Lecture 2- Imperialism Flashcards
Frantz Fanon
- Martinique
-Psychiatrist - First, to analyse what colonialism has done to the mind of the colonised and how it impacts imperialist post-colonialism
- Post-colonial theory
Edward Said
- Palestine
-Postcolonialism - Orientalism- How knowledge of us helped the imperial profit. Refers to the Western study and depiction of Eastern societies—often encompassing the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa—as exotic, backward, uncivilized, and fundamentally different from the West. Said argues that these representations were not just benign cultural exchanges but were used to justify and perpetuate colonial domination. Orientalism is a form of intellectual and cultural imperialism where the West constructs and maintains its identity by contrasting itself against the imagined and often distorted image of the “Orient.” This framework critically examines how knowledge and power intersect in portraying non-Western cultures, revealing the biases and stereotypes underpinning colonial and post-colonial relationships.
Walter Mignolo
- Argentina
- looks at the effects of colonial modernity, capitalism, and neoliberalism.
-decolonisation thinking - His work focuses on dismantling the colonial matrix of power that endures after formal colonial rule, challenging Eurocentric narratives, and validating non-Western epistemologies through concepts like “epistemic disobedience” and “border thinking.” Mignolo extends Aníbal Quijano’s “coloniality of power” to describe colonialism’s persistent social, economic, and political hierarchies. He advocates for “transmodernity,” envisioning a future that integrates marginalized cultural traditions to create a just, pluralistic global order and critiques globalization for perpetuating colonial exploitation under the guise of integration.
Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí
- Nigeria
- Understanding gender through an indigenous lens
-Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí is a distinguished scholar whose work critically examines the intersections of gender, culture, and knowledge production within African contexts. Her groundbreaking book, “The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses,” challenges the imposition of Western gender categories onto Yoruba society, arguing that pre-colonial Yoruba did not organize social roles based on biological sex. Oyěwùmí’s research highlights how colonialism imposed Western notions of gender and body, reshaping indigenous social structures and knowledge systems. She advocates for a decolonized approach to gender studies that recognizes and respects the cultural specificity of African societies. Oyěwùmí’s contributions extend to broader debates on the decolonization of knowledge, emphasizing the need to deconstruct Eurocentric epistemologies and appreciate the diversity of non-Western intellectual traditions. Her work is pivotal in rethinking feminist theory and gender studies globally, advocating for inclusivity and acknowledging varied cultural understandings of identity and social organization.
Postcolonial theory
Post-colonial theory is a critical framework that examines colonialism and imperialism’s cultural, political, and social impacts on formerly colonized societies. It focuses on understanding and deconstructing how colonial powers imposed their control and how this has shaped identities, cultures, and power dynamics in post-colonial contexts. Key concepts include colonial discourse, orientalism, hybridity, mimicry, and the idea of the subaltern, as articulated by scholars like Edward Said and Frantz Fanon. The theory aims to highlight the ongoing effects of colonization and advocate for the voices and perspectives of those historically marginalized.
*Textual analysis (literary studies)
*Research into the negative effects of colonial relations
*Formulating a critique
*Resistance to the effects of colonialism
*Often operates within colonial dichotomies
*Extended to other ‘grand narratives’ (nation, gender)
Decolonial thinking
Latin America
*Effects of ‘colonial modernity’ (e.g. capitalism)
*’Colonial matrix of power’
*’ Coloniality’
*Epistemic reconstitution
agency; ‘Sideways’ knowledge dissemination
- Decolonial thinking is an intellectual and political movement that seeks to challenge and dismantle the enduring legacies of colonialism in contemporary society. It critiques the dominance of Western epistemologies, power structures, and cultural norms that persist even after the formal end of colonial rule. Decolonial thinkers emphasize the importance of recognizing and validating diverse ways of knowing and being that have been marginalized by colonialism. This involves advocating for “epistemic disobedience,” or the rejection of Western-centric knowledge systems, and promoting “border thinking,” which centres the perspectives of those who live at the intersections of different cultures and histories. The concept of the “coloniality of power,” developed by scholars like Aníbal Quijano and extended by others such as Walter Mignolo, describes the systemic and pervasive power relations rooted in colonial history that continue to shape global hierarchies and inequalities. Decolonial thought calls for a “universal” world where multiple epistemologies coexist and where social, economic, and political structures are reimagined to reflect and respect the plurality of human experiences. This approach is seen as essential for creating a more just and equitable global order that transcends the limitations and injustices of Western modernity.
