Conclusion: Course
Review
Making of the Modern World
May 2016
Course Review
 1. Civilising Mission
 2. Decolonisation in perspective
 3. Neo-colonialism
 4. Postcolonialism / Postcolonial Studies
 5. British history and society in the aftermath of Empire
1. Civilising Mission
Discourse
 Discourse: denotes written and spoken communications
 Humanities/social sciences: the term discourse
describes a formal way of thinking that can be
expressed through language. Discourse is a social
boundary that defines what statements can be said
about a topic
 Impossible to avoid discourse, closely linked to power
and state influences, e.g. discourses of guerrilla
movements as freedom fighters/terrorists
 Michel Foucault: discourse plays important role in wider
social processes of legitimating and power. Truths are
constructed and maintained, discourse is a medium
through which power relations produce subjects
 Power-Knowledge: truths are not objective, but
constructed through our interactions. What a society
holds to be true changes over time
Colonial Discourse
 Discourse that revolves around phenomenon of
colonialism
 Collection of narratives, statements, opinions that
deal with colonised subjects, from perspective of
colonisers
 European colonizers tended to construct the
identities of colonised peoples/territories as ‘Other’:
undeveloped, primitive, immature, homogenous.
Coloniser represented as having a ‘duty’ to civilise
 Colonial discourse justified and underpinned colonial
project (civilising mission)
 Cultural logic of imperialism: view of non-Western
world as genetically inferior. System of categorisation
in which certain races, societies, cultures perceived
as inferior
Orientalism
 Orientalism: term used by scholars, describes depiction of
Eastern (‘Oriental’) cultures by Western artists and writers
 In 18th and 19th centuries, an ‘Orientalist’ was a scholar who
specialised in the languages and literatures of the East
 Term ‘Orientalism’ redefined in 1978, when Edward Said
published his influential and controversial book, Orientalism
 Western representations of the East/Orient closely tied to
imperial power – depict Oriental culture as irrational, weak,
feminised, ‘Other’. Contrasted with rational, strong,
masculine culture of the West
 Orientalism a pervasive Western tradition (academic and
artistic), produce prejudiced interpretations of the East,
shaped by attitudes of European imperialism in 18th and 19th
centuries
 Orientalism continues to resonate today, e.g. demonization
of Islam in news and popular culture
Civilising Mission
 Intellectual origins: Christian tradition dating
from the Middle Ages. European thinkers
naturalised social change through the
metaphor of ‘development’
 By 18th century, following Enlightenment,
history came to be seen as a linear, unending,
inevitable process of social evolutionism with
the European nations running ahead
 ‘Progressive’ European thinkers postulated a
holy duty to help those more backward
peoples help civilise themselves
 Evolutionist views increasingly connected to
racial science in the 19th century
 Evolutionist views survived colonialism,
repackaged as modernisation theory after
1945
Medicine, Education, Language
 Medicine: fundamental expression of liberal
imperialism, ‘curing’ ills to set subjects ‘free’.
Medicine a colonising force in its own right,
never a benevolent gift but part of broader set
of myths and system of colonial control
 Education: Exposing pupils to European values
and belief systems, tutelage and trusteeship
 Language: European imperialism deeply
affected linguistic and social makeup of
regions, local language policies, status and
development of both European/non-European
languages. ‘Linguistic colonisation’
2. Decolonisation in
Perspective
Decolonisation
 The undoing of colonialism; withdrawal from
colonies; acquisition of political and economic
independence by former colonies
 Usually refers to dismantling of European empires
after 1945
 Second World War bankrupted European empires;
accelerated rise of anti-colonialism; resulted in
new world order, in which global superpowers
opposed (in principle) to European colonialism
 British disengagement generally peaceful, but not
without violence: Malaya, Kenya, Rhodesia,
Cyprus
Violence and Decolonisation
 Frantz Fanon (1925-61): Martinique-born Afro-Caribbean
psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, writer. Concerned
with psychopathology of colonisation, and consequences
(human, social, cultural) of decolonisation
 The Wretched of the Earth (1961): psychiatric and
psychologic analysis of the dehumanising effects of
colonisation. Advocates violence as necessary for
successful decolonisation
 For Fanon, violent struggle is only means of genuinely
overthrowing oppressive empires – a ‘liberating violence’
that ushers in new kind of national identity/humanity
 Violence a legitimate and justified means to end
colonialism. For Fanon, peaceful decolonisation only
implies the continuation of colonial norms, replacing
European rulers with westernised elites
 Fanon writing in context of Algerian War of Independence
Decolonising The Mind
 To decolonise the mind and consciousness: implies much more
than just attaining formal political independence
 Colonial rule and subordination embedded in cultural systems
of identity and representation. Therefore, the formal end of
European colonialism does not necessarily mean the end of
colonial forms of power
 Call to re-evaluate and reverse European cultural norms.
Challenge to European/Western knowledge systems and ways
of thinking that historically supported imperial authority
 ‘Decolonising the mind’ part of broader calls for transformation
by anti-colonial/postcolonial theorists: e.g. radical overhauling
of global inequality, increased respect for native cultures,
move towards more inclusive and participatory democracy
 Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of
Language in African Literature (1981): advocates for linguistic
decolonisation. Writing in English is to foster neo-colonial
mentality?
The ‘Third World’
 First World: US, Western Europe, and allies
 Second World: Soviet Union, PRC, Cuba, and allies
 Third World: countries that remained non-aligned
with either NATO or Communist Bloc
 Way of broadly categorising nations. ‘Third World’
included many countries with colonial pasts, often
synonymous with the Non-Aligned Movement
 Third Worldism: political movement that argues for
unity of third world nations against outside
influence and interference, e.g. Non-Aligned
Movement. Also critiqued as fig leaf for human
right violations and political repression
 During the Cold War, unaligned Third world
nations courted as potential allies by both blocs,
offered economic and military support
The ‘Third World’ and the Cold War
 Through decolonisation, the Cold War reached
into, and helped create, the Third World
 Superpowers could inject Cold War into
anticolonial struggles, often warping massively
 Rival superpower missions of freedom and social
justice in territories of decolonised states – was
arguably analogous to earlier European civilising
missions. Direct rule/exploitation replaced by
ideological control and aid
 Eurocentric interpretations of the Cold War can
blur the agency of Third World actors. Not mere
pawns, but exerted influence, dictated events,
adept at manipulating superpowers
3. Neo-Colonialism
Neo-colonialism
 Geopolitical practice of using capitalism, business
globalisation, cultural imperialism to influence a
country in lieu of direct imperialism
 Despite decolonisation, continuing influence of
developed nations in developing world. Control
maintained through international economic
arrangements
 Concept of neo-colonialism originally developed
within Marxist theoretical framework (Lenin, Nkrumah)
 Control by multinational corporations (MNCs),
persistence of social and cultural practices imposed
by colonial powers, psychological trauma
 Ideological position that decolonisation has
completed
Globalisation
 David Harvey: beneath the neutral mask of
‘globalisation’ is raw imperialism
 What is ‘globalised’ by globalisation? Western
capitalism; US-based global media oligopoly;
neoliberal development model
 Globalisation championed as harbinger of free
trade. New form of more subtle, indirect
imperialism? No longer seeks territorial control of
the world, instead accumulates capital via control
of markets, works through cultural and financial
imperialism
 Imperialism suggests a purposeful project intended spread of a social system from one
centre of power across the globe. ‘Globalisation’
less coherent and purposeful?
Neoliberalism
 Resurgence of 19th century ideas associated with laissezfaire economic liberalism
 Tends to advocate extensive economic liberalisation
policies: privatisation, fiscal austerity, deregulation, free
trade, reduced government spending, enhanced role of
private sector
 Implementation of neoliberal policies and acceptance of
neoliberal economic theories in the 1970s, particularly in
response to oil ‘shocks’ and Third World debt crisis
 Solutions: devised by creditor countries, banks, global
financial institutions. In return for debt
rescheduling/cancellation, indebted countries had to
pursue set of IMF policies (structural adjustment)
 The ‘lost decade’ - stagnation, decreasing output,
unemployment, falling wages, reduced public spending on
social services, aggravation of poverty, growing inequality
4. Postcolonialism /
Postcolonial Studies
Postcolonialism / Postcolonial Studies
 Contested concept, no general consensus. Difficult to define ‘postcolonialism’,
as is difficult to define ‘colonialism’
 Temporal: denotes immediate time after colonialism/independence
 Academic discipline: set of intellectual methods that analyse, explain, respond
to cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism
 The study of the effects of colonialism on cultures and societies
 Postcolonial theory does not presume the end of colonialism, ‘post’ never just
means ‘after’
 Unlike postmodernism, postcolonialism does not imply direct refuting of
preceding paradigm. Instead, acknowledges impacts of colonisation, identifies
the experience of imperial domination as important, draws attention to legacies
of this history in the present
Postcolonialism / Postcolonial Studies
 Critical theory: presents, uncovers, explains the ideology and practice of neocolonialism
 Cross-disciplinary: draws from across the humanities and social sciences,
including history; political science; philosophy; sociology; anthropology; human
geography; film studies; religious studies; feminism; linguistics; literature; Marxist
theory
 Literary theory: studies literatures produced by peoples who were once colonial
subjects, and literatures of decolonised countries engaged in postcolonial
arrangements with former Mother Country
 Politics of knowledge: addresses and analyses the politics of knowledge (how
ideas are created, used and disseminated) of colonialism and neo-colonialism –
how and why imperial regimes represented colonisers and colonised subjects
 Postcolonialism usually conceptualised as a political, ethical and literary theory,
anti-colonial in character
Critical Purpose
 Postcolonialism now well established across humanities and social sciences
 Critical purpose is to account for, and combat the residual effects (social,
political, cultural) of colonialism upon the peoples once ruled by the Mother
Country
 Postcolonial theory seeks to establish social and cultural spaces for non-Western
peoples (‘subalterns’), whose native cultures were suppressed by the Western
value systems promoted as the dominant ideology of colonialism
 The critical destabilisation of the theories (intellectual, linguistic, social,
