because of her mother’s identity as well as lack of safer road for them. The purpose of the author is touching readers to sympathize with the mother, assuaging the mother’s guilt, and proving that walking should be human beings’ freedom and liberty. Adding to this idea are words and phrases such as, “instinctive,” “injustice,” “the narrowest,” “lost right,” “Orwellian fashion,” “more treacherous,” “laziness,” and “scorn” (Malchik). All of these emotional words are awkward for Americans. As the author indicates, “[T]he ability to walk is a struggle, a fight, a risk”, which can help to arouse readers’ awareness of protecting their lost opportunities and rights. Apart from these, at the end of the article, Malchik uses several imperative sentences like: “Open your door; go for a walk; feel the spring”, to strengthen the tone. It is also an effective way to attract readers and create strong emotional
Oppression is not always brought on in a violent and oppositional way, it can take on a peaceful and silent form; however regardless of the way oppression is introduced, it maintains the same characteristics of “imposing belief systems, values, laws and ways of ...
The author argues that in order for oppression to be vitally explored, the factors that create oppression must be realized. Oppression gives material advantage to the oppressor. "All social relations have material consequences". The author argues that all identities must be considered interconnected.
While family appears as an unpretentious concept, it rests undefinable; “it’s most basic terms, a family is a group of individuals who share a legal or genetic bond, but for many people, family means much more” (Mayntz, n.d.). With a foundation in this broad definition, half a million children remain without a family, residing in foster care. Although foster care offers temporary households to brokenhearted children, this video destroyed my faith for American society. Rather than provoking the appalling number of children in foster care, Americans disregard the issue, dreading the unforgiving reality of the dehumanization of their children. One remark that utterly traumatized me, stood that it takes one child, to make one accusation, and a
The 20th century illustrates a new approach towards societal values. As the Third World came around, sentiments of self-identity and the struggle with oppression became a war of its own. Steve Biko writes about the issues of racism and how it impacts people’s views, lifestyles and attitudes. He also defends Black Consciousness and offers solutions to eliminate racism from white supremacy. By writing Black Consciousness and the Quest for a True Humanity, Biko is able to draw a powerful South African identity that will lead African Americans to get through oppression. In his writing he states, “… the most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed” (Biko, 248). The opressor’s main strength is making the oppressed
In society, a racial hierarchy is constructed in the form of racism, where each race is classified, such as the whites being the most superior, whereas the blacks are perceived as inferior. Oppression takes formation in several ways and can limit a certain group from excelling in life, and suppressing their own cultural values. In the autobiography of Assata, Skakur depicts how oppression is present in every day society and its impact on Blacks.
Oppression; something that has been around since the beginning of time; Mesopotamia. It is a cruel trait that takes advantage of others for the advantage to conquer and attain a goal in one’s life. From one of the first known literary works “The Epic of Gilgamesh” to William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” Acts 1 and 2, the theme of oppression has been playing out in societies. In relating to these two stories through postcolonial theory we will look at different aspect of oppression. Oppression has shown it is one of a self-sustaining system of power that is used to dis-empower, disregard, silence, enslave and eventually could lead to death.
Imagine living in a world where you are disliked, not because you are a criminal, but because you are merely different. Imagine a life where everything you think or do is controlled by the government and going against the group norms is punished by isolation, torture or death. There is no freedom, no independence and no individuality. Now envision that the society you are part of does everything in its power to make you believe that these are the ideal living conditions for you.
Apartheid was institutionalized racial segregation between whites and blacks. The main cause for Apartheid was to maintain the pureness of the white race because they felt that they did not want their race to be tainted by other ethnic groups. The white minorities were ethnocentric towards the black population in a sense that they criticized the blacks’ religious and cultural beliefs and considered them to be irrational and traditional in comparison to their own culture. Structural violence became well defined when the Bantu Education Act passed in 1953.
“Oppression” becomes “downpression” to signify the direction of the struggle. On the other hand, one “overstands” instead of “understands” since one gains knowledge.” (
Black women s multiple oppressions resulting in the ideologies and
Have you ever wondered how it would feel to be considered inferior because of your race? The people of South Africa had to endure racial inferiority during the era of apartheid. The apartheid laws the government of South Africa made led to an unequal lifestyle for the blacks and produced opposition.
When power becomes legitimate, it is then recognized as authority (Denhardt et al, 2001). Power becomes authority when it is accepted and even desired by society. As stated by the course study notes, “authority refers to a situation where a person (or group) has been formally granted a leadership position”. An individual has authority when everyday norms and regulations support the exercising of power by that individual. In an organizational setting, “authority is hierarchal and vested in positions” (Week 9 Study Notes), which are defined by “organizational charts, positions and rules” (Week 9 Study Notes). Generally, power in authority also involves the possibility of rewards such as promotions and good performance reviews.