Running head: Topical Paper 1: Analyzing and Applying Conquest

Topical Paper 1: Analyzing and Applying Conquest

Alexis Fulleros
Arizona State University
Topical Paper 1: Analyzing and Applying Conquest

Topical Paper 1: Analyzing and Applying Conquest

The history of sexual violence within the United States has deep seeded roots through racism

and colonialism in order to carry out radical oppression. In this essay, I will explain how this

oppression was done almost exclusively to Native women because of vulnerability to shame and

guilt through laws, inferior care and different attempts at complete genocide, through different

levels of analysis. Then, I will discuss how to decrease this vulnerability of not just Native

women, but for Native’s as a whole, and also other survivors of violence.

An intersectional framework is not just useful in examining Native women’s vulnerability to

sexual violence, its necessary. You can’t just look at how race or sexuality individually affect

how women are oppressed, and come up with a universal understanding of each just put them

together to form an even more basic understanding of their lives. This is as Smith (2015) states,

“because the overlap between racism and [sexism] transforms the dynamics” (pg. 7).

Intersectionality is important because, for example, I am the daughter of an immigrant,

multiracial (African American, Filipina, and White), straight American, and a woman. Some of

those identities give me privilege, as I am not “too black” as to be harshly discriminated against,

nor am I homosexual, or an immigrant; However; some of my identities can also put me at a

disadvantage, and show insight to historic struggle. Such as being a child of an African

American and Filipino immigrant, and being a woman. If you took any of these single identities

and tried to understand me as a person, you would be at an incredible disadvantage.

Intersectionality allows other people to understand my struggles, but also realize that I am still

highly privileged in way others could only dream to be.

Native American women, for example are at an extreme disadvantage. They are vulnerable to

sexual violence in the multiple ways, in the individual through to the macro- levels. Starting
Topical Paper 1: Analyzing and Applying Conquest

broader and closing in, Native women are susceptible to almost all broad structure of power in

society such as patriarchy, racism, sexism, and especially colonization. Smith believes there is no

such thing as “equality for all.” At the meso- level you can see sexual violence achieved through

the failed criminal justice systems that allow non-Native’s to come on to Indian land, rape its

inhabitants and leave with no repercussions (Smith, 2015, pg.143). Another one of the ways

sexual violence affects native women is through micro- level with rape, assault and intimidation.

Women were the key to the longevity of the Native’s and, therefore, a threat to colonizers.

“Symbolic and literal control over their bodies is important in the war against Native people”

(Smith, 2015, pg. 15). Lastly, after going through all of these levels, Native women are left with

self-blame, guilt, and shame of who they are as a woman and as a Native.

The importance of using more than one level of analysis to understand these vulnerabilities are

because different forms of violence are not “mutually exclusive, rather they relate to one another

as they manifest in the lives of women” (Montensanti & Thurston, 2015).

Even though today, genocidal intent has lessened, Native women are still not any safer

than they were in the past. Smith states that, “While the era of Indian massacres in their more

explicit form has ended in North America, the wholesale rape and mutilation of indigenous

women’s bodies continues” (Smith, 2015, pg. 27). To decrease the vulnerability of Native

women to sexual violence in terms of their physical body, we must find a way to fund safe and

effective birth control, so women don’t have to choose either pregnancy or terminal sterility. As

Smith dreams, “Maybe one day we will have a march for women’s lives in which main issues

addressed and reported include…stopping the promotion of dangerous contraceptives” (Smith,

2015, pg.104). For survivors of violence, we should create better shelters—inclusive shelters—

that help survivors to find a sense of a new, understanding community. The shelter should also
Topical Paper 1: Analyzing and Applying Conquest

be more supportive of all victims of domestic abuse, including those who may need

rehabilitation, counseling, privacy and security from perpetrators, and even just support. For

Native people as a whole, building stronger communities made up of smaller communities based

on sports, religion, or hobbies in order to “develop strategies based in those communities”

(Smith, 2015, pg. 164), is something that could help combat abuse while supporting the abused.

Overall, Conquest, was a (much needed) eye opener for me. Each of the five chapters in this

book considered a different, but extremely relevant, role of sexual violence, and how it is in turn

was used to colonize Native American’s. It’s not that I didn’t understand that women of color

have been treaty cruelly and blamed for things almost completely out of their control, or that

they were victims of “racism, sexism, colonialism, patriarchy, genocide…” (Trautman, 2006)

and just all around oppression. No, I was able to gain such a broader understanding how sexual

violence is more than just the act of touching someone in a way that makes them uncomfortable.

I learned that rape can be anything from its, for lack of a better word, “simple” definition of

physical aggression without consent, to something as complex as understanding that the lack of

proper birth control and contraceptives, and leaving no other choice for women than to become

completely incapable of having kids at all, is rape as well. Even more than that, another thing

that was surprising, yet disturbing at the same time, was not that all of these things happened, but

the fact that the United States, for centuries, turned a blind eye. Then, even worse, found ways to

blame the victims. The United States somehow found ways to pin all of this blame, in some way

or another, on the women of color, indigenous women and women of the Global South.

I found this book to have just a few weaknesses worth noting. First off, the chapters,

although insightful, had topics so broad that it was hard to understand what exactly the main

thesis was at times. Each chapter, I felt, could have stood on its own, instead of the ideas being
Topical Paper 1: Analyzing and Applying Conquest

so closely related that the whole book flows from one, central idea. Another weakness I believe

the book had, was the lack of discussion on how the spread of capitalism doesn’t just change the

way in which violence occurs within the Native American communities, but in the increasing

incidences of this violence globally, and across genders. Lastly, she doesn’t talk much, if at all,

on how certain religions and beliefs support homophobia, racism, etc. (Trautman, 2006) and

even specifically, gender violence. None of the things she is lacking, however, takes away from

the overall impact the book had on me.

As I’ve stated before, I admire this book, and for many reasons. Its strength lies in the

simple way the book can be used as a tool to understand intersectionality, or deconstruct

assumptions people have on the impact of colonialism on the land, practices, and bodies of

Native women. Conquest was simple enough to be able to understand difficult concepts, yet

complex enough to have to do extra research in order for me to entirely appreciate its impact.

Smith is able to discuss extremely harsh and difficult topics in a way that is so sensitive to the

reader.

Smith, in my opinion, supported her thesis over and over through each and every page of

this book. She, through each chapter, answers the same question of “what can we do differently

to resolve this” given the different problems and parameters within the chapter. She brilliantly

strings together a feminist view of sexual violence, critiques against actions previously thought

to be effective, and decades of information concerning genocide and colonialism specifically.

Topical Paper 1: Analyzing and Applying Conquest

References

Montesanti, S. R., & Thurston, W. E. (2015). Mapping the role of structural and interpersonal

violence in the lives of women: Implications for public health interventions and

policy. BMC Womens Health,15(1). doi:10.1186/s12905-015-0256-4

Smith, A. (2015). Conquest: Sexual violence and American Indian genocide. Durham: Duke

Univ. Press.

Trautman, Brian J. (2006) "Book Review: Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian

Genocide by Andrea Smith, Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2005, 250 pages, ISBN:

0896087433," Academic Leadership: e Online Journal: Vol. 4 : Iss. 4 , Article 2.