[Xmca-l] Re: Analysis of Gender in early xmca discourse

[lpscholar2@gmail.com]

I was looking through Louis Menand’s (The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America) and this paragraph struck a cord in this moment of the election dynamics unfolding and the place of gender in earlier times.

Abolitioism arose out of the *Second Great Awakening* the evangelical revival that swept through New England and then upstate New York between 1800 and 1840, and that also spawned temperance, women’s rights, and other social reform movements, along with a number of utopian and religious sects, most famously the Mormons.  The *foundations* of the abolitionalist movement were therefore spiritual and anti-institutional. Abolitionism was a party for people who did not believe in parties – a paradoxical law of attraction that turned out to be ideally suited to Unitarian, Transcendentalist, and generally post-Calvanist culture like New England, a culture increasingly obsessed with the moral authority of the individual conscience.  The American Anti-Slavery Society, the movement’s organizational arm, had relatively few members, membership in an organization being the sort of thing that tends to compromise the *inner vision*. BUT it had many followers.

I was struck that between 1800 and 1840 in this locale (Boston  and upstate New York) how many social reform movents (post Calvanism) originated and unfolded to permeate American culture. Then to return to the current election with this historical*ity in awareness. Back and forth living presence, including women’s rights.

Sent from my Windows 10 phone

From: Annalisa Aguilar
Sent: October 28, 2016 2:04 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Analysis of Gender in early xmca discourse

I would like to post something historic that I don't think has ever been declared by the New York times prior to a US Election:


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html


It feels highly relevant to this thread, because it may shine a light on what it feels like to see a story of a woman prevailing in very neutral language. You will note, there is nothing about her hair, nor her appearance, nor mention of her husband.


And, to Huw's (probable) liking, there's a lot of statistics that show (I hope) the inevitable.


Kind regards,


Annalisa