For Wednesday, please read James Baldwin’s essay “Stranger in the Village.” There is a lot that is going on in this essay, and so I would invite you to focus your response on a particular passage that you find to be interesting and complicated in some way. Before you begin to do your close reading, you should articulate why you find your passage of choice to be confusing/provocative/compelling. Finally, I ask that you use your close reading to raise questions that speak to Baldwin’s concerns in the essay as a whole. How does what you found in your passage shed light on Baldwin’s larger project? What questions do you have for the class about this piece and its implications?
In addition, please read Wayne Booth’s “From Topics to Questions” and come to class ready to discuss. We will be talking more about your research paper on Wednesday.
In “Stranger in the Village” by James Baldwin, I feel that the difference in treatment in America and Europe isn’t much different in the way whites view Negros. It’s interesting to see how people who are isolated from cities and are very pious act towards an outsider, both in culture and in color. On page 44, in the 3rd paragraph, there’s a section talking about the rage of African Americans and how it can ever fully be conquered because of the actions of whites– and their notion of white supremacy. I find this compelling because it is self-explanatory how blacks feel with the way they are treated as “an exotic rarity” rather than a live human being. How does one react with rage to the way whites treat blacks? The notion of rage reflects the perpetual struggle that blacks dealt with since the first slave trade and how it has affected their lives for the worst. For example, with the way the Swiss people treated the author, James Baldwin, we can see that generally a majority of whites treat blacks with disdain and an innate superiority. “But some of the men have accused le sale negre– behind my back– of stealing wood. . . eyes of some of them that peculiar intent, paranoiac malevolence. . .” The way he is treated indicates his main project to deal with the idea of blacks being people and citizens, not a rarity or sale whites can used for their liking. I believe that the implication of such actions by whites in their disparity of treatment towards blacks will bring about a divided society plagued with unrest and a future of uncertainty. A new generation of blacks and whites will do the same, making the cycle continue perpetually until one breaks it. Breaking it will entail dedication and hard work on both sides; this kind of disparity has existed for centuries and isn’t so easily resolved.
From the reading “Stranger in the Village” By James Baldwin, there were many different crucial points that Baldwin touch upon involving the issues with moral and physical barriers in between the black and white races. The second section was very compelling, because Baldwin vividly described the festival in the Swiss village were people were “buying African natives to convert them to Christianity”(pg43). This section really stood out because the owners wife was more excited telling this news to the African American visitor, then the visitor’s actual reaction to it. This goes to show how individuals from the white race, were equally as interested in spreading the Christian religion as to show their racial superiority over the blacks. Moreover, to support this claim, if a closer look is taken at Christianity in general most of the characters in the religious Christian texts are predominately white, and there are no images of angels or important religious leaders who were black, it was even mentioned by Baldwin, ” find myself among a people whose culture controls me” (pg 44). The issue here that builds up to one of Baldwin’s main concerns that he goes over throughout the text is that the black race has to “establish” who they truly are as individuals in society, what beliefs do they truly hold dear, and that accepting the black race in any society is something that is imminent. So, does Baldwin believe that if all of the criteria from above isn’t met that violence and discord are bound to occur? However, will we see any further advancements in between the issues of how race and society function in the typical day to day life?
In “Stranger in a Village” by James Harper one passage caught my eye and left me pondering throughout the whole essay. As I was reading the essay I came across this one line that said “-but it may be the nightmare from which no one can awaken, People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.” This was a very powerful and interesting line because it summed up the entire essay perfectly. All of these interactions in an “uncivilized” village can only point to the fact that this village is completely isolated from the world around it. As if it was preserved in a type of “bubble.” Once again a common theme that comes up in my responses when I write on these blogs,is perspective and taking into consideration the views of the people in the article. The main character or the “stranger” takes into consideration their perspective and understands that they are simply naive and curious about, with all due respect “what” he really is. It is perfectly understandable for these people to react that way and the “stranger” lets us know that he acknowledges that perspective by using that one line that I mentioned before. Questions that I will ask about this, is there any other places in the world where technology and advancement has not reached? Just how different is the civilization presented in the essay to the prejudging society we live in today? Is the reaction of the villagers acceptable in your own opinion?
