Western Colonialism Research Articles

Spatial imagination in colonial Bengal

ABSTRACT This essay traces a changing geo-politics brought about by the forces of Western colonisation. It maps the intellectual pathways two Bengalis – Raja Rammohun Roy and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar – chalked out in their negotiations with real and mythical spaces of the East and the West. The fashioning of their own self-identities then becomes a part of this process. The evolution of Roy’s analytical frame, and Vidyasagar’s literary frame for examining and romancing the West is laid out, after the historical context is explained. Roy’s reflexive engagement with the Occident was to travel and see for himself this land of fantasy (which remained an elite practice and which Roy sets in motion). Ishwarchandra’s literary frame of translation formed a deep pool of imagination within indigenous minds – an internalised geographical space which did not need a validity check – therefore representing a deeper colonial penetration of the Bengali/Indian imagination.

Female Subjugation and Resistance in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys's Portrays the European domination and patriarchal cultural context of Jamaica after the passage of the Emancipation Act (1833). The novelist stages creole characters who are exclusively exploited, subjugated and marginalized in colonial regime. In this respect, the representations of the female characters such as Antoinette, Christophine, Gracepoole, Amelie, Leah, among others clearly display the debased status of females in Jamaica even after the emancipatory proclamation. The novel dramatizes the violence perpetrated on women by the White colonizers even after the colonial rule. Moreover, Rhys projects female characters to expose the humiliating state of women in the novel. Thus, this article proposes to analyze the female body as a subordinated site as well as resistance in the purview of postcolonial feminist theory especially of Gyatri Spivak, Ketu Katrak and Chandra D. Mohanty address the challenges faced by subjugated and marginalized voices in representing themselves within dominant discourses. So, the research draws on the ideas of Spivak’s “Can the subaltern speak?” as the subaltern refers to individuals or groups who are socially, politically, racially, culturally and economically subjugated and silenced by dominant power structure and system. Their feminist stands unbox the exploitation of female and their feeble resistance in the commonwealth countries that this research critically analyzes Rhys’s novel. Imbibing their arguments it further, argues that Wide Sargasso Sea not only revisits the lacuna prevalent in colonial historiography by depicting the colonized people but also clearly points out the marginal representation of female under the ambit of imperial power.

The Historiography of the Social, Environmental, Economic and Political Systems of Pesalai, A Village in the Mannar District, Sri Lanka: A Content Analysis

Historiography reveals many visible and latent facts and opinions about how the history of communities and regions and the evolution of their social, environmental, economic, and political systems (SEEPS) are constructed according to the historian's perspective. This paper aims to provide a content analysis on how the historical construction of the discourse of the SEEPS effectively addressed the issues - especially in the textual and historical construction found in a historical text titled The Cultural Roots of the Pesalai Society, authored by S.A. Miranda. The book narrates the arrival and operation of the Western Colonizers resulting in the consequent socio-political transformation in the local community, changes in religious, cultural, and national identities and the ultimate evolution of new changes in the SEEPS. This content analysis focuses on establishing the relationships between the social, political, and environmental systems in the historical discourse of the book and assessing the historiographical representation of the SEEPS and the controlling factors in constructing the history of the Pesalai village and the Mannar District. The text combines integrated SEEPS providing governance-centric, anthropocentric, and eco-centric perspectives, while a theocentric discourse dominates the text. The book presents the information chronologically and thematically. This paper assesses the author's historical construction to study the impacts of the human-nature interface and natural and human-made changes related to the village system comparable to the whole district. It reveals the challenges and the creation of hybrid and multiple-use social and environmental systems, the interaction of the societal relationships with nature, and the village systems aligned to the political and social systems. The discourse reveals an attempt at reconciling a perennial conflict or competition of sustainable SEEPS against each other.

