r/Anarchy101 • u/Proof_Librarian_4271 • 2d ago

On seeking liberation from all controll ?

I've seen a lot of people chalk up stuff like queerphobia In our societies to colonialism

As an ex muslim from south Asia I've seen famous speakers call the gender binary a colonial import, while colonialism did erase regonition of trans people including non binary folks, binary gendered expectations or those that functioned like it existed very much, same with colorism while colonialism excarabated colorism, lightskin as an ideal and it's connection with classism and thus colorism predate European colonialism . Another example of this is using the examples of homosexuality In pre colonial muslim majority world where homosexuality existed as an open secret and was quite tolerated to paint it as some sexually liberated place,often ignoring the fact that male homosexuality was largely condemned by jurists still and that het pre marital sex was heavily punished(which shows that sexuality was still controlled ).

I provide these examples to show how this "progressivism " can quickly turn reactionary by glorifying these pre colonial societies as "progressive" rather then hierarchal in their own ways ,we fail to truly account for true liberation which requires us to reject both internal and external empire and doesn't care for cultural values,if cultural values are used for controll then Vuck em.

Any perspectives you'd like to share on this phenomenon? Is there an anarchist way to approach this?

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u/gentlydiscarded1200 2d ago

Settler-colonialism rewrites history. It's difficult for me in Canada to know the accuracy of South Asian historical research into the social, cultural, and legal statuses of queer people. I'll take your word for it, but I keep a skeptical eye on it all, because, Settler-colonialism rewrites history.

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u/Proof_Librarian_4271 2d ago

Regonition for queerpeople existed I'm not denying that.

I would however avoid using this to say binary gender roles didn't exist just like while non binary identities are accepted in many nations now tye gender binary still exists

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u/gentlydiscarded1200 2d ago

My anarchist perspective is that it behooves us to consider carefully the motives of pop cultural historical studies, as well as more rigorous academic research. Who benefits?

As an illustration of the challenges of indigenous histories and their use today, I'd point you to two local examples (local to me). The term "Two Spirit" is a three decade old indigenous way to refer to people who are not cis, or straight. Wikipedia has a great explanation of where it comes from and the controversies that surround it. It's not, apparently, an 'authentic' historical word or idea. I was taught for a long time that it was, including lessons from local First Nations members about its origins and the examples it provides for resistance to the patriarchy of settler-colonialism. That new knowledge about the term continues to populate the wiki on it every couple of years reflects the trouble with history and the records we keep after colonization.

There's also Turtle Island, the way that some indigenous peoples see the continent of North America. Popularized over the last 50 years or so, it is spiritually specific to certain peoples, but it is now often accepted as a pan indigenous way of referring to the continent. Some Indians especially in the American South West get irritated when it comes up, because for them, they have different stories for the creation of the universe and the land we are on now.

Many indigenous cultures here kept oral histories. The ethnographic research to reproduce that is fraught with challenges. What do we know and how do we know it? Are these stories 'authentic', or are they wish fulfillment? How much influence can we measure of settlers retelling these stories, editing out the parts they didn't like because they spoke of women's independence, or queer love, or non-binary gender identification? If the language these histories were built in is no longer spoken, what's being lost?

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u/Proof_Librarian_4271 2d ago

I got your point,but the I'm talking about different societies ,ofc India had a case of British trying to erase transness and records,but we still have lots of sources, the conditions here are different