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David, Sandra (courtman) and I have been discussing these same mythologies of uniqueness which can be traced to overlapping practices in the performance and maintenance of a social order that is capitalist, white supremacist and patriachal. I am searching for some work I know I have that do analyses on how all three intersect (besides Angela Davis') and that contain a deep theoretical treatment of this. Contemporary feminist theories of male violence, especially in non-white and immigrant communities, have also tackled the issue of male dominance expressed violently (rape and violence within the family etc.)and the inappropriateness of legal (and often cultural)defences of alcoholism, drug dependence, racism, poverty and alienation. Even the 'more acceptable' cultural defence of an enslaved past and a racially marginalized present is suitably treated as not unique to black (or white) manhood at all, but rather deeply embedded in patriarchal constructions of masculinity. Donna St. Hill PhD Candidate Department of International Relations London School of Economics -----Original Message----- From: David Lambert To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask] Sent: 7/25/00 2:20 AM Subject: White mental health Dear all, I read Sandra's e-mail about planter mental health with interest, and as luck would have it, spent the day working on the Fitzherbert Papers (microfilms of which are located here in Barbados; I think the originals are at the Derbyshire Record Office, UK). Anyway, there was a surprising amount of material about the mental health of plantation managers and chief overseers in the late 18th/early 19th centuries. Various bouts of 'derangement' and 'insanity' amongst this group required their replacement by their employers. As far as determining the actual psycho-medical problems these individuals were experiencing, I'm afraid that's not my area. What did strike me, however, was that descriptions of 'insanity' amongst plantation managers by plantation owners seemed to be a discursive feaure of a 'paternalist' mythology. Violence, indiscipline and cruelty on the plantation in question was attributed to the 'derangement' of the manager, rather than being a feature of enslavement per se. In other words, 'unstable' managers/'irrational' management was represented by the plantation owners as an abberation of an 'ideal' way of running a West Indian plantation. This discourse of 'insanity' contributes to a white elite self-image of 'paternalistic' plantership. This, of course, brings me back to my initial request about responses to Genovese's _The World the Slaveholders Made_... Anyway, just some initial thoughts. David ------------------------------------------------------------ David Lambert, Ph.D. Student, Department of Geography, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%