The Racial Hierarchy as the Stratification of Society - Book Report/Review Example

Racial hierarchy Racial hierarchy was the stratification of society based on beliefs that some race is superior and some inferior. This racial hierarchy has led to British expansion of empire across the world and has encouraged practice of slavery and human trade and putting them on display. In this essay we discuss about the racial hierarchy addressed in different books. In his book Ornamentalism, David Cannadine has discussed that how British visualized their own society as superior to the societal culture of the oriental colonies under it in terms of modernization and dynamism. In this book he tried to depict that how British alienated some dark skinned people and honoured some of them. By pictorial representation and different examples the author has explained that British had set a hierarchical image of their empire in racial terms. The argument given in the book is that during 1780 to 1830 this hierarchical structure of race superiority of British got intensified. Collaboration with the princely states and respect towards the tribal chiefs was the governing way for this new imperium. An example is that of Sultans of Malay states who welcomed British residents before 1914, thus protecting their own sovereignty while following the advice of British in all matters except their religion and custom. British conquered Fiji and Hon in the same year and a treaty with King Cakobau insured the Fijian island from any dispossession (Cannadine, 2001, 53). Not only in terms of human races, the ranking structure was also evident in terms used by British for its colonies like “dark continent”, “shock cities” etc. The book argued how the British built the hierarchical concept as a matter of social prestige. When British encountered native people in North America in sixteenth seventeenth century then they did not see them as inferior rather they existed with an equivalent relationship. Cannadine has put forward his argument that British Empire promoted hegemonic imperial project for “one vast interconnected world”. As per Cannadine, Britons visualized their conquered colonies in terms of class. King Edwards comment on the Hawaii’s king Kalakaua appearance that either the brute is king or gardener proves this. Princes of India were sent to British public schools and proconsul like Dufferin and Minto reinforces layered social structure in the colonies. Upper classes of British used to identify big landowners and princes as their counterparts and they had access to country houses and clubs for gentlemen. In the book it is pointed out that the natives in the colonies needed a king but that should be a lesser one. British thought that giving honours and titles to Indian princes and upper class would effectively lessened any anti colonial uprising against them. Example given is that the British official in Indian Civil service received career reward like CSI or CIE; high court judges received KCSI or KCIE. These awards were also given to Indian to partly unite them with the British and partly because British believed that Indians cared for this honour and recognition (Cannadine, 2001, 72). It is concluded that on one hand British viewed people of the empire as inferior and alien but on the other hand they also saw some of them as their equal or even better than them. Viceroy Lord Willing commented on the death of Ranjit-sinhji, the maharaja Jam Saheb of Nawangar, that he was a great ruler and was an ambassador of cooperation. This book not only analyse the past but also help us in evaluating the present. The idea of “West and the Rest” now itself is product of racism. In her book The Complexion of Race, Roxann Wheeler traces the development of racial thought in British where skin colour had an important role. The book mentioned about the Journal of the Voyage of Gambia where English narrator described the skin colour of the natives as “Black as Coal”. The method to analyze the thesis was that the writer went through discussion of eighteenth century text of Daniel Defoe, Edward Long and others and pondered on the growing racial hierarchy. Wheeler has followed the Anthony Baker’s “African Link” which dealt with British people interest on dark skin and their inferior status. She discussed Buffon’s “Natural History” which categorized human species further (Wheeler, 2000, 18). It is argued that racism took two forms during eighteenth century. First, the people in Asia, Africa and Pacific failed to become commercial people like Europeans and therefore those people were inferior. Second, was the difference of physical typology. Here humor theory of complexion which links environment to mind and body in an important relation played an important role. The writer has argued that conception of Christianity, rank has been more important than physical attributes like colour of hair and skin for the British to their and other assessment. The association of colour and race became prominent in eighteenth century. It has been discussed with detailed explanation that climate was the reason for dark or white skin colour and that at least ten generations of Englishmen in torrid zones would lead to such dark skin like ‘Negroes’. It is discussed that how racial discrimination was deployed in Africa and how it was a beginning towards slavery and colonialism. The third quarter of eighteenth century regarded complexion as a significant visible difference in human. It is discussed that to historians like Nancy Stepan religion played an important role in distinguishing British from other continent. Their adherence to Christianity led to their reluctance in leaving their climate which lead to change in humans. By middle of nineteenth century British people believed that one’s skin colour, facial structure and even the colour of hair determined his potential. Britons had always been interested in clothing and arts and science in a way to distinguish themselves from others. A lot of literatures like Adam Ferguson’s Essay on the History of Civil Society, Adam Smith’s Wealth of nation remarked about the advanced state of Britain’s art and culture and government. Notions of barbaric and savage societies were emphasized on through these schools of thought. Since the fifteenth century the exhibition of living foreign people has been documented. But during mid 1980’s putting humans on display has reached a commercialization peak. In her book Peoples on Parade, Sadiah Qureshi discussed that how the shows were not only associated with racism but also these ethnic differences and imperialism was created and maintained. The method she used is pictorial representation and the different situational account during the shows. The people who paraded were imported under governmental regulation and they had become an object of mass entertainment. This reflected the growing imperial presence of British in South Africa from where most of the performers were brought in. The choice of performers in these exhibitions indicated the interest of people in scientific study of human variety. Social, political and physical criteria were used to classify humans. Darker people’s complexion differed from light skinned person due to the hotter climate in which they lived. Mental development was tied to social organization. Hunter gatherer societies were depicted as less developed than agricultural or commercial nations. It is argued on how the showmen used advertising as a medium to secure customers who will pay to interact with people of other ethnicity. Urban people could marvel at peoples varying from Anglo Saxons to Zulus. Second it deals with the experiences in the shows. Showmen not only recruited performers but also propagated knowledge the show produced in forms of lecture. Performers learnt to speak English and mingled with foreign peoples both during exhibition and in private appointments. For many it was an ideal way to expand their scholarly interest in natural history of humans. This book dealt with how these shows were established as an experimental and observational ground. By mid 19th century press reviews said that ethnic origin of people was consumer’s primary attraction. An image from the shows of 1899 depicted a Victorian family visiting Savage South African exhibition where they met with three African. In this image an African has been stereotyped. Their open mouthed smiles eating watermelons, their skin colour melting with darkness and the only white in them is their teeth. These images depicted an inbuilt racist attitude of British people (Qureshi, 2011, 161). Racial images of urban poor were depicted in the Mayhew’s writings. Mayhew proposed the distinction between civilized and uncivilized as a distinction between settlers and wanderers (Qureshi, 2011, 239). Sometimes atrocities were shown towards these human parades and sometimes cases of African men misbehaving with white ladies were also reported. Throughout this book it has been depicted as how the human exhibition had created an impression of racism. Treating human as private property has been under debate. Once exhibited these people not only played savage but also could refuse to perform, could resent when they face unwanted attention, could express their warmth which could both strengthen and undermine the racialist prejudice. When the Britons treated some phenotypically dark skinned people with dignity they were with some ulterior motives of divide and rule and subdue any chance of uprise among the common men by keeping their rulers satisfied. References 1) Cannadine, David. 2001. Ornamentalism, Oxford University Press. 2) Qureshi, Sadiah. 2011. Peoples on Parade : Exhibitions, Empire, and Anthropology in Nineteenth – Century Britain. Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press 3) Wheeler, Roxanne. 2000. The Complexion of Race: Categories of Difference in Eighteenth-Century British Culture, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. Read More