LEC #7: Colonialism, Slavery and Racism

Question 1

What is Colonialism? and who were 3 major colonizers?

Answer 1

the process and policies in which a nation state acquires extends, or retains its political, social, cultural and economic dominance over other people or their territory

• when one country goes into another country and takes over their resources and their land
• 3 major colonizers were Britain, France and Spain

Question 2

what is slavery?

Answer 2

one of the most enduring institutions and conditions that is directly associated with ‘debasement’

Question 3

What did the european colonizers do?

Answer 3

• they achieved physical conquests of territories
• they colonized the minds, selves and cultures
• british gunboats spread out across the seas to the land to extract natural resources
• naturally they created a hierarchal sociopolitical system within colonized territory and perpetuated inequalities and created racial ideologies

Question 4

how did the europeans describe the aboriginals?

Answer 4

• Primitives
• tribals
• savages
• underdeveloped

Question 5

What were consequences of colonialism?

Answer 5

• social, cultural and environmental disruptions
• native people were forced to change food strategies since resources were slim
• settlements that were close to trade routes were more susceptible to infection

Question 6

How did the colonizers justify slavery?**

Answer 6

• they created the differences in-between the europeans and the africans and established natural inferiority of africans which made them sustainable to slavery
• defended the harsh treatment and enslavement as a part of a naturally orderly system for humans caring for/ managing their fellow creatures
• Colonizers/christian missionaries took the responsibility of civilizing them (enslaved) arguing that black people were not christians and therefore were not civilized (ex: whitens burden)

Question 7

what is white mans burden?**

Answer 7

justifying that everyone who wasn’t white (aboriginals and blacks) were not able to improve their own land and resources and help the british because they were not civilized
- the british believe that the non-europeans always needed ‘help’ because they could never do anything on their own b/c they were such burden

Question 8

how is the process of colonization and and racial construction based on ethnocentrism? and how is it linked to slavery?**

Answer 8

• the idea of superiority and inferiority
• they created the idea of the great chain of being and saying that black people are sub human
• the people that looked different were considered a different kind of human
• the ideology and practice of race and racism became more widespread as slavery expanded