DECOLONIZING DEVELOPMENT:
A HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
DR. ANISHA DATTA
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY @ KING’S
AREAS: CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY, COMPARATIVE AND
HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
SOCIOLOGY
WHY SHOULD WE CARE FOR THIS TOPIC?
• WHAT HAS JENNY (19 AND CANADIAN) GOT TO DO WITH THIS TOPIC
• ISN’T DEVELOPMENT TO DO WITH SOME FUR FLUNG COUNTRY IN AFRICA
• DID & DOES A COUNTRY LIKE CANADA ALSO DEVELOP?
• DEVELOPMENT & DECOLONIZATION - HOW ARE THEY RELATED?
LET US RECOGNIZE THIS
• DISCUSSIONS ABOUT COLONIALISM, IMPERIALISM, CLASS OPPRESSION, WEALTH-INCOME
GAP, RACISM, VIOLENCE MAY BECOME UNCOMFORTABLE
• SOCIOLOGY TALKS ABOUT THESE THORNY ISSUES NOT TO MAKE US UNCOMFORTABLE BUT
TO:
• MAKE US AWARE/DEEPEN OUR UNDERSTANDING/MAKE US TRUE GLOBAL CITIZENS WITH CIVIC &
SOCIAL AWARENESS
• AT UNIVERSITIES – IT’S IS A PRIVILEGE - WE CONGREGATE HERE TO READ, WRITE AND LEARN
HOW TO THINK, TO DEEPEN OUR THINKING, TO DISCUSS, AND SHARE OUR THOUGHTS, TO
LEARN FROM OTHER’S THOUGHTS…
• I OFTEN TRY TO NAVIGATE CONTENTIOUS ISSUES BY CARRYING OUT OVEREXPLANATION…HOPE YOU’LL FIND THIS METHOD USEFUL TOO IN HOW YOU DISCUSS
CONTENTIOUS ISSUES.
WE LIVE IN AN INTERCONNECTED WORLD
CONSUMING THE AMAZON
• GREENPEACE TRACED LIFESTYLE CONNECTION BETWEEN CHICKEN
NUGGETS AND SOY GROWN IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON – THE
PROBLEM OF LONG SUPPLY CHAIN & COMMODITY CHAIN
• THEIR CAMPAIGN PROVOKED MCDONALD’S AND GLOBAL SOY TRADERS
TO COMMIT NOT TO BUY SOY FROM NEWLY DEFORESTED RAINFOREST
AREAS
• IS THIS INTERCONNECTION SOMETHING NEW? NO!
• STARTED IN THE 1600S & 1700S – THE ERA OF EARLY CAPITALISM AND
COLONIALISM
THE PAST IN PRESENT – THE COLONIAL ERA
• MODERN COLONIALISM IS THE HISTORY OF A SMALL NUMBERS OF PEOPLE
DOMINATING AND EXPLOITING LARGE MASSES OF PEOPLE, IN WHICH THE
LATTER ARE OFTEN SEPARATED BY THE MARKERS OF GEOGRAPHY, LANGUAGE,
ETHNICITY, AND RELIGION. IN THE PREVIOUS THREE CENTURIES, A NUMBER OF
WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES PLAYED A PIVOTAL ROLE IN JUSTIFYING
THEIR COLONIAL DOMINATION WITH THE RATIONALE OF ‘WEST CIVILIZING
THE REST’.
• ACTUALLY, CAPITAL ACCUMULATION AND PROFIT MAXIMIZATION HAVE
A BIG ROLE TO PLAY IN MOTIVATING CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION
• AT THE CULTURAL LEVEL: THE RATIONALE WAS SUPPORTED BY THE COLONIAL
DISCOURSE, WHICH OFTEN CONSTRUCTED THE OBJECT (THE ORIENT, ARABS,
ASIANS, AND AFRICANS) FOR EXAMINATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROL.
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?
• EMERGED DURING THE COLONIAL ERA
• 19TH CENTURY EUROPEAN ELITES SAW DEVELOPMENT AS
SOMETHING SPECIFICALLY EUROPEAN – THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND
THE IDEA OF A LINEAR PROGRESS
• LATER - PERCEIVED AS A UNIVERSAL NECESSITY
• ‘DEVELOPMENT AS SOCIAL ENGINEERING’ FRAMED EUROPEAN
COLONIZATION OF AFRICA, AMERICAS & ASIA – TO IMPROVE THEM
• THE CIVILIZING MISSION & THE “WHITE MAN’S BURDEN” – THE
RATIONALE, WHICH WAS PROPAGATED
THE COLONIAL DISCOURSE
MISREPRESENTING NON-EUROPE & EUROPE
• PERCEIVED SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL ADVANTAGE OF EUROPEANS
BUILT AROUND NON-EUROPEAN STEREOTYPES – A RELATIONAL
CONCEPT –WHY?
