WHY ARE YOU HERE?
• Why are you here? Think and discuss?
• As a percentage how British are you and
explain your answer?
Colonialism and post
colonialism
LO: to explore the effects of colonialism
and apply post-colonial theory to our
British Asian case studies.
Colonialism
• Before we can understand post colonialism we need
to ask what colonialism is?
• Colonialism is the building and maintaining of colonies
in one territory by people based elsewhere. It can also
take the form of subjugation of a minority culture by a
majority culture. Colonialism is often linked with the
concept of imperialism.
• Task: Discuss- who were the countries listed below
colonised by?
• Senegal
• Brazil
• South Africa
• Canada
• Philippines
• India
‘Avatar’.
What is the film saying about the idea of colonisation?
What about the choice of Afro-American actors to play the
Nabi.
The Colonies in the 19th century
Map of the British Empire- circa 1890s
The British Empire- a bit of history
•
The British Empire comprised of the colonies, ruled and administered by
the United Kingdom.
•
These had originated as trading posts established by England in the late
16th and early 17th centuries.
•
At its height in the early 20th Century, the British empire was the largest
empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power.
•
By 1922, the British Empire held sway over a population of about 458
million people, one-quarter of the world's population at the time.
•
As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At
the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British
Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always
shining on at least one of its numerous territories.
•
During the remainder of the 20th century, as part of a larger decolonisation
movement by European powers, most of the territories of the British Empire
became independent.
•
Fourteen territories now remain under British sovereignty including
Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.
Do now recap.
• Watch this extract from ‘Yasmin’.
• How can you relate the idea of colonialism
to the clip?
• What key terms could you use in relation
to the clip?
Colonialism and Imperialism
• A colony is part of an empire and so
colonialism is closely related to
imperialism.
• The assumption is that colonialism
and imperialism are the same,
however some suggest that
imperialism is the concept while
colonialism is the practice.
American cultural imperialism
• For example there is no doubt that
currently the US is the culturally dominant
force in the world so it could be said that
most of the world is dominated by
American imperialism. However America
has no actual colonies or territories that it
governs.
• Therefore American Imperialism or
‘Americanisation’ as it has come to be
known, is conceptual not a practical ‘taking
over’ of another nation or culture.
The legacy of the British Empire
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWedTbuAtR4&feature=related&safe=active
• Task: what have been some of the
consequences of the British empire for the
countries it governed?
•
•
•
•
Change of language.
Parliamentary, legal and education systems.
Imposing British values.
Place Names (the Australian states for exampleVictoria, Queensland etc).
• Ruled by monarchy/elite ruling classes.
• Immigration to the mother country.
An image of two ‘punkawallahs’
(Indian servants) who would
care for their white British
masters during the time of the
empire.
What would Marxists say?
An image of the touring West
Indian cricket team of 1906. Note
the number of white British players
and the seating arrangement!
Why a split team? What would
Marxists say?
Marxist criticisms of colonialism
• “Colonialism is an instrument of wholesale
destruction, dependency and systematic exploitation
producing distorted economies, socio-psychological
disorientation and massive poverty “
• This is the Marxist view of colonialism. They viewed it as a form of
capitalism, enforcing exploitation and social change.
• Working within the global capitalist system, colonialism is closely
associated with uneven development.
Back to ‘East is East’
• How is the legacy of the British Empire
evidenced in the clip?
• How does the Marx quote relate? Why did
George come to the UK?
• Think about key words in the quote
‘dependency’, ‘destruction’,
‘disorientation’.
Returning to the ‘mother country’
• How were the first wave of immigrants
treated in the UK?
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNH4JBQiSY&safe=active
Decolonisation and Immigration
• By the 1960s most of the British Empire had been dismantled
allowing nations to become independently governed or decolonised.
• After the second world war, Britain was rebuilding its economy and
called for many of its colonial nationals to come over to the UK and
work.
• The first wave of mass immigration came in 1948 from the
Caribbean, most famously on the ship the ‘Windrush’. By the early
1950s over 1 million were in the UK.
• A second wave of large immigration came in the late 60s/early 70s
from the Indian sub continent ( India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka). There
were also a number of people of Indian origin who came over from
Kenya, Uganda and South Africa.
The Second Generation
• This bring us up to date. Those born in this country but
with immigrant parentage are often referred to as
‘second generation’.
• Some of you might well be ‘third generation’ African,
Asian or West Indian as your parents may well have
been born in the UK.
• Think back to our earlier discussions. As a percentage,
how British did you consider yourself?
