Week 3- Colonialism

In response to Davis Spurr's The Rhetoric of Empire regarding Western cultures, the idea of colonialism relating to gaze and surveillance is relevant. By watching others behavior and culture as an outsider, preconceived stereotypes and objectivity allow for a relationship struggle. Colonialism, or the exploitation by a stronger country over a weaker one was a very common tendency in Western civilization, and for this case Indian American life. The harsh reality was that many natives were killed based on the belief that they were inferior peoples from even a divine point of view. Yet for the most part the two societies coexisted for the time being. The mission was to take a progressive view and assimilate the natives for culture and arts to mainstream American civilization. This approach was difficult to follow with westward expansion at the forefront of society. Gaze and surveillance are apparent as a result of the colonizer's actions of how the natives were regarded. The Europeans had full advantage of the natives because of the way they were portrayed as dangerous and different. Yet, the observations of others can be skewed and biased based on what was unknown.