week 6: colonization, colonialism, & GEP Flashcards
How does colonial thinking underpin colonial dynamics?
Explains how colonial mindsets and logic led to colonization.
For example: the doctrine of discovery was the idea of terra nullus - colonizers and settlers who found the land have the right to that land - adopted the mindset of taking from the land without any regard for the ecosystem and balance.
Since they discovered the land there is no other uses for it really neglecting indigenous communities.
Define colonization.
Colonization - a (social) structure and ‘continuing process’ (not an event) ; a ‘practice of domination which involves the subjugation of one people to another’ and possession of the land.
Characterized by Direct political, military/physical, and economic control and occupation of space e.g., settlement by European settlers.
Define colonialism.
Colonialism - set of relationships and logics that allow colonization; ‘relationships characterized by conquest and genocide.
What is the different between colonization and colonialism?
Colonialism is the logic that allows colonization
Explain neocolonialism
Ongoing indirect control resulting in unequal economic and power relations.
What is settler colonialism?
Settler colonialism - a distinct form of colonialism ‘predicated on the dispossession of Indigenous Peoples’ lands and political authority’.
What is imperialism?
Imperialism - often used synonymously with colonization; broader and more indirect means of control.
Tends to be used to talk about indirect forms of control - but also very dependent on the context that scholars are situated in.
In addition to direct control its also about controlling means of production through economic forces for example.
What are structural adjustment programs (SAPs)?
Programs intended for lending and debt relief to developing countries on condition of neoliberal policies.
What are the types of neoliberal policies that were included in SAPs?
Imposition of neoliberal policies - free trade and free markets (esp. to increase export for resource extraction like mining), cutting regulation, privatization, austerity & cutting govt spending (health care and education), lower wages
What was the consequence of SAPs?
Disastrous results & legacy - fuelling inequality (gender), poverty, unemployment, vulnerable to shocks, environmental degradation
Describe the ontology of an anticolonial lens to GEP. What are its 2 components?
Unlike conventional ‘isms’ that centre the Westphalian state, focus on the lived experiences of those affected (e.g., by the climate crisis).
- Rejection of universalizing or uniform systems or dynamics (e.g., a ‘single [future] catastrophe’) - this ignores the differential aspects of the problem.
- Context and specificity, differential impacts, relations, local constructions of power relations.
Describe the epistemology of an anticolonial lens to GEP.
Attention to knowledge and knowledge production (whose knowledge is valued?); to diverse ways of knowing of those most affected; co-production of knowledge with those affected.