• Now consider a colonial. How British would a young
boy living in Kingston or Bombay in the 1920s feel?
Post colonialism
• Post colonialism is a discourse- a way of
theorising and debating issues in the same way as
feminism. It examines and analyses the cultural
legacy of colonialism.
• Post colonialism comprises a set of theories
found amongst philosophy, political science,
sociology, theological studies, literature and the
media.
• The goal of post-colonialism is to understand
the effects of colonialism on cultures. It about
learning how the world can move beyond this
period together, towards a place of mutual
respect.
• What’s the difference between nationality and ethnicity?
• Name 3 factors that contribute to a person’s ethnicity?
•
What does cultural imperialism mean?
•
•
•
•
•
What does Multiculturalism mean?
What does second generation mean?
Name two aspects of traditional British society that have been affected by multiculturalism.
What are ethnic niche markets?
How would we define cultural hybridity?
• Frantz Fanon: father of post
colonial theory
•
Many theorists have emerged to discuss
issues of colonisation and identity and
perhaps the most notable is Frantz Fanon, a
philosopher from the Caribbean island (and
French colony) of Martinique.
•
Whilst living in France, Fanon wrote his first
book in 1952, ‘Black Skin, White Masks’, an
analysis of the effect of colonial subjugation
on humanity.
•
Fanon was a key supporter of the ‘Négritude’
movement which highlighted consciousness
in racial difference, a sort of black power
movement. This movement was seen as a
means to achieve equality and remain under
French rule without losing one’s identity
through assimilation.
Post Colonial theory- Frantz Fanon
• Fanon said this about colonisation…….
• “Colonisation is not satisfied merely with holding
a people in its grip and emptying the native's
brain of all form and content. By a kind of
perverted logic, it turns to the past of oppressed
people, and distorts, disfigures and destroys it”.
• Lets decode the quote.
• There are obvious links with what the Marxists said.
Another view- Stuart Hall
• Stuart Hall is a Jamaican born cultural
theorist and writer who published a
number of works on identity and
‘diaspora’ in the 1970s and 80s.
• Hall states that culture and identity for
second generation colonials has
changed…
• “Cultural identities come from
somewhere, have histories. But, like
everything which is historical, they
undergo constant transformation.
Far from being eternally fixed in the
past, they are subject to the
continuous‘ play' of history, culture and
power”.
• Hall seems to be suggesting that when
cultures mix into a hybrid form, the original
culture becomes more explicit with a greater
sense of being different, “this idea of
otherness as an inner compulsion
changes our conception of 'cultural
identity‘”.
• Hall states that in his native Jamaica,
Jamaicans did not really start identifying with
Africa and being of African slave descent until
the 1970s and the emergence of ‘Afro-centric
thinking’ and Rastafarianism, to be heard in
reggae and the music of Bob Marley.
• The ‘constant transformation’ of identity is
key to Hall’s work. He doesn't see identity as
being fixed. For Hall identity is constantly
evolving and there is no such thing as one
shared culture as culture itself is so
fragmented, particularly in Africa and the
Asian sub continent where there are different
tribes, religions and languages.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFGgbT_V
asI&feature=related
Applying post-colonial theory
• Task: In groups look at the Marx, Fanon
and Hall quotes and attempt to apply them
to the opening to the film ‘Yasmin’.
• Make notes.
• Now do the same for the opening of ‘East
is East’.
Fanon
• “Colonisation is not satisfied merely with holding
a people in its grip and emptying the native's
brain of all form and content. By a kind of
perverted logic, it turns to the past of oppressed
people, and distorts, disfigures and destroys it”.
Hall
• “Cultural identities come from somewhere, have
histories. But, like everything which is historical, they
undergo constant transformation. Far from being
eternally fixed in the past, they are subject to the
continuous‘ play' of history, culture and power”.
• How can Hall’s ideas be applied to the opening of
Yasmin?
Incorporating theory into your essay
• Make your point first…
• Many examples of contemporary British films that
represent Indo Asian culture centre around the
merging of British western culture and traditional
Indo-Asian cultures or what is known as cultural
hybridity…
• Evidence:
• In the film ‘Yasmin’, this is evidenced from the
opening sequence….
• Explanation: This reinforces Hall’s post-colonial
discourse whereby culture ‘undergoes a constant
transformation’….
Marx
• “Colonialism is an instrument of wholesale
destruction, dependency and systematic
exploitation producing distorted
economies, socio-psychological
disorientation and massive poverty “
Gilroy
• ‘Black culture articulated diasporic
experiences of resistance to white
capitalist culture’.