While 'samurai' is a strictly masculine term, the Japanese bushi class (the social class samurai came from) did feature women who received similar training in martial arts and strategy. These women were called “Onna-Bugeisha,” and they were known to participate in combat along with their male counterparts. Their weapon of choice was usually the naginata, a spear with a curved, sword-like blade that was versatile, yet relatively light.
Since historical texts offer relatively few accounts of these female warriors (the traditional role of a Japanese noblewoman was more of a homemaker), we used to assume they were just a tiny minority. However, recent research indicates that Japanese women participated in battles quite a lot more often than history books admit. When remains from the site of the Battle of Senbon Matsubaru in 1580 were DNA-tested, 35 out of 105 bodies were female. Research on other sites has yielded similar results."
@Benfell@CommonMugwort@hazelnot@gorfram I'm more with Franz Fanon when it comes to the processes of colonisation. The result in the colonised is a sort of internalalised fascist, to paraphrase Deleuze and Guattari. Fanon identifies colonialism as a machine of “naked violence,” which “only gives in when confronted with greater violence”. In Fanon’s view, the Western bourgeoisie was “fundamentally racist” and its “bourgeois ideology” of equality and dignity was merely a cover for capitalist-imperialist rapacity. Access to the qualifiers of bourgeois identity (like money) are premised on this racism. In fact identity formation is critical in Fanon's analysis; colonialism is a total project, so the colonized find themselves adrift in abjection. But violence changes all of that. Violence is simultaneously a saying of no to colonialism and a saying of yes to the possibilities of post-colonial life.
Gotta tell you, I have very mixed feelings about the use of the word 'colonization' here (yes, even though I mentioned it). And Franz Fanon is simply an excellent person to listen to here.
On the one hand, I can understand the rationale. This certainly is colonization of a sort. I doubt historically colonization has always been brutally violent. @histodons, can you help? But Fanon I think wants to save the word for a the brutality that certainly characterizes many--and this should not be taken lightly.