The meaning of sharing under marketised education: an Ubu-ntu perspective

Reading his-story (history), her-story and our story from the perspective of Mother Africa reduced from her original position of Mater Preciosa, (the cradle of humanity: a precious Mother), to a Mater Dolorosa (a mother of sorrows) through conquest in the unjust wars of Western colonialism, our argument is that education – the bearer of the Western epistemological paradigm – continues to be primarily in the service of protecting and promoting the enslavement of politically independent Africa. Our thesis is that this service ought to be terminated because it is unethical. There is no reason to suppose that unlike other empires before it, the dominant unholy trinity of economicide, epistemicide and religicide perpetrated against Africa is an eternal order of things under capitalism. We adopt the philosophy of ubu-ntu to elaborate on our thesis. We will focus specifically on the marketisation of education taking examples mainly from conqueror South Africa[1] and the Covid 19 pandemic. [1] The appellation, conqueror South Africa is historically legitimate and ethically justified.

Disrupting colonisation in the social work classroom: using the Obuntu/Ubuntu framework to decolonise the curriculum

ABSTRACT Social work around the world has been, uncritically, defined from a mostly white western perspective influenced predominantly by the profession’s development in Europe and North America. Western values and epistemologies have been taken as a given. However, with the increasing influence of social constructionism and post-colonialism, there is growing acceptance that epistemologies are cultural constructions and that the White Western perspectives do not reflect values and knowledge systems in other contexts such as the African Obuntu/Ubuntu. Social workers calling for decolonization have drawn attention to the impact of western colonialism and the need to embrace epistemological diversity to decolonize social work curricula. This article aims to disrupt epistemic colonization and articulate alternative philosophies that can underpin social work values and ethical principles beyond the worldviews of a white western colonial dominance. Foregrounding the author’s multi-context experiences of social work education in Uganda, Sweden, and Australia, this article addresses the question of how the philosophical framework of Obuntu/Ubuntu shapes and informs social work values and ethical principles. In Obuntu/Ubuntu social work, the values of hospitality are intertwined with connection and genuine relationship building, a valuing of the power of community, and interconnectedness with the environment.

Conquest and Law as a Eurocentric enterprise: An Azanian philosophical critique of legal epistemic violence in “South Africa”

This essay will critically analyse how conquest that resulted in white settler colonialism laid the foundation for epistemic violence. Epistemic violence, which took the form of the imposition of the law of the European conqueror in the wake of land dispossession in 1652 in South Africa is the fundamental problem this essay will critically engage with. We will rely on the Azanian philosophical tradition as a theoretical framework to critique this legal epistemic violence. Our theoretical framework is in line with Afrikan jurisprudence, which is grounded in the culture and worldview of the Indigenous people conquered in wars of conquest. Fundamental to our argument is that the law of the European conqueror, which was imposed through conquest is a Eurocentric enterprise, which seeks to negate the Afrikan worldview and culture and reinforce historic injustice. It is important to note that epistemic violence commenced with the issuing of papal bulls, which undergirded conquest and white settler colonialism in South Africa. The thesis of the essay is that in the wake of conquest and the attendant imposition of the law of the European conqueror, white settlers used their law to technicalise issues of historic injustice such as land dispossession. It is in this sense that this essay seeks to contribute to the decolonisation of law by foregrounding the worldview and culture of the Indigenous conquered people.

Colonialism and a history of oppression in Africa: Scenes from selected African novels

