The Professor of American Studies at Yale, Ms. Greta LaFleur came to speak to us about the relationship between sexuality that we experience early in life to the environment. Professor LaFleur structured her talk through a few different “narratives” that she believes best illustrates this connection.
Ms. LaFleur began her talk by detailing about a narrative of an execution. This kickstarted the discussion/talk with a vivid account that I thought did well to hook the audience by presenting an intense scene. She then went on to detail the narrative of captivity. Captivity refers to the Catholic sailors that were enslaved by the islamic slave trade market towards the end of the 20th century. Professor LaFleur went on to talk about sodomy which confused me because she then was able to relate this to her initial assertion that our environment relating to early sexuality. The first two accounts that LaFleur gave did not necessarily pertain to our environment or the environment of the narrations that she provided. This is where I had a little trouble bridging the gap between her talk theme and her examples. Later on, Professor LaFleur went on to read a quote that highlighted the connection: the relationship and actions that humans embark upon are all a part of history and the earth through the change we have experienced.
The quote that LaFleur provided as the reason of connection between the environment and people relies to the theory of climate. This is understood as the shaping/adapting of peoples bodies and lives to the climate that they live in. This is a fairly simple idea but when applied to the narratives that LaFleur provides, it provides compelling evidence of her claim. She further elucidated her point by talking about cuffing. This is understood as the idea that generally, when the weather gets colder outside, people tend to want to come together and share their body heat. This can be seen through hugging and snuggling that is quite prevalent. This example provided evidence that people inherently do change their behavior around the climate whether this is conscious or subconscious.
LaFleur continued her talk by introducing Samuel Smith and detailing an essay of his. This essay was on the causes of a variety of complexion and figure in the human species and it looked at the variation in humans caused by just about anything. These differences play together with the environment to influence how people act and live their lives. The main argument that LaFleur posed was that humans are inherently connected to the environment whether that is consciously done or not. We have all adapted to our natural environment, climate, weather and we may not necessarily be aware of it but it has shaped our behavior and the way we live our lives. Overall, I enjoyed Professor LaFleur’s talk and found it to be very compelling. If you think about what she was talking about it makes quite simple sense. We are all a product of our environment and the climate/natural environment that we live in is going to ultimately affect the way that we live and act with the environment itself but also with others.