Zachary O’Brien
Professor Cody Aune
WOH 1030
27 November 2016
Comparative Paper #2: Decolonization Efforts of Twentieth-Century Africa and the Middle East
Abstract
European colonizers fully expected their rules in the Middle East and Africa to extend for the rest of the twentieth-century; however, events leading up to World War II set off forces that helped to transition the Arab and African nationalist challenges to colonial rule and brought about the movement toward freedom presently and much sooner than anticipated. This paper will look to examine two particular regions – the Middle East and Africa and the decolonization efforts that have occurred well into the last decades of the twentieth century and continue to make headlines in the twenty-first century today. Moreover, discussed within is the impact of the Cold War and its aftermath with an increasing threat of terrorism which have signaled worldwide reconfigurations of global economies, governments, allegiances, and identity policies abroad.
Not discussed herein is the coverage of regions of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Similar to the struggles of the Middle East and Africa respectively, Latin America’s rich diversity and a large assortment of languages and cultures has further led to problems ensuing decolonization efforts. Equally important, and seen in all developing nations is the influx of European immigrants and massive population shifts in regards to dependence on industrialization
We can begin by talking about migration and its effects on a global scale. Migration is one of the main areas of focuses in Latin America and Latino Studies. It helps us understand the effects of globalization on Latin American countries, the global relationship between the United States and Latin America, and how this relationship affects the Latin American people. This article goes through explaining the push and pull factors of why Haitians are being both pushed into the United States and pulled away from their home country. With the 2010 earthquake that hit Haiti, economic as well as political factors pushed Haitians to migrate. They started with Brazil but as their economy worsen, Haitians looked furthered to the United States. And the United States allowed them to do so as a humanitarian provision that came as the result of the 2010 earthquake. This pulled further struggling Haitians with the promise of a better life to make the dangerous journey. But with the abrupt change in policy, this shatters the already struggling Latin American countries with several displacements. We can go even further, analyzing other areas of study such as how the displacement of these immigrants will affect Latin America itself. Or how, on a national scale, the displacement of the migrating Haitians will affect
When the Europeans first arrived in Latin America, they didn’t realize the immensity of their actions. As history has proven, the Europeans have imposed many things on the Latin American territory have had a long, devastating effect on the indigenous people. In the centuries after 1492, Europeans would control much of South America and impose a foreign culture upon the already established civilizations that existed before their arrival. These imposed ideas left the continent weak and resulted in the loss of culture, the dependence on European countries, and a long standing ethnic tension between natives and settlers which is evident even to this day. The indigenous people of South America, which
Things appear different after five hundred years, yet it does not take much examination to realize that everything is the same. We focus on the minute changes, but these major themes of power, history, and the struggle for the control of knowledge are eternal and transcend the everyday. De las Casas wrote to a king to try to prevent a tragedy that he could not. Today the Latin America people face similar fates to their ancestors five hundred years prior. While the outcome is not as bloody, the loss is just as grave. Western knowledge seeks to destroy the last remaining semblances of the vast groupings that make up the term “Latin American culture.” It is not an active action in appearance, but the passive grouping into the West’s categories of race and culture has subtle motives of destruction. People are no longer ruled by kings, they guide themselves under the burdensome weight of Western knowledge and ideas. The existence of options, choices beyond growth and development, establish awareness that there is a way out of this evil. Latin American people were not born in the West, but are continually defined and judged by the system. Under such forces, it appears that the only two choices are to assimilate or bear the burden of being considered inferior. Decolonial thinking provides new pathways that lead to a new age for Latin America, providing the people recognize these pathways and are willing to take the steps to follow
The end of foreign control over various territories in Latin America has been a major change in this region’s history. For many decades the colony of Saint Domingue was under French control and used to produce various agricultural products. It was home to over a half-million slaves that worked on the 8,000 sugar and coffee plantations.This changed when in the late 18th century a slave revolution took place led by the former slave Toussaint L'ouverture. By the end of the revolt French rule had been ended and the newly named “Haiti” had become independent. This ending of foreign control was stimulated by
The relationship between the United States of America and Latin America nations has been turbulent since the beginning of colonization. The United States had withheld a sense of superiority since its inception. Their view of Pan-Americanism is only shared by them; Canada and most Latin American nations do not share this view. They viewed Latin America’s struggle for independence as a necessity, but did not pledge their assistance until it coincided with American interests and objectives in the area. The author mentions Latin America’s one-crop economy, but they do not emphasize the role the US played in their economies or how much they were involved in their own politics. Recent events, in regards to Cuba, have made certain parts of the chapter
During colonial times, Central America was a place of hostility and unequal treatment to many of its indigenous people. War, starvation, cruelty, and death occurred occasionally due to the unfair treatment of many poor citizens during this time. The worst part about it is that not one, but many types of people and ethnic groups were subjugated to this mistreatment. Many groups such as the Mayans,, the poor, and even ordinary citizens underwent hardships in hope to barely survive the cruel world that they lived in. The exclusion of these people first began when Central America was first colonized.