In James Baldwin’s “Stranger in the Village,” there are several claims that caught my eye significantly. One especially when Baldwin stated, “the idea of white supremacy rests simply of the fact that white men are the creators of civilizations and are therefore civilization’s guardians and defenders.” This claim about white supremacy stands out because it could be used as justification for why slavery and racial discrimination extended for such a long period of time in our nation. Even though there were huge Civil Rights Movements in the 60s they did not make a change instantly because this is not what the country was used to. The country was build up slavery, even the founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson had slaves. Therefore, this kind of notion that white people had privilege was imbedded in society, even when the US was just evolving into a nation. And as the years went by and as this practice was becoming used more religiously it became a thing that could not be undone for a long time, and even lead to a Civil War. Showing that white supremacists who created this nation stood by their values so strongly that they fought against their own people. Even though the white supremacists lost, they hated the fact that they lost their system of life that has been around for hundreds of years so they created sharecropping and developed such hatred for African Americans and made this a part of their culture. Ultimately, this quote impacted me the most because it justifies many unethical and wrong things about the US, and proves how white supremacy constantly created new systems of devaluating the lives of African Americans and other minorities in the US. As a result, this brings up several questions to mind, with all the recent controversy with Trump, football game protests, Charlottesville, etc. can these events be linked with the quote that I presented earlier? And if so, why do you think it is happening? And what do you think this means?
In the “Stranger in the Village” by James Baldwin, it talks about the experience of Baldwin, as a stranger, in the Swiss village. Throughout the passage, I get to know about the background of the passage. Americans was trying to “recreate” the history of African American about the slavery, and trying to separate the history with African Americans. So based on this background, there are some points interested me. This village is small, there are only about 600 people live here, so it’s a little bit outdated. James Baldwin’s dark skin definitely attracts people’s curiosity. First, people don’t believe that he is an American, they think he is from Africa, and they never called his name even though they knew it. Second, when he walks on the streets, there are kids calling him “Neger”. Third, people touch his hair because it is different than others and want to erase the darkness on his skin. This passage has some deep claims, to be honest, I didn’t really get the points. But I do see there are some differences between America and Europe, such as Europe has less slaves than America does. For me, from these three points, I can see how the media and culture effect the world on how people treat other races. There are some similar points to the topic of my first essay which submitted last week, so this question comes up again, what will happen if our world does not have any technology?
In “Stranger in the Village”, James Baldwin discusses his experience while visiting a small Swiss village. I am extremely interested in the second section of the essay however, because it goes over several topics such as missionaries, ignorance, imperialism, and privilege. These subjects are extremely sensitive and I was compelled with Baldwin’s stance. Baldwin first describes a tradition in the village, which involves “buying African natives for the purpose of converting them to Christianity”. One of the bistro owner’s wife reported the number of Africans bought with joy to Baldwin and this showed how truly naive and ignorant the majority of the village was. This may be due to a lack of understanding of the world around them and blindness to another persons culture. Baldwin then goes on to discuss white privilege and how no matter what he does, he will still be regarded as “inhuman” and lower than others in terms of social class. When the first white arrived to an African village, they were regarded highly and praised since their mission was to conquer. However, when someone like Baldwin arrives in a predominantly white village, they are disrespected and held to lower standards. The culture of the people surrounding Baldwin controls him but he goes on to discuss how it actually isn’t there fault that they inherited all these privileges and power. This leads me to several questions that may be related to present day. Does white privilege still exist in society? If so, how can we eliminate it and make all ethnicities and cultures equal in power?
In “Stranger in a Village” by James Baldwin, one quote caught my eye, “I was simply a living wonder”. This quote symbolizes the intensity of isolation and separation he felt while in the village. He states how people, with no intentions of being rude, come up to him and physically touch and question this man that doesn’t fit in with the rest of the villagers. Though as time passed, the villagers were less fascinated by his physical attributes, he later notices the villagers focused less on his physical appearance and wondered more about him as a whole. To expand on this, he imagined a similar scenario, “I thought of white men arriving for the first time in an African village, strangers there, as I am a stranger here, and tried to imagine the astounded populace touching- their hair and marveling at the color of their skin”. This scenario is the exact same experience he’s having as the one that doesn’t fit in. He also states how white men who first arrive, have thoughts of conquest and a feeling of superiority, however, he doesn’t have thoughts of conquest as the lone black male in a village of whites. As the first African American to visit the village and to continuously return, Baldwin knew because of imperialism, the Swiss village mustn’t be isolated from international ethnicities. Baldwin also introduces the idea that white people have a sense of superiority, and to hold onto that power. However, he states that black people tend to feel “inevitable rage and internal turmoil”, thus leading white people to believe that black people are “savages”. The fact that Baldwin continuously returned to the village for multiple years is fascinating, as keeping up with the actions of the villagers takes a strong will.
