The Berdache of Early American Conquest
Methodological Introduction
This paper attempts to link the facet of queer theory that explains gender and sexuality as culturally constructed identities, with the presence of the berdache in the New World at the time of the Spanish conquest. By analyzing the construction of gender and sexuality among the native peoples, in contrast to the ideologies of the Spanish, I found a clash arose which explained, in some sense, the incompatibility of the two cultures. The differences between the two cultures' gender construction established support for the very "un'natural'" or "in'essential'" nature of gender, sexuality, and the body as a means of self-identity. By realizing the issue of power and where it lies within individuals and societies, hierarchical social constructions are revealed to be connected with sexual roles. This dominant/subordinate relationship present in both cultures defines and substantiates the role that power plays in the cultural context. The use of queer theory to elucidate these complicated social and sexual relationships helps to explain the way this power structure maps onto the native people's relationship with the berdache.
This paper will show how the Spaniards mapped their conceptions of power and sexual relationships onto the natives. It will address this conception by carefully analyzing the presence of hermaphrodites in Theodore de Bry's copper etchings. By visualizing the berdache through the eyes of the Spaniard, the concept of sexualizing the foreign natives is revealed to be thickly imbedded in their own gender norms.
This argument is two-fold. First, I will support the queer theory view of gender construction by using the native berdache as a...
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...he with queer theory, the misconceptions of the Spaniards and the persecution of this particular group as "sodomites", becomes valuable in defining where specified roles of gender and sexuality are really established.
Works Cited:
Bucher, Bernadette. Icon and Conquest. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, (1981).
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Robert Hurley (ed). (New York, 1990).
Klages, Mary. "Queer Theory" [http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages /queertheory.html] (April 9, 1998).
Kowalski-Wallace, Elizabeth (ed.). Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory. Garland Publishing, Inc.: New York, (1997).
Sedgewick, Eve Kosofsky. The Epistemology of the Closet. University of California Press: Berkeley, (1990).
Trexler, Richard C. Sex and Conquest. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, (1995).
Illustrations:
In short, Hudarto first introduces the topic of Californian Indians’ sexuality. He goes over their most common practices when it comes to the varying types of relationships and the different ways they would practice sexual intercourse. Hudarto also discussed the way it would affect the harmony between tribes and their economic and social ranks. The author then goes on to describe the beliefs of the Spaniards, and he points out how a lot of the Indians’ common
Bersani believes that abolishing the self opens many options, sexually and psychologically. He rejects conventional ideologies pertaining to sexuality like gender, identity and inequality but proposes new ways of thinking about sex and one's sexual identity by showing the reader new and unusual ways of viewing homosexuality and sexuality in general. In the article, Bersani discusses "the self" and how it should be eradicated. The following is what Bersani thinks of "the self". It is the self that swells with excitement at the idea of being on top, the self that makes up the inevitable play of thrusts and relinquishments in sex an argument for the natural authority of one sex over the other side of the ring.
Although California had many conquests, the American conquest was the last. It first began in June 1846 with the Bear Flag Revolt. The Bear Flag revolt was a small group of American settlers in California rebelling against the Mexican government and proclaiming California an independent republic. The conquest lasted only two years. By 1848, California belong to the United States. This event portrays the bravery of the men who were part of the conquest. But the conquest of California also brought distress to the women living in California. The American conquest of California, brought distress to women living in California by the American men through raping, stealing, and killing.
Chant, S., & Craske, N. (2002). Gender and Sexuality. In Gender in Latin America (pp. 128-160). Retrieved December 9, 2013
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