Theories and Practice:
My final project is based on a history of two individuals Ota Benga and Ishi both suffered greatly due to being Native in this American land. I was inspired to do this project by reading articles for my women studies class on the topic of Freaks and how freaks were mistreated and became the object of gaze. In other word they were called as “monstrous� and “Freaks� because they were not normal like other people.
History of Ota Benga and Ishi can be told in many different ways and many things can be said about the same story over and over.
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Freaks in American Culture
Definitions of “Freaks� are individuals who are visually different than normal people.
“The freak, as we will call it, is a very wide and undefined category that includes many different genres from the very human to the extreme monstrous. To make it simple, we will limit ourselves to the human freaks, who have a mythological or mythical background or were displayed as human oddities in sideshows� http://freaks.monstrous.com/definition_of_freaks.htm
* “A thing or occurrence that is markedly unusual or irregular: A freak of nature produced the midsummer snow�.
* “An abnormally formed organism, especially a person or animal regarded as a curiosity or monstrosity�.
* “A sudden capricious turn of mind; a whim: “The freaks of the psyche can no more be explained than the Devil� (Maurice Collis). www.answer.com
story line and voice recording of the script is done. I am missing information on Ishi very much at time.
i found a great articles one is, "Freaks of Culture Institutions, Publics, and the Subjects of Ethnographic Knowledge" by Rachal Adams and another articles call "Introduction: From Wonder to Error- A Genealogy of Freak Discourse in Modernity" by Rosemarie Garland Thomson. Both articles talks about the Freak culture in detials and It also brought me the history of both Ota Benga and Ishi and how they were brought to the US trade and later sold.
I have also found a book call "The Third Eye" by Fatimah Tobing Rony who talks about the Cannibalism and her theories, practices and personal experience as being the object of the same gaze. I found all of these sources are great help so far my project is still not done so lets hope for the best.