One achievement of the past semester I am particularly proud of is my completion of an extensive research paper on Edouard Manet’s Women at the Races. In drafting this essay, I was pushed to delve into the mind of a 19th century flâneur, assuming the cultural perspective of intellectuals of both another language and another time. This paper was significant to me for both its depth and scope, as it challenged me to not only complete extensive research, but additionally take on a cultural perspective quite disparate from my own. One particularly surprising aspect of this paper for me was my discovery of the progressive nature of many of Manet’s works from a gendered perspective. Despite the vast inequity and sexism of France in the 1800s, in this work elevates its subjects from objects of masculine visual consumption – as typified in the male gaze perpetrated in most works of the era – to active participants in society. This upset both my cultural and historical assumptions, challenging me as both a writer and a researcher.
Read My Paper Here: Women at the Races