When I look at Powell’s text I again see the emphasis of
binaries. The binary of colonization and the tribal mentality, white and
colored, educated and savage. However, all of these apparent binaries were
created by the white man, really without the help of Natives, apart from their
mere presence. Without, “The Other” side of the binary, would there even be the
privileged side of the binary. In other words, would the colonists really be
“free”, if not for the oppression of the Native Americans? Without the savage,
would the colonists be educated? So, without knowledge of a less privileged side,
would there be a more privileged side? So therefore, what is the point of
trying to colonize them? If they were to be “tamed” or “educated” or “civilized”
so to say, what would step in for the other side of the binary? Slaves?
It is
strange to me also, that in all of the cases we have seen, the unflavored part
of the binary almost always understands both sides of the binary better than
the privileged side. Does the privileged side have the “privilege” to not even
try to understand the other side? And even if they did try to understand the
other side, could they ever? As they are already conditioned to their privilege.
What is interesting to me about this is that usually the power of understanding
that the less privileged side holds is usually not used to try and gain power
for the lesser side but instead to either give justice or self-empowerment. We
see justice in the form of knowledge, that the person with this knowledge of
both sides merely wants the other side to realize what they are doing, and to
gain some understanding but not full understanding of this “Other” culture.
As I become
more aware of the binaries in our culture, I become very interested in how the
power struggle works, so sorry for the little bit of the rant…
Your discussion about binaries grabbed my interest, as the text, to me, was interesting in some ways, but mostly just seemed like yet another example of how power distribution so often favors the wrong people. Even though Winnemucca got support from some white people, and she succeeded in many ways in portraying the higher morality and worldly understanding of the non-privileged side of the binary, the power ultimately resides with the privileged side, simply because they have such a strong grip on the position of power already. Winnemucca has to argue through speeches and text, having only a chance of convincing people of the truth, while the privileged side can use falsehood and trickery to demonize her claims and dismiss her altogether. She then has to defend herself and her claims, just because the opposition has power to do so, defending nothing of their own.
ReplyDeleteI think that the binary exists simply to empower the “civilized” and privileged side, because they invented it to oppress the other side. The only way to completely remove any vestige of power left with the “other” side is to absorb them into their own ranks, eliminating any competition so to speak. Luckily and unluckily at the same time, it takes a clever and strong person like Winnemucca to even come close to the start of a paradigm shift, like she arguably did manage to start with her works.
So my “answer” to your question about whether or not the privileged side even wants to try to understand the other side would be that they don’t want to, because the whole point of the binary is for the privileged to oppress and exploit the other side. There is no need for understanding, because they don’t want to.