Examining the African suffering during the colonialism period and describing the different miseries of the African people have been the core theme of almost all African and Western writers during the colonial age and post-colonial time. Undoubtedly, all of these writings fluctuate considerably between exaggeration and degrading the human sacrifices of those countries during this period. Then, the African writers started taking the responsibility of narrating their history and describing their suffering to correct many false ideas and assumptions, many false conceptions which were established in the minds of consecutive generations. Chinua Achebe is one of the prominent authors and thinkers who has received international recognition due to his creative style of telling the African story and has impacted African literature in different ways. Through his books, he exposed many of the negative colonial impacts on the African communities and how they did their best to invade these countries politically, economically, and culturally. Achebe tried to uncover their claims, like linking Christianity and commerce together, and the only way to African progress should be through the European gates. In his novel Things Fall Apart, he tried to expose the side effects of the colonizers’ intentions to redesign the African communities up to Western standards. He assured that all colonial actions resulted in the colonizers’ good interests and were against African people. On the other hand, Ngugi Thiogn’o is interested in examining the post-colonial impacts on the African nations and how the Western colonizers succeeded in producing loyal followers adopting their beliefs and concepts. Those followers replaced the foreign occupation with another type of occupation where the people’s acceptance should be evaluated by their adaptability to the Western criteria in all life aspects. In his novel, Pedals of Blood, Thiog’o narrated the impacts of using foreign languages to diffuse the indigenous culture and lose the African identity. Throughout the novel, he examined the political elite’s corruption in African countries during the post-colonial period and how they continued colonial suppression of their nations.

Calling for critical interrogations of white supremacy and settler colonialism in mathematics education research

In this essay, we contextualize a call for strengthening equity and social justice research in mathematics education by inserting the mathematics education enterprise into two world events of 2020: the global COVID-19 pandemic and the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. We do so to underscore how white colonialism is forever present everywhere in structures and institutions around the globe, including those of the mathematics education enterprise. We briefly describe the logics of white supremacy and settler colonialism and then combined them into a compounding scheme of colonizing white supremacist logics. Next, we feature recent USA-based mathematics education research to illustrate some different possibilities when equity and social justice research is indeed strengthened through critical interrogations of white supremacy and settler colonialism. We conclude the essay with a justification for getting in good trouble, necessary trouble.

Western Colonization and the Powerlessness of the Islamic World

Background. The Muslim world experienced several second peaks of glory during the reign of three great empires, the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal (Indian) empires. Purpose. The purpose of this research is to reveal in depth the history of Islam during the 1800-1900 AD and broaden the horizons of knowledge for writers and readers. Therefore, it is necessary to reveal what factors caused the decline of Islam at that time as well as how the West dominated science at that time? Method. This research uses manuscript studies or known as research with the literature study method. The study of Islamic history texts in the modern period is also the object of this research which shows how this period displays the decline of Islam and the glory of the West. Results. The three great Islamic empires of the Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals, which were able to "alleviate" the image of Islam from backwardness and subsequently "restore" its reputation in international eyes, lasted only until the seventeenth century. In the following period, it fell back into an atmosphere of decline in many aspects, such as in the political and military fields, economics, and science. Conclusion. In addition, these three Islamic kingdoms did not have the same spirit in the development of science as happened during the first advancement period. Meanwhile, Europe experienced significant progress in various aspects, especially in science, due to the influence of thoughts from figures such as Ibn Rushd and European thinkers who created technological advances such as the steam engine.

Historical geographies of Japanese colonial urbanism

AbstractWhile historical geographers contributed to colonial projects as surveyors, explorers and map‐makers, since the 1990s they have contributed to the critical analysis of the imaginary and material geographies of empire. However, as the only example of Asian‐led colonialism, the study of Japanese colonialism has not received anywhere near the same degree of scholarly attention as western colonialism, especially in the English‐speaking literature. This study summarizes the historical geographies on both Japanese colonialism and colonial cities in Japanese Empire, arguing the vulnerable status of Japanese colonial cities in postcolonial urbanism, and concludes with a discussion of the particularities of Japanese colonialism. It argues that there is plenty of space for geographical research in the Japanese colonial context. Japan's colonial cities have special characteristics and should receive more attention in post‐colonial urbanism as it in line with the urban scholar's call for ordinary cities in global south. It is hoped that this review can be a complete summary of relevant research and will provide useful references for future geographers to comparatively research Japanese colonialism.

