Cesaire: The Discourse on Colonialism Essay

European imperialism during 1450-1750, began as a plan to gain more riches for the European nations. The Europeans did this for three main reasons, which were for God, Gold, and Glory. The Europeans domination over Latin America, Africa and Asia were made out to be good for the native people of these lands. However, the Europeans were not there to help these geographic areas. They were there to spread their influence and gain riches for themselves and the European nations. The successes and failures of the Europeans and non Europeans would decide their relationship status for as long as they could co-exist.

Imperialism was a time period in which more developed nations colonized less developed nations. The developed nations took advantage of the less developed nations resources, people, lands, and much more. Many countries lost their freedom and independence due to imperialism, however, they also received new technologies and innovations.

During the period of Colonialism, the English settlers arrived in America from Europe looking for religious freedom, land and the opportunity for wealth. While the Spanish Settlers arrived at Hispaniola unexpectedly, like the English; however, the Spanish did not leave Europe because of religion persecution; rather, they wanted to expand their religious belief to the New Word. While in both the English and the Spanish colonization, the Indigenous people were oppressed and enslaved but the English took a different approach. Thereby, although both the English and the European colonized in order to obtain gold and silver to help their countries wealth, the Spanish explorers took a more forceful method of gaining land.

The principle justification offered by the Europeans for their colonization of Asia & Africa was the moral and technological superiority of the western world. As the Europeans saw it, the spread of the European way of life would substantially increase living standards for the colonized. While economic reasons were obviously the primary impetus for colonial expansion, the Europeans believed that they were not only improving the natives’ conditions, but they were saving their mortal souls by bringing Christianity to them. Over time, the technologically advanced way of life came to be associated with Europe, and with Europeans. This is the cause of the racist and social Darwinist undertones in the documents.

Black history has taught us that the black community has been seen as “servants” a lower class in communities of white supremacy therefore, genocides against women, children and men have been carried out through history and how “colonization” has played an important role in the white supremacy actions against black. Cesaire cites in “Colonial Discourse” “The colonial encounter in other words requires “reinvention of the Colonized” the deliberate destruction of the cast, in other words what Cesaire calls “Thingfication”, colonialism works to ‘decivilize” the colonizer, torture,

The Age of Imperialism was an age of colonization for European countries. It began in the mid-1800s and ended in the early twentieth century. The most powerful countries of Europe raced to conquer and change the government, economic system, and social ways of Asian and African territories. But imperialism wasn 't wonderful, especially for the colonies. Innocent people were enslaved, forced to work all day long under no other options. Resources were exploited, stolen from people who couldn 't defend themselves from powerful new European weapons. Valuable cultures diminished as foreign lands took over and changed intriguing and unique languages and religions. Sickness spread to natives who hadn 't built up the immunity to deadly diseases.

Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule reads more so like a collection of essays than a book. Each section provides a different bit of evidence to support Stoler’s argument, which she briefly reiterates in her epilogue, Caveats on Comfort Zones and Comparative Frames. The sections of the book, for the most part, don’t connect to the previous chapter, or the one that follows; it isn’t meant to. Rather, the sections cover different topics that connect to the bigger, overall picture. If one wanted to simply read one portion of the book, for instance, they could, without feeling lost- different from a traditional linear work, where typically one must read from the beginning to understand the context of the specific section they are reading. In this way, Stoler’s book in non-traditional, with each section dealing with a certain topic that is key to her argument. These information in each of these sections, however, is key to understand and forming an opinion about the argument Stoler sets out to make. They may not be presented in a linear fashion, but each one is necessary to seeing the bigger

     Throughout American History the U.S. has sought to expand its boundaries. This need increased greatly during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century with the start of the industrial revolution. This Expansion was a big departure from earlier attempts to expand the boundaries of the U.S. The needed for Natural resources forced the U.S to look for places that could supply them with the natural resources they needed and markets where they could sell their goods in. The need to imperialize caused the U.S. to look to foreign places to gain resources to better the nations industries.

Africa is home to countless cultures that all have their own unique ideas and customs. During the past couple of centuries, these cultures were threatened to the point where they almost ceased to exist. The Berlin Conference was a very important occurrence in Africa and Europe's history. It legitimized what the European powers, mainly France and Britain, had been doing for the past hundred years, without the approval of any African country. During the late nineteenth century, France and Britain began imperialistic ventures into Africa, which eventually led Leopold II to conquer the Congo. It was Leopold's II presence in Africa that to led the Berlin Conference.

     In one of his most famous poems, Rudyard Kipling said, "Take up the white man's burden!" (146). He was only one of many who believed in the virtues of imperialism in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. During that period, imperialism was on the rise, and Africa was being swallowed up by competing European nations. The imperialists had many arguments supporting imperialism. They said it was beneficial and, in some cases, essential. Their arguments did not satisfy everyone, but that did not bother them. The justifications ranged from economics to social services, while touching on everything else in between (Hayes 222-3).

She presents distinctive arguments on how Vichy’s pretense of republican colonialism and its propaganda fall by the way side. Both change and traditional propaganda presented in the second part were still visible; however, Ginio offers solid evidence of Vichy's rejection of racial equality or the incorporation of sociopolitical incorporation. She argues that the administration exposed their doctrine of absolute colonial hierarchy where earlier regime's colonial administration officials at least partially veiled their absolute authority. She asserts that previous regime had lent energy to propaganda focused on assimilation ideals and of raising technological and cultural levels of Africans…perhaps even obtaining sociopolitical equality. Ultimately, however, she laments that, "the Vichy colonial administration did not see itself as in any way obligated to the discourse of republican assimilation" (p 110). Ginio further argues that the Vichy Regime rejected any kind of assimilation between colonialists and Africans completely and began to emphasize racial differences and colonial hierarchy. The Regime, “therefore had no problem implementing a policy of segregation based on race rather than on other more blurred categorizations” (p

not be, made directly, without ‘mediation’. It could only be made through the impact on popular life of the post-colonial revolution (Hall, 231).” It is through this that we see that peoples oppression is contingent upon what the rest of the world and how the rest of the world views a specific race.

Imperialism has been noted to be practice of foreign rule in a context of hierarchy and subordination, which can eventually lead to the formation of an empire. Imperialism refers directly to the enhancement of power and military superiority.

Colonialism, which was a major cause of the north-south gap that occurred in the period following the Second World War, is the takeover by a nation of foreign territories; making them part of it to aid its own economical, social and political structures. The mother countries succeed in doing that by using the colony’s natural resources, money savings, and their lands, which leads the colony to rely on the mother country and therefore, leaving the country underdeveloped. Hence, the world wide scramble for colonies, particularly in the late 19th – early 20th century, had a tremendous negative effect on the economic, social, and political structures of indigenous, non-industrialized peoples.

Although there are many other important factors, the main cause of the rise of imperialism was most certainly economic. The Age of Empire, by Eric J. Hobsbawn, provides an interpretation of New Imperialism. Hobsbawn calls imperialism “a natural by-product of the international economy” (Sherman pg 177). He is basically saying that imperialism is dependent on the rivalries of competing industries, which continually drive the international economy. Hobsbawn also dictates the need for external markets. The Industrial Revolution created many products that needed markets, thus creating a need of colonies. Hobsbawn believed that the overproduction of the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression could be solved. He also realized that