Week 5: Imperialism, Readings: Ploszajska and Blomley Flashcards
How was Africa historically imagined by European Society?
From 1750s-1930s, Europe imagined Africa as an object of study, perceived as ahistorical and lacking its own discourse and history.
What were the two main visions for Africa in the Europea imagination?
1) To recreate an imperial structure reminiscent (e.g., British Cape to Cairo Railway)
2) To fight against British influence
What role did geography and empire mapping play in imperialism?
Geography necessitated the mapping of lands to develop empires and establish a taxonomy of race. Seemingly ratified by an official map.
How does critical cartography reflect on the historical imperialistic attitudes?
The language and depiction of mapping reproduces a static view of African civilisation and modernisation, fixing nations’ images and locating problem and solutions within territorial limits.
What is the ‘Africa gaze’?
It refer to tropes from the West associated with Africa, such as humanitarian issues, that establish asymmetries between the observer and the subject.
What are some contemporary examples of the Africa gaze?
LEDC/MEDC, mapping. Western thought as the “master narrative”
What does Ploszajska argue (2000)?
From a critical cartography perspective, Ploszajaska argues for a critical reflection on the historiography of geography in the context of empire. Polszajska’s work challenges the Eurocentric view by advocating for a broader inclusion of premodern and non-European imperial contexts (e.g., relook at textbooks)
What does Blomley (2003) argue? what thought does this stem from?
Blomley offers a critical perspective on the role of violence and land designation in the establishment of private property regimes. He provides a lens through which to read mapping, not as a neutral tool, but imbued with social functions and implications (e.g., mapping practices and critiques the supposed objectivity of European geographic representations)
What is an example of imperial era exhibitions? why are they problematic?
At World Fairs for example, imperial powers would present African people in ‘authentic villages’, showing off the other. Moreover, at other presentations, ‘human zoos’ were created across European cities, these existed as mechanisms of change in popular mentalities.
