Week 2 Readings Response

To me, the most interesting aspect of this week's reading was the discussion of concubinage from Ann Laura Stoler's "Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power." In my experience, the existence of concubinage in colonies is assumed to be general knowledge, and it is often understood that the Europeans oppressed and took advantage of colonized women. However, this article portrays both the Europeans and colonized women as victims in the system under which they lived. Stoler explicitly cites regulations and social norms that made concubinage the more acceptable alternative to marriage and stable familial lives.

Stoler's clarity in developing this argument really struck me. I was astounded by the hopelessness she seemed to convey, and I felt that the article was very thorough in addressing counterarguments. For example, Stoler writes that "a government ordinance of 1872 [in the Indies] made it impossible for any soldier below the rank of sergeant major to be married; and even above that rank, conditions were very restrictive" (Stoler 17), and therefore, concubinage was the alternative to which soldiers turned. Furthermore, European government regulations made it difficult for women to travel to the colonies regardless, which inherently complicated marriages and respectable relationships further. In fact, concubinage was considered so much more ordinary that marriage was considered an "irregular domestic arrangement," which were "thought to encourage subversion" (Stoler 18).

That said, Stoler doesn't mask the darker details of concubinage as well, pointing out that the arrangement also included "demands on [the concubine's] labor and legal rights to the children she bore" (Stoler 16). These are aspects of concubinage that are completely absent in the postcards shown in "Women's Prisons," an article that I definitely found disturbing. It made sense to use models simply because they 're easier to access than the actual concubines, but that these women were supposed to SEEM accessible in the pictures bothered me. How could men see the models as erotic when they were shown locked behind bars? I was also disgusted that European women would use postcards portraying "concubines" to convey such benign information as "I am sending you a package" and "The babies are doing well." The juxtaposition of an erotic picture mixed with the message "Warm kisses to all of you" is entirely perverse, in my opinion.