The Anti Colonialism And Postcolonialism

Although relationships between imperialism, nationalism, and racism have contributed to changes in racism in both Europe and North America from the 1750s to present day, there are several areas in which they have stayed the same.

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.

If I had been alive in the late 1800’s, I would have taken the anti-imperialism side, because I feel that imperialism is immoral and inhuman. Imperialism is when bigger, powerful nations seek to dominate and take over smaller, and weaker nations. When the larger nation usually takes over they use military force, and basically rob the struggling little country of its natural resources for the powerful nations benefit. The natives that live in the weaker countries usually are treated horribly, and their voices are silenced due to the wealth, technology, and strength. These industrialized, and advanced factors just mad the more powerful countries think they were the most superior race above all others (known as racism) and only prompted them

Amid the administration of the three presidents, Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, they were chosen amid a time in the US, known as the dynamic time. The Progressive Era was a time of open social activism and political change over the United States that spread over from the 1890s to the 1920s. The essential targets of the Progressive development were taking out issues caused by industrialization, urbanization, movement, and defilement in government. The development fundamentally focused on political machines and their managers. By bringing down degenerate delegates in office, a further method for coordinate vote based system would be built up.

Classical Colonialism occurs when metropolitan nations fuse new territories or peoples through means which are virtually involuntary such as war, conquest, capture, and additional forms of enforcement and control. (Biauner 1987,150) Classical colonialism is distinguished by economic exploitation, forced entry, and cultural imperialism through the establishment of new institutions and methods of thought. (

This week, we had a variety of readings discussing neocolonialism, and the effects of the progressive era, and move towards an authoritarian mode of government. During the progressive era, Latin America had many reforms in hopes of becoming more like the western powers in Europe and the United States, however, while they succeeded in some areas, their plan did not go perfectly. For many, quality of life improved, however for the lower classes, life stayed practically the same. This aspect of the reading surprised me, as I thought with progressive reforms, more social reform would take place. Being how modernization theory should have taken place, I found it shocking that there was a large flaw in this theory. There was economic growth, but

New Imperialism was the third wave of colonial expansion, precursored by Catholic colonialism in the sixteenth century and Mercantile colonialism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As the nineteenth century began, it became apparent that Europe and the United States were the dominant forces of the world, and that they were in control of defining global society. Proponents of New Imperialism believed that modern expansionism was necessary for economic, political, and cultural purposes that would benefit their own country. Furthermore, proponents also believed that colonization would modernize and incite progress in the civilizations outside of Europe and the United States. Nonetheless, New Imperialism established deep lines of contempt regarding Western power, marked with violence, throughout the world. Therefore, New Imperialism was a paltry act done by the Western world which seems to have produced little benefit.

The industrialization and the great technological development of Europe, especially at the time of the second industrial revolution, the generation of the world in two large groups: the industrialized countries and the non-industrialized industrialists. The former ended up imposing themselves on the latter, who remained under their direct or indirect dependence. Industrial Europe, thanks to its demographic vitality, its industrial, technical, commercial and financial superiority imposed its economic model, its values, ideals and its culture to a large part of the world.

Neocolonialism and Sovereignty are closely related and go hand in hand in the texts. To start off sovereignty is defined as being a ruling power that has supreme power or authority over a country and its people. Similarly, neocolonialism is defined as a practice of using methods such as culture or economic pressures to influence a country. With neocolonialism the influence can extend militarily or political influence. Although both may not seem related, they go hand in hand in most situations. In the video “Crucible of Empire,” they discuss many of the ways the European powers and the United States used these principals in order to take advantage or control several countries.

Humans have adapted to different belief systems that allow them to express their religions in cultures in different ways. Over historical colonialism, Christianity and Catholic religions have arisen as the “dominant” religions, and indigenous people have suffered from trying to be converted to these religions and becoming Europeanized. Natives, however, have had an entirely different mindset and belief of how life and the world work. Their culture and religion believe that The Great Spirit has created this universe, which they seem to acknowledge as being very powerful and something that is invisible. This belief system is much different than the things that are taught in Catholicism and practiced in European countries.

Postcolonial critiques of literary works are often accomplished by reading and interpreting the work with a specific theme in mind or a ‘lens’. By allowing oneself to use a ‘lens’ when reading specific works, it allows the reader to interpret the effects of the themes and the changes throughout the writings. The goal of the critical lens is to seek to understand the behavior of characters or the society ("Post Colonialism," 2016). A few of the most popular themes used to view literary works are identity, oppression and power; applying this ‘lens’ can give the reader a different perspective and experience while reading the writings.

There were many reasons that the Old and New Imperialisms were considered bad but, there were many good things that happened. Imperialism had brought more Naval Bases and /or Expand the military, a new market and raw materials, and Anglo-Saxonism. These were the things brought many positive societal, political, and economic factors. Although there were many things they could have done that would have done better. (WORK ON!!!)

Due to the influence of Marxist principles, there is some level of confusion in the usage of the terms imperialism and colonialism. This is due to the similarities of their practice, ending in an interchangeably usage of both terms. First, both imperialism and colonialism involve political and economic involvement over a particular territory. However, in the past colonies and empires deferred drastically. colonialism practices the relocation of population to a new territory, while maintaining political adherence to their country. This implies a political control over a territory and a loss of its sovereignty, which involves the suppression of individuals. Referring to the extension of sovereignty over a territory establishing political control over it as a source of power. “The term colony comes from the Latin word

Imperialism – The act of stronger nations taking direct control of weaker nations in order to to create empires economically, politically, culturally, and/or militarily. Much of Africa and Asia were under European domination because of imperialism.

The postcolonial era presents various issues for the decolonized nations, like the reconstruction of a government and the maintenance of an economy. In addition to that, the individual identity of the colonized people is a complex issue that they must cope with as well, and it is an issue that is still present today. Compared to the other issues of postcolonialism, the construction of one’s identity might appear trivial; however, there are many problems of postcolonial identity, including the obligation of one to perceive themselves as people do from the outside through stereotypes, and the difficulty of unifying two conflicting identities: one that is created by outside sources, and one that is created through personal experiences.