economic) that support the ways of Western thought which underpinned
colonialism (deductive reasoning, rule of law, monotheism)
 Seeks to establish intellectual spaces for subalterns to ‘speak’ for themselves, in
their own voices
Political and Literary Origins
 Political roots can be traced back to wave of
radical anti-colonial literature in later decades of
Empire
 Mohandas K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (1909)
W. E. B. Du Bois, Color and Democracy: Colonies and
Peace (1945)
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks (1952)
Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism (1955)
Albert Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized
(1957)
 Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958): essential
novel on African identity, nationalism,
decolonisation. Highlights fight between
colonialism and traditional African society in 1890s
Nigeria
Key Theorists
 Frantz Fanon
 Edward Said
 Subaltern Studies school / Gayatri Chakravorty
Spivak
 Dipesh Chakrabarty
Provincializing Europe (2000)
 Powerful legacy of the Enlightenment in universalised
concepts, which have influenced projects of modernity
all over the world: citizenship, human rights, public
sphere, civil society, democracy, popular sovereignty,
the state, equality before the law, social justice
 Chakrabarty not calling to reject or discard European
thought, which is both ‘indispensable and inadequate’
to understand modernity in non-Western nations. But how
do we retain these notions, while making room for
alternative ways of life?
 ‘Provincializing’ Europe:
- move beyond Eurocentrism;
- combat European Orientalism;
- question universalism;
- dismantle the intellectual, political, and economic
legacies of European imperialism;
- analyse how postcolonial literatures ‘write back’ to
former centres of imperial power in Europe;
- destabilise the myth that the European experience is
the ‘normal’ path of development for all other histories
Critiques and Challenges
 Spirit of postcolonialism is ongoing self-critique – value of
term ‘postcolonial’ continually interrogated and questioned
 Too academic – lacks the radical energy and urgency of
the anti-colonial movements it claims to follow. Deradicalises what these movements stood for, reworks them
into forms consistent with current academic fashions
 Emphasises aesthetic issues over concrete material issues
involving economic and cultural exploitation
 Lacks clear political direction, focuses on formerly colonised
nations and obscures ongoing neo-imperialism/colonialism
in the present
 Vivek Chibber: by undermining universal values,
postcolonialism denies that people across the world have
universal aspirations and interests. Therefore, presents the
differences between East and West as unbridgeable,
actually endorses Orientalism rather than challenging it
5. British history and society
in the aftermath of Empire
Memories and Legacies of Empire
 British imperialism is ideologically charged subject.
Interpretations of imperialism have been linked
and harnessed to grand narratives of British state
formation
 British exceptionalism; national decline;
disintegration – constructions of past which are
not neutral, but embody ideological assumptions
 Imperialism closely tied to self-comprehension and
self-definition of Britain as a nation
 Self-image: Britain ‘has lost an empire and has not
yet found a role’. Decline evident in Suez Crisis
(1956), Devaluation (1967), IMF bailout (1976).
Post-imperial great power syndrome resurfaced in
Falklands crisis (1982), post-2001 ‘special
relationship’
Grappling with Imperialism
 Has the imperial past made it harder to live with racial
difference at home? Britain not risen to the challenge of
successfully integrating immigrants
 In recent decades, Britain has undergone series of
shocks to its conception of itself. These coalesce around
shift in race relations, from multiculturalism to social
cohesion. Shaped by imperial legacy?
 Admission of existence of ‘institutional racism’ at home
never adequately linked to the racist apparatus that
was necessary to empire
 Michael Gove’s proposed revisions to national
curriculum, 2010 – revise how history is taught, more
focused on England, ‘celebrate’ imperial history.
Backed down in 2013
 If Britain was truly honest to its citizenry about Empire,
would its national cohesion unravel at the seams?
Global Leadership
 Continuities between 19th and 20th/21st century empire are
legible in the global development aid architecture
 British rhetoric on development aid bears mark of empire?
 Britain portrays itself as a leader in the global development
project, only able to do so in ambivalent relationship to its
colonial past
 Britain's national narratives undergone/undergoing a
complex crisis around facts of Empire. Britain's global role
reconfigured and reorganised around global leadership in
international development aid, in partnership with the US
 Gordon Brown, 2006: argued for ‘liberty’, ‘responsibility’, and
‘fairness’ to be promoted as Britain's core values.
Recovered values will equip Britain for leadership role in the
global economy?
The British Empire: ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’?
 Source of pride, or source of shame?
 Should historians attribute blame, or be detached
and dispassionate?
 Empire is an emotional force in Britain.
On political Right: signifies decline, end of British
exceptionalism
On political Left: connected with misogyny, racism,
chauvinism, overseas and at home
 What Empire means to Britain is of importance
beyond academic debates – many look to Empire to
understand current situations and future trajectories,
proxy for debates about ‘Britishness’
 Many serious historians of Empire argue that we
should steer clear of the debate – too controversial,
too subjective, impossible to reduce down to one
interpretation
Auditing Empire

