Really interesting article: Colonialism, Soap,and the cleansing metaphor

[nemesis]

I found this today and really liked it.

Just sharing really.....


Monica Y. sent a collection of vintage ads and cartoons illustrating how soap and cleanliness has been used as a metaphor for colonization.  The first two ads show how soap manufacturers and colonialists alike colluded in suggesting that the colonized were unclean/uncivilized and needed to be cleansed/enlightened.




Full text here:

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/tag/cultural-imperialismneocolonialism/

[apukjij]

wat a crazy picture, it reminds of me of the old Mi'kmaw story about the Mi'kmaw who saw a non-native use a handkerchief for the first time and then put it back in his pocket, they laughed and laughed, thinking the non-natives were so greedy, they even saved their excrement!!

[nemesis]

I find the advertisement in the picture both fascinating and disgusting.

The Native people are depicted as stupid children, thrilled by the gifts of soap, which are obviously a symbol of whiteness.

The depiction of their hunched bodies and exaggerated facial features are reminiscent of the Nazi depictions of Jews. 

They are portrayed as the ones who have nothing, they are even dressed in blankets, whereas the Uncle Sam character is tall, upright, and a snazzy dresser in his smart suit and top hat.

Given that the genocide included the intentional gifts of blankets contaminated with the terrible disease smallpox, there is something deeply sinister about this portrayal of a gifts of soap, representing cleanliness, purity, whiteness and colonialism.

[Twinkie_Slayer]

 As well as being disgustingly racist, there is also irony in the fact that the Europeans were known for their lack of regular bathing as compared to NDN people.

[dabosijigwokush]

was it not the queen that said i take a bath once a month whether i need it or not
snuff was used to block out there own stench
Regardless, by modern standards, Virginia Indians were far more sanitary than the Europeans who arrived in 1607.
A woman who wears so much perfume she smells horrible. The French have long been notorious for their lack of personal hygiene; so instead of regular bathing they would douse themselves with perfume in an attempt to cover up their own funk. This is quite counter-productive since wearing too much perfume will make you smell just as bad if not worse than b.o.