Choose one of the topics from the list below and write an essay about it. The essay should have a minimum
of 5 pages, but feel free to write a longer essay if you feel your argument needs it. Kindly use font Times
New Roman, size 12, and double space. You don’t need a title page, but please give your essay a title and
put your name on it in the heading. Don’t forget to cite every work you used and add a reference list at
the end of the essay. The reference list does not count for your 5-page minimum.
A) Philosopher Michel Foucault defines the concept of ‘Governmentality’ as the set of strategies, practices,
and rationalities used to govern, manage, shape, guide, or affect the conduct of people. During the length
of the course, we saw the many strategies used by the Anglo colonizers to govern the diverse populations
in the USA throughout its history. Explain these strategies and discuss their impact in the shaping of
America as we know it today.
B) Scientific Racism/Biological Racism was a central part of the knowledge formation of pre-WWII,
including the US. Throughout the course and the readings, we saw many instances of justifications for the
maintenance of racial inequality, prohibition of ‘inter-racial’ marriages, eugenics, and many other racist
practices using the language of science. Describe the role of Science and Knowledge in the Racial project
of pre-WWII United States and its impacts on contemporary America.
C) In the beginning of the course, we saw Takaki arguing that Anglo colonizers learn the tactics for
colonizing the Native-Americans by colonizing the Irish, from ideas of the Savage Other to the taking of
land and the subjugation of the native population. However, if the colonization of Ireland described by
Takaki took place in the 16th Century, Italian feminist Silvia Federici points out in Caliban and the Witch –
another reference to Shakespeare’s The Tempest – that Western Europe had been developing this tiered
society on the basis of sexual difference by colonizing women’s bodies and labor since the 14th Century.
Similarly, if we discussed the way biology has been used to provide a justification to the subjugation of
Indigenous, African, and Asian folk in America, Sojourner Truth’s famous Ain’t I a Woman speech shows
us how the idea of biological inferiority had already been a staple of subjugating women. Considering the
diverse tactics described throughout the course for oppressing and resisting oppression in American
history, explain how women have particularly navigated these tactics, devised their own forms of
resistance, and navigated discrimination on the basis of sex in the US.
D) Simone de Beauvoir argued in her book The Second Sex that historically Men have been written as the
default and Women as the Other, “Thus humanity is male, and man defines woman not herself but as
relative to him.” While observing Takaki’s division of chapters in his book, male migration is defined by
their group: African, Native, Asian, Jewish, Irish. Meanwhile, when women appear, it is usually as a subgroup within the chapter: Chinese-Women, Japanese-Women, Jewish-Women, Italian-Women, IrishWomen, Mexican-Women, etc.… In addition, while Gupta and Takaki shows us that women in most
instances where the most active members in strikes within racialized groups, and often the first ones to
cross racial barriers between groups, women only conquered the right to vote with the 19th Amendment
in 1920, 50 years after vote restrictions based on race were declared unconstitutional with the 15th
Amendment in 1870. Explain the role of women in the different racialized populations coming to the USA
and discuss the political role of feminism and its impact for diversity in the United States.