GEOLOGISTS AS COLONIAL SCOUTS: THE ROGERS EXPEDITION TO OTAVI AND TSUMEB, NAMIBIA, 1892–1895

ABSTRACT From 1892 to 1895, the South West Africa Company (SWACO) expedition led by geologist Matthew Rogers conducted the first geologic mapping in Namibia’s Otavi Mountains, including the now world-famous Tsumeb Mine. This paper uses archival documents from the Rogers expedition to trace his geologic contributions and to illustrate important themes in the relationships between 19th century colonial geologists, Western colonizing governments, Indigenous communities, resource extraction, and corporations. To carry out his mapping, Rogers performed a continuous balancing act between British and German colonial powers and local African leaders. The local leaders and communities he interacted with variously resisted his incursions, or collaborated with him, but consistently and vocally asserted their rights to the land and copper in Otavi. In addition to geologic mapping, Rogers understood his role as intelligence gatherer, reporting back on the resources needed to facilitate European settlers in the region, including his views on how Germany might subjugate local communities and ensure their labor for the growing colony. Throughout, the expedition was dependent on African guides to keep them alive and show them where copper outcropped, yet Rogers’ letters back to SWACO promoted racial and cultural prejudices that became the foundations for how SWACO would interact with those communities in the future. In addition to laying the geologic groundwork for the Otavi area, the expedition illustrated the many roles that 19th century colonial geologists played in Western colonization.

It’s Complicated: Canadian Education Policymaking in the Pandemic Era

Education policymaking is crucial in preparing children to meet future societal challenges. However, policymaking is never straightforward. And the educational policymaking landscape in post-pandemic Canada includes complexities that make evidence-based decision-making particularly difficult. These factors include: the baseline systemic oppression embedded in Canada’s education systems; the tension between the importance of public opinion and the public’s imagined expertise; the inter-disciplinary nature of the field of education research; the challenge of quantifying education outcomes and the simple messages numbers can carry; and the long time-horizons in education payoffs compared to myopic tendencies in politics. Added to these factors is the rise of conspiracy theories and anti-truth sentiment, which undermines trust in expertise, and this sentiment often carries logics of white supremacy and colonialism. This paper identifies these factors in the hopes that policymakers and researchers do not underestimate the difficulty or importance of bringing about evidence-based policy in education settings.

Perkembangan Institusi Islam di Sarawak Sebelum Pembentukan Malaysia

From the rule of the Sultanate of Brunei to the colonialism of James Brooke in Sarawak shown the political and geographical landscape completely change. Historically James Brooke starts to intervene in Sarawak affairs. He starts conquered from Tanjung Datu to Batang Samarahan turned into a huge territory due to the requisition of James Brooke to hand over some areas under Brunei from Simanggang to the border region of Brunei. Brooke’s positioning until the Second World War caused the entire administration invaded by western colonialism in Sarawak. Based on original agreement between Brunei and Brooke Families, the later was to control the administration and economic development and must not interfere with the customs of the Malays and Islam, but in the end, colonialism is almost absolute. This includes Islamic law in the era of James Brooke which introduced Native Mohammedan Probate and Divorce Court. Thus, this article objectives to describe the development from the aspect of Islamic institutions and the sociology of the Islamic community in Sarawak. This article applies the historical method of Kuntowijoyo namely heuristics (collection of historical material), internal and external criticism, historical interpretation, and historiography. This article shows that the pressure of the British government after Sarawak was handed over by Vyner Brooke to the British did not tarnish the Islamic institutions that were established in Brooke’s time and after. However, the socio-Islamic society is influenced by western culture.

The role of mental health nurses in planetary health.

