Effect of Colonialism and Modernization on Old and Traditional Culture

European colonialism has a lasting legacies on many African countries. European colonialism started in the late 1900’s and continued until after World War II. Colonialism is a system in which one country takes control of the political and economic affairs of another nation, and imposes policies to control another nation. In the 17th century colonizing parts of Africa became popular European countries. In the year 1677, France colonized their first African country, Senegal. Specifically, an area called Saint Louis. France was most interested in Senegal for their easy access to the Gambia river to increase access to trade routes. During this time France and Britain were fighting over African countries that had easy access the Gambia river.. Earlier, 1638 the french established trade routes in Senegal. (historyworld.net). Later, 1677 France was able to seize Senegal for the Dutch which made Senegal France 's first colonized county. European nations decided to colonize the rest of Africa during the Berlin Conference that took place. Between 1884-1885 Europeans carved up part of Africa and claimed them as their own. Senegal has a reputation of being one of the better treated legacies of colonial power. However, there are still legacies of colonial power which shapes how Senegal is today.

The general perception of the west as advanced and civilized, with the east as savage and illogical is one we see, but never notice, in movies and literary works regularly. With a common theme of colonialism/post-colonialism, two in particular are, Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and book one of “Midnights Children” by Salman Rushdie, “The Perforated Sheet”. Orientalist and colonial/post-colonial imagery is present throughout both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and “The Perforated Sheet”. Though the plots of these two stories differ drastically, both are set in India around the time of colonialization/post-colonialization; showing components of orientalism.

The world’s history had a turning point in the fifteenth century. The oceans were no longer an obstacle as previously seen to reach beyond. The Europeans felt inferior to the power and wealth of the Islamic world and saw the possibility to claim power and richness by conquering the oceans. During the 15th century and the 16th century Europeans established colonies in the Americas, the so called “New World”. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, most did not even consider that the peoples they encountered had cultural and religious traditions that were different from their own; most believed indigenous communities had no culture or religion at all.

How did the experience of colonization affect those who were colonized while also influencing the colonizers? Colonization requires the interaction of two different groups and no matter how much one culture or group may be the more powerful both end up picking up traits of one another.

Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘The Poisonwood Bible’ accentuates the relationship between those in power, the bourgeoisie (Westerners), and those subordinated to power, the proletariat (Congolese). Socio-economic forces including political and religious ideologies are used as a means to justify colonial control within the Congo. According to Marxist literary criticism, “these overarching ideologies make up the ‘superstructure’ which functions to legitimize the power of the ruling class in society.”- a concept Western countries, especially America, inflict upon the oblivious natives of the Congo in attempt to maintain power.

The history of imperialism in Europe is vast, but none more so than the conquering of Africa from military involvement to resources in a country to the use of missionaries to gain trust with natives. The Europeans used military force to conquer land for the resources that could not be obtained in their country. The military was used to enslave the natives to mine the resources, such as gold, diamonds, rubber, and ivory, for the rich at home when the missionaries attempts to gain trust. The missionaries came claiming to want to teach them, but instead they destroyed the unique culture of the area. A combination of these caused an uproar from the natives and the end of imperialism in the area. The history of these also affects how life

Religion and education influenced Europeans to take over ‘less civilized’ people as well. They felt the obligation to spread their religion and rule over “ignorant, non-civilized” people. Missionaries, doctors, and colonial officials felt it was their duty to spread “western blessings, or their medicine, law and religion. Colonialism was seen as natural and certain, and justification was given through Social Darwinian. Europeans saw natives as weak and unfit to survive.

Every country has their own culture and it is expressed through their own traditional factors such as language and education. When a culture attempts to dominate a different culture, individuals of minor culture could easily be isolated. In Brian Friel’s Translation, he shows a several issues that could be simultaneously occurred by colonialism.

