Colonialism: A Political History Perspective

Colonialism: A Political History Perspective

The Americas

Colonialism and the notion of dispossession

Depression rests on: the use of physical violence the institutional power and the supporting infrastructure of the colonial settler ( my notion of restructuring of colonial society) native space becoming the absolute space of the colonizers
“the reserve system … as a spatial strategy of dispossession and population management” (Cole: 174)

The binary of dispossession and repossession (how Aboriginal peoples were dispossessed and the issue of land claims continues to this day - Six Nations)

The legitimation rationale of dispossession
-the civilizational - savagery binary (Orientalist)

The management of dispossession
-By the re-articulation of society through the creation of division between peoples, the introduction of maps, european law(Property), and the geography of resettlement (how Aboriginal people’s hunting, fishing and gathering economy was displaced)

Race refers to the idea that there exist distinct biological types of humans, but race as a category is not real; it is a social construct. Race- based physical and cultural markers, such as skin colour, other physical features, and culture, become the basis for the creation of social difference between a dominant privileged group and subordinate marginalized individuals and groups, and contribute to the amassing of power and privilege by the expense of the latter, who become racialized in the process.

Racialization is the process of creating racial subjects by the exercise of power and by ascribing physical and/or cultural difference to the ‘other’ in order to benefit the dominant group. Through this process, race, which is not real, which is not real, acquires social meaning.

Racialized are individuals or groups who are subjected to the process of racialization in societies divided on the basis of race.

Racism: an ideology that exalts the dominant group with certain desirable attributes while simultaneously characterizing the subordinate individuals/groups in society as inferiorized on the basis of the

Racism: an ideology that exalts the dominant group with certain desirable attributes while simultaneously characterizing the subordinate individuals/groups in society as interiorized on the basis of physical and cultural markers. The ideological manifestation of racism underlies the assertion of power and is meant to inflict pain, harm and/or loss on subordinate individuals and groups in society.

Orientalist view: Tribal and backward; people steeped in superstition and irrationality; ruled by oppressive tyrants and overlords

Historical evidence of pre-colonial Africa:
Ranged from tribal to feudal societies (Egypt - feudal; Mali or Guinea - tribal)
Trade among different tribes and regions
Good health, food and nutrition - excellent indigenous diets ensured good health; famines were unheard of
Political system: control by feudal elites/monarchs or tribal/clan elders
Although women were subordinated to men, mother- right was prevalent in many communities
Resource-rich societies
There were instances of forced labour, bondahe and slavert
Production was of a variety of different crops (not monoculture)
Production was largely primary or “primitive accumulation”
Places like Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia were highly advanced centres of learning and scholarship

Colonial Africa:
Colonialism removes people from history: the colonized become objects of colonizer’s (intellectual) curiosity - to be examined and labeled.
The colonized become sub-humans and not makers of history
Tribalism and ‘feuding tribes’ became the derogatory identity of Africa.
The craving of Africa by European colonial powers placed an even greater burden of conflict
The colonial division of labour (CDL) – monoculture
Health of Africans deteriorated significantly – famines
In the 70 years of colonial rule in Africa, the peasant societies of Russia and China became industrialized societies,

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