• CULTURAL COMPARISON THROUGH THE LENS OF EUROPEAN STANDARDS –
PRIVATE PROPERTY, CHRISTIANITY, TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMIC & POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS
• DEVALUED ‘OTHER’ CULTURES (BOTH SIMPLE AND COMPLEX) AND SOCIAL
SYSTEMS
 ASSUMPTIONS OF ‘BACKWARDNESS’ BASED ON EUROPEAN IDEA OF LAND
AS PRIVATE AND ALIENABLE
• ABORIGINES DID NOT “WORK” THE LAND
• AFRICANS AS “STATIC” AND ONLY “OCCUPYING” LAND
CULTURAL & PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS:
JOHN LOCKE – ‘LAND NOT USED IS WASTE’
JEREMY BENTHAM – MEN SHOULD CONTROL & UTILIZE NATURE
TWO MAJOR FORMS
• COLONIES OF SETTLEMENT - OFTEN ELIMINATED INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
• EXAMPLES: SPANISH DESTRUCTION OF AZTEC AND INCA CIVILIZATIONS
IN THE AMERICAS
• COLONIES OF RULE - COLONIAL ADMINISTRATORS REORGANIZE EXISTING
SOCIETIES & CULTURES BY IMPOSING NEW INEQUALITIES TO FACILITATE THEIR
ECONOMIC & POLITICAL INTERESTS
• CREATION OF LOCAL LANDLORDS (ZAMINDARS) TO RULE PARTS OF
INDIA
• CONFISCATION OF PERSONAL AND COMMON LAND FOR CASH
CROPPING – CHECK THE NEXT SLIDE – THE COLONIAL ECONOMY, CASH CROP &
PLANTATION, IMPOVERISHMENT & MIGRATION
• ELEVATION OF ETHNIC DIFFERENCES (E.G., RWANDA)
THE DEEPER IMPACT - SPIRITUAL LIVES COMPROMISED
• DEVELOPMENT THROUGH COMMERCIALIZATION & ECONOMIC GROWTH - SEEN AS A
UNIVERSAL HUMAN DESTINY
• ECOLOGICALLY DEGRADING EXTRACTIVE PROCESSES AND CONDITIONS
COMPROMISED NON-EUROPEAN SPIRITUAL LIVES
• LAND, WATER, ANIMALS, FISH, MINERALS, FOOD – NOW SEEN AS ‘RESOURCE’ - COMMODIFIED CONVERTED INTO ECONOMIC CATEGORIES
• [A RESOURCE IS A SOURCE OR SUPPLY FROM WHICH BENEFIT IS PRODUCED]
• COLONIZED COUNTRY’S EXITING SCIENTIFIC, CULTURAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND MORAL ACHIEVEMENTS
WERE IGNORED
• POST-COLONIAL AFRICAN SAYING: “WHEN THE WHITE MAN CAME HE HAD
THE BIBLE AND WE HAD THE LAND. WHEN THE WHITE MAN LEFT, WE HAD THE
BIBLE AND HE HAD THE LAND.”
THE COLONIAL DIVISION OF LABOR
• COLONIES FORCED TO PRODUCE AND EXTRACT RAW MATERIALS AND
PRIMARY COMMODITY UNAVAILABLE IN EUROPE – SUGAR, TOBACCO, RUBBER,
INDIGO & COTTON
• THESE PRIMARY COMMODITIES FUELED EUROPEAN MANUFACTURING
SECTOR IN THE DAYS OF EARLY INDUSTRIALIZATION (1700,1800, EARLY
1900 AD)
• THIS COLONIAL DIVISION OF LABOR TRANSFORMED SOCIAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS
• ESTABLISHED UNEQUAL ECOLOGICAL EXCHANGE IN WHICH COLONIES
EXPORTED SUSTAINABILITY
DISRUPTION OF ECONOMIES, CULTURES AND ECOLOGIES
• COLONIALISM CONVERTED MIXED FARMING SYSTEMS TO SPECIALIZED
EXPORT MONOCULTURES - THE PLANTATION (CASH CROP) ECONOMY
• BEST FARMING LANDS LOST TO SPECIALIZED COMMERCIAL PLANTATIONS
• CREATED A COMMERCIAL FOOD ECONOMY - DESTROYED FOOD SECURITY, LEADING
TO HUNGER, FAMINE, MASS MIGRATION AND SOCIAL UNREST
• INDIA 1890-1940: THE GROWTH OF CASH CROP PRODUCTION GREW BY 85%; LOCAL FOOD
CROP PRODUCTION FELL BY 7%; POPULATION GREW BY 40% - A SHIFT THAT SPREAD HUNGER,
FAMINE AND SOCIAL UNREST
EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT REALIZED THROUGH “UNDERDEVELOPING”
COLONIAL ECONOMIES AND CULTURES
WHAT YOU CAN TAKE AWAY…
• THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT EMERGED DURING COLONIAL ERA – THE
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• COLONIALISM (A SOCIO-ECONOMIC & POLITICAL SYSTEM) DISORGANIZED &
REORGANIZED NON-EUROPEAN SOCIETIES
1.
RECONSTRUCTED LABOR SYSTEMS TOWARD SPECIALIZED, ECOLOGICALLY
DEGRADING, EXPORT PRODUCTION
2.
DAMAGED COLONIAL SUBJECTS’ SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY – INTERNALIZATION OF A
SENSE OF ‘BACKWARDNESS’
Do we need to re-think & decolonize development?
• NORTH AMERICA: 6% OF WORLD ADULT POPULATION AND 34%
OF HOUSEHOLD WEALTH
• EUROPE AND ASIA-PACIFIC COUNTRIES ALSO HAVE DISPROPORTIONATE
WEALTH
• SHARE OF WEALTH OF AFRICANS, & OTHER LOWER-INCOME
COUNTRIES LESSER THAN THEIR POPULATION SHARE
• STANDARDIZING DEVELOPMENT MEASURES REINFORCES BELIEF
OF A HIGH CORRELATION BETWEEN GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT
AND SOCIAL WELLBEING
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE POST
SECOND WORLD WAR PERIOD –
FOR FURTHER READING
LEAVING A NATION’S ECONOMY AND PEOPLE TO THE MERCIES OF THE
‘FREE MARKET’ I.E. TO THE DOMINANT INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL
PLAYERS INTERESTED ONLY IN SHORT TERM PROFITS, IS THE EQUIVALENT
OF LEAVING THE FREE FOX TO GUARD THE FREE HENHOUSE. (SUSAN
GEORGE)
JOHN PERKINS WAS AN ECONOMIC HIT
MAN …FURTHER READING