When I was reading the material we had due for Tuesday's class, I was very surprised by what I was reading. I saw myself relating this information to my History 105 class as well as my History 333 class. The information given during the class discussion fueled my thinking.
During my History 105 class, we discussed the Eugenics Movement. This whole normalcy and deviance discussion directly related to this. Who has the right to say what is normal and what is not? This question made me think about how doctors used to measure children's brains to see if they had a disability or not. This discussion also related to my African American History class because slave owners thought that their slaves were inferior due to the color of their skin, their odor, cranium size as well as intelligence. This relates to the Davis article because it is stated that normalcy is based on biological standards. In relation to the Urla and Terry article, normalcy takes on the atypical WASP standards. This did not surprise me because accorrding to Western Standards, they are the norm and anyone the deviates from is going to be looked down upon.
These articles were very eye opening to see how definitions of normalcy and deviancy can impact history.
By: Leslie Walter
Leslie,
ReplyDeleteYou make many excellent questions here that we will be exploring more fully throughout the semester. I think you are correct in stating that shifting societal perceptions of what is normal and what is deviant have had a major impact on our history.