This past week we have been discussing the definitions of the terms that come along with the issues of ethnicity and race, along with certain events that also deal with these topics. The Omi and Winant article laid down the definitions of some of the important words that deal with his subject. Though not the most interesting article to read, it was good to have read it to get another perspective that so many speak and write about.
After reading the poem about the Venus Hottentot, I wasn't quite sure what to think. I was trying to connect the first section of the poem to the second but, without any background knowledge to the poem I couldn't. Once we got in class and watched the documentary on Sarah the poem began to make much more sense. I had never heard of the Venus Hottentot before this poem and our class discussion about it. Over all it goes to show what lengths people went to back in those days when it came to their curiosity. The fact that they were willing to have Sarah and other women like her up for exhibition, for people to poke and prod as they liked showed that they had no limits to other people. As for Sarah I can only imagine what that must have been like. To be seen as an exhibit even though there are tons of women just like herself from back home must have been quite a difficult life.
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