No absolutes in historical experience: some people (not all of them
white and European) benefitted from imperialism

People were freed from slavery or protected from it

Sick people were cured and some endemic diseases eradicated

Some barbaric practices outlawed and eradicated

Mortality rates dropped in long term

Administrative and legal norms often improved

Railways and infrastructure constructed

Spread British culture, language, technology

Disseminated ideas of democracy, good governance, free speech,
sport, fair play, enlightened values, Christian civilisation across the world
Auditing Empire (2)

The sun never set on the British Empire, but ‘the blood never dried’

Slaves shipped from Africa

Introduced/spread diseases (e.g. malaria, plague, sleeping sickness)

People died, sometimes in mass numbers – violence and genocide

Functioning systems of governance and jurisdiction skewed or
destroyed

Food self-sufficiency eroded, causing famines

Indigenous cultures trampled over

Psychological trauma and alienation

Lauded ‘benefits’ often unintentional or over-stated, e.g. railways
Auditing Empire (3)
 View of a pre-colonial utopia ruined by imperial aggression
is inaccurate and reductionist - exaggerates imperial
power, obscures agency of subjects, ignores complicity of
many indigenous peoples, e.g. African slave hunters/sellers
 Britain better than other colonial Empires? Probably was in
many ways. But is this a justifiable argument?
 Niall Ferguson: British Empire fostered globalisation, overseas
investment, free trade. Therefore in the long run, raised
levels of prosperity all round. Justified?
 Colonialism predicated upon inequality, placed less value
on lives of colonial subjects. Inherently exploitative
 Need to appreciate complexities and ambiguities of British
Empire, and more openly come to terms with our imperial
past