In “Stranger in a Village”, by James Baldwin, he uses a personal experience to touch upon an important topic of how people view African Americans in Europe and in the U.S. In the first section of the passage Baldwin states “Joyce is right about history being a nightmare , the nightmare from which no one can awaken. People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.” This is directly related both to the village that he visits and the United States and the treatment of African Americans. It is related to the village because it is obvious that this village is isolated from most of Switzerland and is far behind from a social and economic standpoint. What Baldwin is trying to say is that if a people don’t know any better they will not be able to adopt and change to new ideas and norms. The “history” of this village shows that it lacks the ability to recognize African Americans as equals. Instead as pointed out in the second part of the passage they try to “whitewash” Africans by buying them in order to convert them to Christianity. The village is stuck in the “nightmare” of their history because they can’t get over the fact that the white race is not superior over the black race and they keep trying to show otherwise. This is also relevant to the American society and american history because of the south and slavery. From the start of the 13 colonies to the middle of the 19th century white Americans exploited Africans and used them as slaves. There is proof of the inhumane way white people treated African Americans and there are still people today that act like it wasn’t a big deal as if it didn’t happen. Right now, in 2017, over 150 years since the end of slavery there were multiple protests by white supremacists who are once again “trapped in the nightmare of their history”. A history full of suffering and devastation of a people, and these white supremacists still believe in its justification. The question I have to ask is ” How can recent history involving hate crimes and racial injustice relate to the “nightmare” that Baldwin states is history? What other current events are part of this nightmare?”
The passage that I found most intriguing was on page 44 where the ‘stranger’ discusses the inescapable superiority of the “white man.” The stranger makes the comparison between a black man’s first encounter of a white man a white man’s first encounter of a back man. The white man seeks to conquer and convert while the black man-or the stranger- ‘finds [himself] among a people whose culture controls [him], and even, in a sense, created [him].” The stranger recognizes that such a reality is true today-his present- as it was in the past; and this enrages him. It is interesting that no matter how much the stranger might want to control or change his emotions, he cannot help but despise the white man-even if the fault lies with white man’s ancestors and not his/her descendants. He cannot escape the dominating white culture, be it of European or American. The “white man” can never live the life of a stranger, he/she can never be an outsider because of the past that has come to define the present and perhaps the future. The white man’s culture has been carved into the mindset of the “stranger” and the “stranger” has come to live by it. Is James Baldwin’s arguments only true for the “black man” or can the same be said of any non-white individual? Can this feeling of white superiority ever be completely eradicated from the mindset of any black person or any non-white person for that matter?
In “Stranger in the Village” by James Baldwin, I found it very interesting that there was a part in which Baldwin discusses the ability to purchase Negros in Europe. I found this particularly interesting because when you take a step back and remove the word “Swiss” from this passage, you can almost see the words “America” in it too. Of course this is figuratively, but it is very intriguing that all the way across the world people were being bought and sold as property too. What got my attention even more in this passage was the fact that the purchasing was there so that the Swiss could then convert the Negros into Christians. “I am told it is repeated in many villages-of “buying” African natives for the purpose of converting them to Christianity.” (pg 43) That is quite the change compared to the United States because as one wanted to use them as personal servants, the other wanted to convert them. Now, the United States citizens who also bought slaves wanted to convert them too, which is where I found another interesting comparison. “My father, who having taken his own conversion too literally never, at bottom, forgave the white world (which he described as heathen) for having saddled him with a Christ in whom, to judge at least from their treatment of him, they themselves no longer believed.” (page 44) Here Baldwin is explaining that his father was one of the Negros to be bought and converted. What is very important is that last sentence, “they themselves no longer believed.” My interpretation of this is that the Swiss’s actions were reflecting their beliefs, not what the Bible says but again their interpretations of it. They believed that it was ok to treat Negros like property and excluded the whole sections in the Bible about forgiveness and treating people with respect. This is also what happened in the U.S, where slave owners would use the Bible to justify their work, but only use the parts that benefited them. Now I ask, why did so many of these Negros who were forced to convert keep this strict belief as well?