This article will critically explore the concept of planetary health and locate the role and identity of the mental health nurse (MHN) within it. Like humans, our planet thrives in optimum conditions, finding the delicate balance between health and ill-health. Human activity is now negatively impacting the homeostasis of the planet and this imbalance creates external stressors that adversely impact upon human physical and mental health at the cellular level. The value and understanding of this intrinsic relationship between human health and the planet is in danger of being lost within a society that views itself as being separate and superior to nature. The Period of Enlightenment witnessed some human groups viewing the natural world and its resources as something to exploit. White colonialism and industrialization destroyed the innate symbiotic relationship between humans and the planet beyond recognition and in particular, overlooking the essential therapeutic role nature and the land facilitated within the well-being of individuals and communities. This prolonged loss of respect for the natural world continues to breed human disconnection on a global scale. The healing properties of nature have effectively been abandoned within healthcare planning and infrastructure, which continue to be driven principally by the medical model. Under the theory of holism, mental health nursing values the restorative capabilities of connection and belonging, employing skills to support the healing of suffering, trauma and distress, through relationships and education. This suggests MHNs are well situated to provide the advocacy the planet requires, through the active promotion of connecting communities to the natural world around them, both healing the other.

The Impact of Western Civilization on Forests in Barkskins

This research article very critically scrutinizes how forests in North America are devastated by the growing human civilization. It deals with ecological degradation in an American novelist Annie Proulx’s novel Barkskins whose location is North America. In course of analysing the novel critically, the article describes how Barkskins revolves round the story of white colonists and indigenous Indians in North America or today’s Canada. Firstly, it reveals how two families: Sel family (a poor biracial family of French and Mi’kmaq) that cuts trees and Duke family (rich French family) that does business of fur are linked to trees and deforestation. Secondly, the article focuses on the impact of western civilization on forests regarding forests as the antagonist to western civilization. Western colonialism is also a vehicle of civilization that causes deforestation. Due to civilization, humanism is developed. So, anthropocentric nature of people causes deforestation. Thirdly, European civilization has a negative impact on Indigenous people and their culture. Apparently, forests are shown as a symbol of darkness, evil forces, backwardness and an obstacle for human progress, but in the name of civilization, whites do deforestation due to their greed of colonization and anthropocentric nature. Hence, the first objective of the research is to explore why the whites regard forests as the antagonist to civilization. Likewise, the second objective of the article is to discover the real cause of them to do deforestation. Besides, as for the broad theoretical methodology, Greg Garrard’s theory of Ecocriticism is applied for the textual analysis of Barkskins since the article deals with the ecological destruction of North America by whites and ecocriticism has emerged as a response to the heavy damage done to ecology by human beings.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ORIENTALISM STUDIES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ISLAMIC WORLD

This study aims to analyze the study of orientalism through a qualitative approach to literature study, which will be observed based on several indicators, namely in terms of understanding, characteristics, and implications for the Islamic world. Initially, Orientalism was understood as an understanding carried out by Westerners to explore the East, both in terms of religion and civilization. The study of Orientalism has a strong relationship with Western colonialism in the Eastern world, colonialism, imperialism, missionarism and Christianization movements. In its development, orientalism gave another color through the emergence of controversial things circulating about Islam such as damaging the <em>real</em> image of Islam, opportunities to enrich Islamic studies and introduce the original face of Islam <em>rahmatan lilalamin</em>, joy for the western world that began to recognize Islamic civilization, its contribution in the field of translation as well as Eastern scholarship, and encouragement in efforts to achieve peace. With this study we can also understand not always negative orientalists, but there are also those who purely as academics make themselves objective researchers. So that thefaith of Muslims in orientalism should not be shown through emotions, and diversity of judgments of Islam also exists. However, there is nothing wrong with staying vigilant and caring for aqidah by increasing faith in Allah SWT and making this motivation through the need for intention and deepening <em>shahih </em> knowledge, especially in the current era

REFLEKSI TERHADAP PENJAJAHAN BANGSA BARAT DAN PERJUANGAN KEMERDEKAAN NEGARA-NEGARA ISLAM

This research sets out the problems faced by Muslims. So great was the struggle of Muslims in fighting for Islam, but this could not be achieved by Muslims because the three major Islamic empires experienced decline in various fields, such as politics, military, economics, science, and culture. This study aims to reflect on western colonization in Islamic countries and then explore the positive side. This study applies a qualitative method. The approach used is the historical approach. Based on this research, it was revealed that the decline that occurred in the Islamic world was caused by the Islamic kingdoms no longer having militant rulers and tough militaries, resulting in rebellions that were difficult to control. Meanwhile, the progress experienced by Western nations was due to developments made in the fields of science and civilization, which were previously neglected during the advancement of the three great Islamic empires, especially the Ottoman Empire. The value of reflection from this research is that Muslims will return to glory if they are able to master all lines, be they military, science, culture, economics, politics, or other strategic fields.

