몸 착취의 역사: Venus와 과학적 인종주의

Abstract

This study examines the dramaturgical strategies of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus (1996) with the aim of explaining the play as a fitting literary work that can be interpreted through scientific racism. Scientific racism refers to racism based on incorrect scientific beliefs that different races have innate differences and are superior or inferior to each other; phrenology and eugenics are examples of this. It can also be regarded as a type of biopolitics, which indicates its contemporary potential for further study in the context of the rise of human genetics.BR Focusing on the history of the exploitation of the black female body, this study examines how Parks uses techniques such as exposing the body in racist spaces including museum and laboratory, and introducing some play-within-a-plays to invert the roles of viewer and subject, by which a new protagonist’s story can be written. A small play-within-a-play about The Baron Docteur’s anatomical research on her body shows the attitude towards scientific racism prevailing at the time. The Venus, however, is unlike existing characters who could easily be interpreted in a picture presented by the dichotomous framework in which black women were either passive or eager to climb up the social ladder. The fact that the play presents a multi-faceted female character, who could be seen through floating interpretations without being confined to existing discourse, is enough to paint the picture of subjectivity represented by African-American women.BR Furthermore, this study mentions complicity and agency: a dilemma generated by the African-American female writer, Parks, who swings back and forth between the two like a pendulum, staging the exploitation of the black female protagonist.