English

In taking the idea of engendering silence with more of a political science flair, I was thinking about connecting Stanley's ideas about language being used to silence in a political setting to our discussions in Joel's class about The New Jim Crow.

In particular I'm interested in the section about silencing by denying access to vocabulary: "it is difficult to have a reasoned debate about the costs and benefits of a policy when one side has seized control of the linguistic means to express [...] claims". It seems like this manifests itself in two ways: silencing voices by controlling the language around a debate, and silencing voices by assigning language to a person/movement/group in order to discredit them. 

I had a lot of critiques of Adrienne Rich right after I read “On Lies, Secrets and Silence”. I felt that for many women, especially those who hold more marginalized identities than just that of woman, silences are a form of survival. They may not always constitute autonomy but they keep you alive. Part of my view comes from my upbringing, which places women in the context of a more collectivist culture, rather than individualistic, which can still be a powerful form of feminism in its own right. I was thinking about this post where I discuss my mother’s feminism.

I want to delve into Eva's Man, using the lens of Kimberle Crenshaw's "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color" (http://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039) and perhaps some other texts from the Feminist Theory curriculum (maybe Lugones?). I want to examine the political implications of the novel and the intersections between gender, race, and other identities. How does silence play into identity politics? What are the connections between race, gender and silence? Between violence (physical, emotional, systemic) and silence? It was interesting to discuss in class today why Eva was silent.

Wendy Brown offers a counternarrative to the popular way of talking about silence in terms of silencing, arguing that silence can protect one in ways that voice is incapable of. I want to look at my last post to serendip through her words, looking at my words, but also at my silences to see in what ways my experience align with what Wendy Brown is arguing. I also want to push back against the notion that silence has to be either or. After looking back at my experiences with silence surrounding my last post, I found I could not place my silence in either category; what began as a protective mechanism, evolved into something that was crippling.

In this male dominant society, men always have many false assumptions toward women.

“There was something in your eyes that let me know I could talk to you.”

“I could tell by your eyes how you felt. I could smell you wanted me.”

“Bitch, if you don’t wont a man to speak to you, you ought to stay in the house.”

Some different threads, laid out. Some connections in my head carry over to the page. Some might not:

This Thursday I decided not to attend class. Instead I attended the discussion in TGH. Thomas Great Hall. A building and a room who’s very name has immortalized the racist foundations that Bryn Mawr was built upon. And again, I am reminded of Antigone’s brother, and Creon’s reign built upon the rotting flesh of stubborn pride. Racism, bigotry, classism, ableism, it all lives in the decaying walls of Bryn Mawr, and I wonder at our capacity to heal in an institution built on the very sentiments we hold so evil but carry out every day.

Again, the image of burnt flesh,

the rotten poison spread over Thebes

from that vile pillar of reign springs to mind.

If poison be the medicine we use to remedy,

first, i want to paste some of my notes from our small group yesterday in which we "occupied olsen":

olsen: she charts the types of silences that writers and women experience

As I began reading Eva's Man, new silences emerged. As I was reading, I understood what the author was saying, but the jumping from place to place confused me. There is silence in not knowing, not understanding, not responding. I keep thinking about gender as well and a silencing by way of ignoring consent, overpowering by numbers and masculinity, and fear. There is silence when Freddy and his buddies see Eva and he says, "There's Eva, we can get some" (19). Eva speaks no words. She runs. She is silenced, because her consent doesn't matter. The boys outnumber her and feel so powerful because of their masculinity. Before he moves to Jamaica, Freddy says he will miss Eva, but he doesn't respect her (21).