Over the course of the past half-millennium, the 33 countries that now comprise Latin America and the Caribbean have gone through drastic change. Since the discovery of the New World in 1492, each country has gone through some level of colonization by a European power and transition to its current state. During this period the regions have seen political, social, religious and economic transformations of various degrees.
Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, where a nation establishes and maintains its domination over dependent territories. In the words of Fanon, in the reading The Wretched of the Earth, “National liberation, national reawakening, restoration of the nation to the people or Commonwealth, whatever the name used, whatever the latest expression, decolonization is always a violent event.” (Fanon, 1). Frantz Fanon was one of many authors who supported decolonization struggles occurring after World War II. He breaks down decolonization into two senses: one being the physical act of freeing a territory from external control of a colonizer, and the other being the psychological act of freeing the consciousness of the native from the alienation caused by colonization. Fanon particularly advocated that violence was justified by overthrowing colonial oppression. In his reading, The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon wrote on why and how colonialism must be stopped. Fanon argued that the colonial infrastructure must be destroyed. “Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of the world, is clearly an agenda for total disorder. But it cannot be accomplished by the wave of a magic wand, a natural cataclysm, or a gentleman’s agreement. Decolonization, we know, is an historical process: In other words, it can only be understood, it can only find its significance and become self coherent insofar as we can discern the history-making movement which gives it form and substance,”
In the book Beyond Slavery: The Multilayered Legacy of Africans in Latin America and The Caribbean, editor Darien Davis, primarily examines the history of Africans in Latin America between the 1700s and the 1800s.The four readings in part 1, deal with “independence, freedom, and national identity and emphasize the place and role of freed and enslaved blacks in the revolutionary wars of independence, republicanism, and the periods of national consolidation” (Davis, 3). The work also aid in the continuing discussion of African experiences in Latin America. The writers in the discussion include David Geggus, Camilla Townsend, Juan Manuel Rosas, and Dario Euraque.
First of all Imperialism affected many different things in Africa and in the middle east. The effects of the imperialism resulted in stress and powerful threats from Western imperialists. They kept pleading for special rights but they did not give in so quickly. They wanted Europeans to reside in Muslim lands. The Muslims weren't’ so happy about that arrangement. Some of the time Europeans protected their rights, but other times they acted as if nothing ever happened. Africans resisted imperialism as much as they could. Germans fought wars against Africans which did not help the imperialism in Africa. When the Germans fought the Africans they caused more chaos making everyone panic and lives were lost.
The process of decolonization in Africa during the 1950’s through the 1970’s was a very smart yet risky idea. For some places independence was easily gained yet in other areas it was a battle. During the time periods where colonization existed, Africa was peaceful and kept things in order. People had control over their specific locations and there were no questions to be asked. Once it was decided to remove these rights, things got out of hand rather quickly. Violence was a main occurrence during the decolonization timeframe because rules, rights, leaderships, etc. got altered and drastically changed. Sometimes nonviolence was used but it usually wasn’t as effective. A major example of using nonviolence actions to gain independence is when
Racial Identification determines who has societal privilege and who does not. Race science develops as a method of separating groups of people in society during Pre-Colombian times. Those with more affluence in politics and the economy do not want to associate with those of less affluence, creating a divide between “them” versus “us”. However, Latin Americans perceive racial identity with more ambiguous terms, allowing one’s skin pigmentation to determine their social status. The reasons for such an altered definition of racial identity can be clearly identified in Hispaniola. The history European Imperialism and African slavery in Haiti and The Dominicans Republic must be viewed side by side, not separately from each other, for one country’s greatly its neighbor.
In chapter six of the novel Born in Blood and Fire by John Charles Chasteen, Chasteen talks about neocolonialism and dependency. The definition of neocolonialism is the use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former dependencies. In this essay the three topics of political, cultural, and economical contributors and how they affected Latin America will be discussed. The period which will be discussed is encompassed by the neo-colonial period which spanned from 1880 through 1930. During the neo-colonial period the relationship between the core and peripheral countries can be shown through comparing the short, animated program entitled “Trader Mickey” to Born in Blood and Fire.
The colonization of many nations throughout the world has led to many issues and inevitably the process of decolonization. Beginning in the 15th century, European nations began to colonize many parts of Asia, and later, parts of Africa in the 19th century. The geographic regions of Southeast Asia and West Africa were heavily controlled by European nations. However, European countries have had to retreat their control of these regions, which allowed the nations in return to gain independence. The decolonization of West Africa and Southeast Asia are similar in that the two regions won independence from the same nations and the time period of gained autonomy was the same; however, the means of decolonization is what differed between these two regions.
Why was process of decolonization peaceful in some countries and violent in others? (Before Independence)