Most of the world’s civilized societies today were established through colonialism. It was brought about through greed, necessity for expansion, and discovery. It has left its mark in various ways by the languages we speak, cultural influence, not to mention the lines on the map. Although it has shaped much of history, colonialism is an unequal exploitation of settlements or countries that has left a lot of problems in its wake.

Colonialism is defined as “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically” (Google). It was a practice demonstrated in the 1700s and the people that experienced this type of control were mostly individuals that came from other countries such as Africa and were brought to the colonies. By taking individuals from their homes back and transforming them into something that is “civilized” and “normal” to the colonies standards were apparent with two writers by the name of Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley. These two African individuals took in what they were being taught by their captors and infused with their writings. This demonstrates that colonialism is a way of erasing ones true background and integrating teachings of something they can truly never be a part of. The two texts to support this thesis will be Olaudah Equiano’s text The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself and “On Being Brought from Africa to America” & other select poems by Phillis Wheatley.

In the late 1800s, third world countries, primarily Africa, were infiltrated by European colonizers. In Things Fall Apart, Heart of Darkness, and “Shooting an Elephant”, we see the direct impact of the colonizers on the beliefs of the natives. Post-colonial literature centres mainly around how beliefs are questioned and eventually altered; a transformation that can manifest in numerous ways as it is not fixed. In each of the stories, a different form of colonization is elucidated. In Things Fall Apart, the curiosity of the natives with regards to the culture of the europeans leads to colonization. The oppression of the natives exerted by the europeans in Heart of Darkness leads to colonization as well. Finally, in “Shooting an Elephant”, the roles of the colonizers and the colonized are reversed as it is the natives who take on the position of the oppressors.

In many works of literature, especially those coming in Africa, Indian, Middle East, we meet characters who are struggling with their identities, culture, religions, submission of other people or country. As we can imagine when you analyze the novels from these countries as we cites the problem of characters are the same as: economic, political, cultural, and emotional effects that colonizer brought and left behind, these are called emotional trauma for the people of these nations cited. The literature asks the readers to enter a text through the post-colonial lens; the chart will help how the approach can be analyzed in reading of a text, the reader would look for the effects of colonialism and how the characters they addressed through of

In the Indians and European cultures, they both faced a certain backlash when it came to being able to live with each other. For example, the Indians would offer an education in the way of living in New England, but Massachusetts and Connecticut would make sure that the people that lived over there would stay over there because they did not want the settlers to move over there. In contrast, they both could have a cultural crossing successfully. For example, Europeans men lived with Indian women and the French and English were good friends with the Indians. In this essay, Europeans and Indians culture are divided, but together in terms of the nature of the borderlands, the appeal to the Indian cultures that may have had for some Europeans, how most Europeans viewed Indians, the way Indians treated captives and those who lived amongst them voluntarily, the role of trade and economic exchange, the role of education, and finally the difference between the English and the French settlers in their attitudes towards the indigenous peoples. Through all this, the essay will explain what kind of people live in the Indian culture as well as compare all the descriptive information that has been received.

In comparison to the western culture, the Middle Eastern Culture, African, American Indian and Asian culture has a different approach to their family structure. These cultures mostly have an extended family that dominate their family type, for instance in Croatia, Bosnia or Serbia they have a family system of a fully extended family which consists of parents, children, grandparents but the difference between a normal structured extended family and the fully extended family is that the cousins and other kins that may not be related from the immediate family, are also included and this type of family can reach a number of 50 people.

Western Civilization has had a tremendous influence on many different cultures worldwide. From the Hispanic cultures in South and Central America, to the Caribbean islands, and also to the various exotic African countries, and even to the distinguished cultures that reside in the continent of Asia. In many ways than one, these cultures have been molded to be as westernized as they could possibly be without losing their traditional customs indefinitely. They’re religion, fashion sense, and family structures have all been altered in some form so that it could resemble the western nation’s patriarch. Countries in North America and Europe have for centuries traveled to different continents in the world and colonized many nations, as a result of that, many of the customs and traditions of those people have been shaped to be a bit more westernized.