Empires
- Geography: empires are ‘big’
- ‘Rimless wheel’ (hub-and spokes) à
- Formed by conquest
- Composite (ethnically), different from imperial Cajon
- AdministraJvely differenjated (various forms of rule)
- Control (coercion)
- LegiJmaJon is supranational and strongly ritualized
New Imperialism
*Europe
*overseas empires
*global reach
*existing colonial bridgeheads
*various motives, similar outcomes
*seIler colonies, plantasion colonies
New imperialism, occurring predominantly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, significantly departed from earlier colonial practices as European powers and the United States pursued extensive territorial expansion for economic, political, and cultural dominance. Fueled by industrialization, technological advancements, nationalist fervour, and ideological justifications like Social Darwinism, this era saw a fervent scramble for colonies. European powers sought to secure access to resources, markets, and strategic territories, resulting in the direct annexation and control of vast regions in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The imposition of colonial rule led to the exploitation of indigenous populations, the extraction of wealth, and the imposition of European political and cultural norms. New imperialism reshaped the global geopolitical landscape, leaving a legacy of colonialism that continues to reverberate in contemporary societies.
Nationalism
Nationalism and national competition
- Bismarck: Opposed to imperial Conquest
- 1891: Kaiser Wilhelm II: Weltpolitk Acquisi9on of colonies
- Cecil Rhodes: Cape to Cairo
“I would annex the planets if I could”
- Italian-Ottoman war 1911
*new legi9ma9on of the state
*suppor9ng na9onal business
*compe99on
*popular imperialism
Capitalism
J.A. Hobson: Imperialism: A study (1902) - Theory of accumulation
- Money in one country has to find its way out due to underconsumption and overproduction it will seek profit abroad
V.I. Lenin: Imperialism: The highest
stage of capitalism (1916)
*capitalism
* Characterise by dominance of monopolisation and export of capital
John Gallagher & Ronald Robinson ‘Imperialism of free trade’ (1953)
*Continuity
*trade interest drove imperialism through free trade
*expansion since 1850
*’ informal when possible, formal
when necessary’
Tech
European mari9me dominance
Un9l 1880s no superior army on land
Transfer of technology
Disastrous campaigns: Aceh, Madagscar 1885, Ethiopia 1896
1883 Maxim gun (Hiram Maxim) à
Quinine produc9on
Civilising mission
Rudyard Kipling (1899)
‘The white mans burden’
Partha Chatterjee: ‘The rule of colonial
difference’ The nation and its fragments
(1993)
Colonials were controlled by creating a fundamental distinction between colonizers and the colonies
local dynamics
*not initiated in metropole
*often, local administrators
*border threats
*trade conflicts (smuggling)
*assisting neighbouring rulers
àpiecemeal annexation
àpatchwork colonies
Example:
India
17th/18th c.: East India Company
1757 Plassey à Bengal
1803 Delhi
Direct/indirect/protectorates/autonomous regions
Criticism
*mainly western history
*Western diffusionist view of capitalism/modernity
*confirms idea of Western hegemony
*subjects the history of the world to
Western epistemologies
BUT:
*balance in knowledge about places/people
*agency in world history
*open to other dynamics
Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe (2000)
Africa
Extension of previous interests (Gold Coast & South Africa, Senegal, Mozambique)
Commercial and banking interests (British Egypt)
Protecting sea lanes (British Somaliland)
Nationalist imperialism (German Cameroun, Italian Libya)
Adventurism (Belgian Congo)
Local tensions and economic interests