In the essay “Stranger in the Village” written by James Baldwin, it focus on many social issues especially the relationship between races especially between whites and color. Throughout his essay Baldwin provides a great point of view for the reader now how it fells to be an African-American in a small, all-white Swiss village. From the discrimination to how he’s a part of the Village however is still a “stranger” because the color of his skin. There were many sections that was very interesting, provocative or compelling. In Section II, its gives a very interesting take as it shows the perspective of an African American not in the United States but abroad in Europe. As Baldwin describes it “But there is a great difference between being the first white man to be seen by Africans and being the first black man to be seen by whites. The white man takes the astonishment as tribute, for he arrives to conquer and to convert the natives, whose inferiority in relation to him- self is not even to be questioned; whereas j, without a thought of conquest, find myself among a people whose culture controls me, has even, in a sense, created me, people who have-cost me more in anguish and rage than they will ever know, who yet do not even know of my existence”. Thats something we always see throughout history, but what amazed me is his relationship with the village. “Yet, they move with an authority which I shall never have; and they regard me, quite rightly, not only as a stranger in their village but as a suspect latecomer, bearing no credentials, to everything they have-however unconsciously -inherited”. From a stand point the essay sounds like just the description of a journey abroad, howe er it shed light on Baldwin’s larger project to show that racism is everywhere even in a remote village. It doesn’t matter how many years he goes to that same place, the results are sadly the same. So some the questions that comes out of all this is us as a society , what can we do to change this narrative or will history continue to repeat itself?
In this passage by James Baldwin, he mentions many of the problems with racism and the stereotypes that are associated with having colored skin. One of the quotes in the passage that I found very interesting can be found on page 43, where Baldwin states, “People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them”. I found this quote very interesting as it is one of the problems that people of color face. Throughout the passage, Baldwin constantly refers to the idea that the slavery of blacks has influenced how others perceive people with black or colored skin. As explained in the passage, “the root of the American Negro problem is the necessity of the American white man to find a way of living with the Negro in order to be able to live with himself.” I feel that this is morally wrong, as that is the popular opinion on this subject. What Baldwin is trying to express in this quote is that it is basically the people of colors’ fault for having colored skin. And, as they are in society, the white man is burdened with the task of finding a way to cope with the mere existence of these people. Furthermore, the solution to the white man’s personal problem is the “lynch law, segregation and legal acceptance, terrorization, and concession”. In relation to today, I feel like Baldwins ‘ argument is very relevant. Although we are in the 21st century, people of color are still discriminated upon. Baldwin even mentioned that the white people do not care that he was born in America, which makes him automatically an American just as they are, but, they focus on the fact that he has different colored skin or different texture of hair. One of the questions that I have for the class is, what are some ways that we can mitigate the rampant issues of racism in this country?
In this article “Stranger in The Village” by James Baldwin I chose to dissect a quote “It did not occur to me- possibly because I am an American- that there could be people anywhere who had never seen a negro.” I chose this quote because it is the very beginning of the article and the fact that James Baldwin chose to start his article like this is very extraordinary. He shows the reader a problem/issue that is relevant to today. Me as an American who lives in New York the so called “melting pot” is exposed everyday to different cultures and skin types. However I am naive to believe that the same is happening all across the world.
I can relate this article to an experience I have had personally. I am not white and I am not black I am spanish this means that I too am not accepted by everyone. So one day for a Judo competition I had to travel to Canada by car. A long six hour drive. In between NYC and Canada my family and I stopped at Mcdonald’s. I do not remember which state we were in or where exactly we were. What I do remember is getting out of the car and a lot of white people started to look at us as if we didn’t belong. My family and I started to feel extremely uncomfortable, so we had a mindset to get out of there as soon as we got our food we would eat it in the car. It only took us about five minutes to get our food and as we walked out to our car we noticed a big scratch on the door of our car and someone keyed our car. We couldn’t tell who but we knew it was a racist act and we decided to leave. This experience showed me how lucky I am to live in NYC where all cultures are accepted and how much the outside world doesn’t accept other races. What makes New Yorkers so naive to the outside world? How can we educate everyone of all different skin tones about the outside world in depth?