The Fallacies of Bridging the East and West in Tayeb Salih’s 'Season of Migration to the North' and Laila Halaby’s 'Once in a Promised Land'

Objectives: The paper examines the role of two contemporary Arab novelists, Tayeb Salih and Laila Halaby, who depict the fallacies of bridging the East and West. Salih’s Season of Migration to the North (1966) and Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land (2007) tackle the social, cultural, political, historical, and religious factors and obstacles that resulted in widening the gap between the East and West. The aim of this study is to also trace how Salih’s and Halaby’s characters' attitudes towards this harmony between both cultures develop throughout the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Methods: This paper employs a socio-political and cultural approach to discuss the role of the contemporary Arab intellectual in presenting the possibility of bridging the cultural and humanitarian gap between the East and West. Results: This study finds that there are two groups of Arab intellectuals: those haunted by violent memories of Western colonization, who are incapable of creating a harmonious relationship with the West, and the liberal Arab intellectuals who reflect a great readiness to assimilate into Western culture. Conclusions: This study concludes that all attempts by these characters to create harmony between the East and the West are futile.

Exploring value-based motivations for culture and heritage tourism using the means-end chain and laddering approach

ABSTRACT While motivations for cultural and heritage tourism remain complex and diverse, previous studies overlook the structure and link of personal values, expected experience consequences, and destination attributes. Meanwhile, value pursuit as an enduring belief influencing tourists’ motivations and behavior has received limited research attention. Therefore, this study explores diverse motivations using the means-end chain and laddering interview techniques. The Five Great Avenues in Tianjin, China, a historical landscape embodying the social characteristics of China and Western colonialism in the 18th and 19th centuries, was used as the study site. The results show that self-development and socialization are the most important value pursuits, followed by hedonism and differentiation. Other value-based motivations include identification, existentialism, escapism, and freedom. A hierarchical map between value pursuits, tourism consequences, and destination attributes is constructed to elucidate the interactive nature of tourism motivation. Findings are utilized to develop a value-based motivation classification framework for understanding diverse value-based motivations. This study contributes to a comprehensive framework for understanding the complexity of motivation in the culture and heritage tourism context, which provides practical insights for segmentation and destination positioning.

Gender relations in Indigenous Yorùbá culture: questioning current feminist actions and advocacies

Gender hierarchy and inequality are attributes of Western colonialism enforced in several colonised societies. Similarly, feminism (Western), as the antithesis of European sexism, has permeated colonised societies and has been assimilated without proper reflection. This is concretely evident among the Yorùbá people of south-western Nigeria. Before European colonisation, Yorùbá culture was gender-neutral and gender-silent; women were seen as complementary and not subordinate to men. Hence, according to Oyěwùmí’s work on The Invention of Women, caution and reflections must be raised on the continual adoption of mainstream Western feminist philosophy in Yorùbá culture. In essence, the colonial imposition of the Western gender binary in Yorùbá society and women’s anti-colonial and feminist activities are discussed. Furthermore, the paper challenges some feminist approaches and ideologies in Nigeria, while advocating for a communal, transformative, and Pan-African feminism in Yorùbá and African societies. The decolonisation of Africa and the Yorùbá education system are recommended, alongside a proper history of Indigenous Yoruba people and knowledges. Contemporary feminist campaigns (including digital feminisms) and movements must also develop a ‘shared text of blackness’. The duo should align and improve the worth of women based on the indispensability and esteemed status offered to women in ‘pre-colonial’ Yorùbá society.