Barry Jahid
Ayse Agis
GWS 14 Tu/Thurs 9:30-11:00
Suppression is the Seed of Aggression
Structural violence is the silent and invisible designer of one’s struggle. This structural violence does not involve the typical physical distress or visual destruction, but is the prolonged, intense, and discreet force constantly at work undermining all genders, races, classes, and religions respectively. It is similar to the unintended environmental effects of radiation plaguing the land and destroying hundreds to thousands of organisms and species after an atomic bomb. These more passive effects from structural violence are often overlooked and invisible to the public eye. It manifests itself in every major and minor group of people and acts differently
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Nyasha refuses to eat due to socioeconomic factors surrounding her life. Contrasting the lifestyles and intersectionalities of Nyasha and Tambu amplify the issue that defines her structural violence. Tambu comes from struggle. Her family, “harvested enough maize to keep us from starving, there was nothing left over to sell” Dangarembja (12) resulting in the basic need of food not being guaranteed for her family. When Tambu is presented with the lifestyle of her uncle’s family influenced by “Eurocentrism” (Ashcroft 107), she proclaims “no one who eats from such a table could fail to grow fat and healthy” (Dangarembja 84). Tambu associates healthiness with being plump because of the poor living conditions she is used to. She is aware the she is no longer a victim of poverty when, “absence of dirt was proof of the other-worldly nature of my new home” (Dangarembja 70). However, because Tambu is affected by sociocultural factors different than Nyasha, the structural violence dictated by her intersectionalities puts her at less risk for issues like food disorders. However, Nyasha is appalled at the idea of gaining too much weight due to factors surrounding her femininity and expected role at the time. Nyasha has not been raised in the Shona culture; she is limited to her knowledge of the English ways. Nyasha developed severe anorexia, “Really, I’m full” (Dangarembja 85) she says whenever her family insists she continues eating. To destress the pressure her family puts upon her she smokes cigarettes; this formula of smoking cigarettes for pleasure and avoiding food perpetuates her anorexia. It is not a coincidence that the title of this book is Nervous Conditions and anorexia has an alternate name anorexia nervosa. Nyasha’s relationship with food that is anorexia nervosa stems
Aaron Beck’s Prisoners of Hate (1999) provides a great in depth look at the causes of anger, hostility, and violence. Becks central message, that is illustrated throughout various chapters, is that all hate is hate, no matter the scale. In other words, the same mechanisms that cause people to hate their spouse is the same hate that is used to justify war. This fact is hardly intuitive, but Beck’s use of a broad variety of stories, backed up by cognitive analyses, shows just how similar all anger, hate, and hostility truly are. With that being said, Beck does not leave it at that, but rather provides numerous ways of correcting hate and freeing those who are prisoners of their own negative cognitions and emotions.
Race, class, and gender often determine how you are treated in many modern day societies. In turn, structural violence often exists because of racism. Adam Burtle refers to structural violence as “an umbrella to encapsulate many different forms of various social and institutional failings that have real, if not always immediately appreciable consequence in people 's lives” (Burtle). In Cynthia Enloe’s essay, Blue Jeans and Bankers, an example of structural violence rings true when she recalls the earthquake in Mexico City in 1985. On page 170, she describes how the “...company owners arrived, accompanied by the army.
First unaware of these bounds, Tita later learns that she must abandon everything she has ever known in order to gain her autonomy. Born into such an authoritarian and traditional world, Tita’s emotional feelings and desires are suppressed and she struggles to find reconciliation between her life as nurturer and her desire for freedom and defiance.
Injustice always needs indifferent inaction to sustain itself, and to break this cycle, you must have violence. This violence is directed at injustice, in the hope that the indifferent group will join the ranks of the people who care. According to
The article points out, “What is violence? It’s not just when somebody, or wars, it’s everything we see in society that makes people suffer.” That is to say, the concept of violence needs to go beyond physical harm and include the mental harm and other forms of harm suffered by people. I feel that this important because some of the most damaging harm that many people suffer is not physical, but mental.
Throughout history man has displayed violence towards both the environment and other men- physically and emotionally. As a result of the need for land, rights, social change and power, man has felt the need to compete and prove their dominance to other races through violence. In many cases, those who initiated the violence felt they were superior to those they invaded because of the difference between their race, religion or way of living. There are many different contributing factors to the history of violence; many of which still exist today. Violence has been around since the Mayans, Incas and Aztecs.
This vicious cycle continues entrenching attitudes among both sides. The result of all these is escalated violence, which claims victims from both
Anorexia applied to every little aspect in her life, which is where it differs from anorexics who are only worried about food. She found herself counting every calorie that came near her body and digging through encyclopedias for every element in her food. Her new coming skinniness didn’t come from her sister’s nickname of “Sister Infinity Fats” that even her parents joined in on, it merely formed on something Jenny considered a hobby. But her “hobby” became more than that after a while, thinking she would be “condemned to hell” for taking up so much room and felt guilty for eating. As Jenny neared college she desperately filled her schedule with every activity she could fit into her schedule from French club to drama club.
As a girl today, I am well aware of the adversities for women in the world. Inequalities in our society are undeniable, but we focus on our own lives rather than women’s lives in the horrific world of human trafficking. The novel Sold by Patricia McCormick explores this terrible world and its implications. McCormick has experience with this world through extensive research and time spent among third world country red light districts. Reading this text, I began to think about gender and its large role on society.
The short story by Andre Dubus follows Louise from age nine up until the time she becomes a mother. It gives insight to the damage that can be done when loved ones force negative body images on young children. Louise’s mother starts her on a self-destructive path, which Louise will never overcome and continually affects her life. This is reinforced by the similar opinions of her relatives and friends who make her feel that she will only be truly loved if she is thin. The prevalent theme of Dubus’ “The Fat Girl” is the destructive way society views food addiction and how it adversely affects women.
Nevertheless, there is a turning point, as he states in his article, "Given the level of violence, one can hardly blame people for keeping their mouths shut, but we must also realize that if we don’t nip bad behavior in the bud, it only grows, creating more intimidation, and the vicious cycle continues". Here Carson agrees that it is ok to be angry and speak out about the issues yet, something should be done to end the dreadful behavior. while rejecting the act of violence, he lists several ways that factor in success regardless of the environment; he picks three reasons from the list and explains how the can bring a
Often times, mindless conformity leads to senseless violence that could have been avoided with just a little more thought. In order to justify hateful and exclusive acts, the actions of people in minorities are often taken
Another interesting view of the story is through modern feminism. Liberal feminism states that women maintain equality due to their choices and actions in their lives. Nyasha’s good actions towards others versus Manyara’s evil actions towards others led completely different outcomes for each daughter. On the other hand, socialist feminism maintains that women empower themselves or cause their own destruction. Socialist feminist theories hold that women are oppressed by cultural and societal pressures brought upon by the capitalist system.
Food is a tool that connects every human to one another. Through the use of food people create new relationships and grow a connection that can prosper their future. Using the platform of relationships and medium of food, few literature texts have carved a path to show character’s individual growth. Looking beyond literature’s existence only in books there are multiple sources such as movies and shows that showcases characters nourishment. Specific texts that prove the understanding between food and humans are shows Suits and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, movie Cheeni Kum, and book Their Eyes Were Watching God.
The violent conflict approach is defined through coercion, threats, and destructive assaults. Galtung’s, model suggests that each of these components influence one another, and while each