Difference between revisions of "Week 1 Questions/Comments"
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I agree with Mary and Allison also. It is human nature to not be satisfied- and it is in our nature to complain and always want to adapt in ideologies. None of the questions asked in Chapter 1 can ever be answered coherently because the answers can be interepreted in so many different ways. I mean the book has four essays on the topic so far, all of which are different.- Talya | I agree with Mary and Allison also. It is human nature to not be satisfied- and it is in our nature to complain and always want to adapt in ideologies. None of the questions asked in Chapter 1 can ever be answered coherently because the answers can be interepreted in so many different ways. I mean the book has four essays on the topic so far, all of which are different.- Talya | ||
| − | >In response to the above, I think that the entire point of the first chapter is to show how the idea of American Women's History has changed and adapted (or how it should do so) in response to people's questions. Therefore if you are unsatisfied with some historian's account of history you can take the time to study that account and others so that you can find a different truth. For example the final two essays were written by women who were unsatisfied with the way minority women are represented in the realm of women's history so they devoted time to studying women from other cultures and racial backgrounds so as to satisfy their queries. Their work only adds to our understanding. -- Julie | + | >In response to the above, I think that the entire point of the first chapter is to show how the idea of American Women's History has changed and adapted (or how it should do so) in response to people's questions. Therefore if you are unsatisfied with some historian's account of history you can take the time to study that account and others so that you can find a different truth. For example the final two essays were written by women who were unsatisfied with the way minority women are represented in the realm of women's history so they devoted time to studying women from other cultures and racial backgrounds so as to satisfy their queries. Their work only adds to our understanding. -- Julie Castanien |
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Lesile Alexander raised some interesting points in her essay about how the feminist movement affects African American women’s history. I have always seen women’s history as inextricably linked to the feminist movement but never considered the ramifications that it would have for African American women. While Lesile Alexander states that the feminist movement was useful in liberating white women she says it also forced Black women into the same mold and has therefore prevented a full understanding of black women’s lives. Throughout the essay Alexander states the importance of incorporating race into women’s history going so far as to say that black women’s lives cannot be understood if they are continually viewed through the “lens of whiteness and oppression.” I wanted to see if people agreed with Alexander that African American women’s history has been misunderstood for years because racial differences have not been examined fully enough.-Caitlin Quinn | Lesile Alexander raised some interesting points in her essay about how the feminist movement affects African American women’s history. I have always seen women’s history as inextricably linked to the feminist movement but never considered the ramifications that it would have for African American women. While Lesile Alexander states that the feminist movement was useful in liberating white women she says it also forced Black women into the same mold and has therefore prevented a full understanding of black women’s lives. Throughout the essay Alexander states the importance of incorporating race into women’s history going so far as to say that black women’s lives cannot be understood if they are continually viewed through the “lens of whiteness and oppression.” I wanted to see if people agreed with Alexander that African American women’s history has been misunderstood for years because racial differences have not been examined fully enough.-Caitlin Quinn | ||
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| + | > Yes Caitlin I agree with Alexander about African American women's history. I also know that there are similar issues with Latina History. There seems to be this prevailing theme that when it comes to minority women the primary goal is to see their racial or ethnic group liberated before they are liberated as women. I could try to make a stretch here and compare this racial and ethic liberation to that of the White American Male Colonists from the oppressive English rule but I think that is over kill. --Julie Castanien | ||
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| + | I am surprised because I have yet to see anyone comment (unless I have not read this page closely enough) on something just casually mentioned in some of the essays that still astounds me. This is one half of the world's population we are talking about here. I know that the two last essays warn us against labeling women as a unified group but I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that until the 1960s and later has Women's History come to the forefront.-- Julie Castanien | ||
