The main and central objective of this dissertation is an effort to evaluate the post colonial thematic preoccupations in the African society and literature. It is an analysis of post colonial thematic preoccupations in the literary work ‘Arrow of God’ by Chinua Achebe and ‘Cry – The Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton. Both novelists have tried to depict the realistic condition of native African colonized people. Imperialism is a kind of aspect in which one country is trying to seek in expanding its power and authority by conquering other countries or by setting up economic and political dominance on the countries. Imperialism starts when one country or nation takes over smaller countries for their land and natural resources.
• In Heart of Darkness, Conrad refers to this committee as the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs. Leopold II, who was to be sole ruler of this land, never set foot in the Congo Free State. Instead, he formed a company, called simply “the Company” in Heart of Darknes. Greed of Europeans: • A prevalent feeling among Europeans of the 1890s was that the African people required introduction to European culture and technology in order to become more evolved. • The responsibility for that introduction, known as the "white man 's burden," gave rise to a fervor to bring Christianity and commerce to Africa.
Colonization of Africa The European settlers forcibly seized Africans land, resources and plantation. European created myth of “white man’s burden” is to show themselves as enlightened and as someone who is above common natives whereas Africans as savage, uncivilized and barbarians. But it only reveals one fact that how dehumanizing colonialism was in terms of creating hierarchy by categorizing human being. European imperialist mission to dominate the colonized land was based on three main factors i.e. economical, political, and social.
To what extent was ethnocentrism and racism the greatest motivation for western European nations embarking on an imperialistic conquest of the African continent between the late 1800’s and 1914? “Power mixed with cunningness creates poison cocktail. While power with cleverness makes a perfect pilot whale.” (Stephen Thompson, Ph.D., n.d.). In the imperialistic conquest of Africa this quote proved accurate. The Western Europeans gain power over Africans, however the way they controlled their power, with inhumane, racist and selfish actions mean’t the colonies were bound to failure.
Moreover, William Booth observed in “In Darkest England and the Way Out” published in 1890, “But while brooding over the awful presentation of life as it exists in the vast African forest, it seemed to me only too vivid a picture of many parts of our own land. As there is a darkest Africa is there not also a darkest England?” Booth picked up on this notion and particularly addressed the unjust parallel in one of his book and presented it as seen in the passage. Hence, the imperialistic ideology generated in Britain, distracting the Victorians from issues regarding the lower social classes in Britain. Moreover, Rhodes and Booth who wrote and lived during that time, affirm that the invention of ‘the Dark Continent’ was a ploy to promote the imperial system in Britain and their conducts in Africa. Doing so allowed the empire to spread rapidly by the end of the 19th century, which generated vast profits for the wealthy or fortunate Victorians, but its rhetoric was flawed and
“Send forth the worst ye breed, And bind our sons in shackles To serve your selfish greed”. (2-4) For Harrison, the coming of the White man into Africa to ‘liberate’ Africans was deceitful and had an ulterior motive of exploitation and selfish gain. This same thinking was expressed by Henry Parks in, Africa: The Problem of the New Century, where he advocated for blacks in diaspora to colonise Africa. He contended that European “scramble for Africa would blight the continent with liquor, vice, and genocide” ( qtd. in Mitchell 1).
Lastly, when European empires touch foot in Africa to gain the many resources this continent provided, it created acts of genocide. In 1884, the Berlin conference took place, dividing Africa into the hands of several different empires. Countries such as Rwanda took a turn with the empires powers. The Indigenous groups of Rwanda, which were the Hutus and Tutsis were peaceful till Germany took hold of the country. During the time Germany had power over Rwanda, they gave the Tutsis higher status and the key position.
Afterwards, the second and third precepts of colonization will be discussed. Furthermore, we will look at the unique case during the colonization era which is Dutch colonization and micro and macro incentives that driven the Netherlands to Indonesia. Finally, we will look at the imperialism in today world and conclusion of the paper. Between 1870 and1914 the modern concept of imperialism was introduced by Richard Koebner, he defines imperialism as a combination of the economic expansion as well as militarism which allowed to sprawl of country(Stokes, 1969). One of the founders of classical view is Lenin; he believes that imperialism is inevitable stage of capitalism.
The theme of Heart of Darkness is the conditions prevailing in the Congo under the imperialist rule of the Belgian King, Leopold II. These conditions include the impact of the white traders and explorers on the life of the African (or Congolese) savages, and the influence of the native way of life on the white men, with special reference to one man named Mr. Kurtz. In fact, Conrad’s novel ha several themes: the theme of self-restraint, theme of working of the sub-conscious mind of man, the theme of the exploration of a little-known Continent, the theme of the influence of barbarism and primitivism on a civilised man when he is cut off from civilised society and the obvious theme of the imperialist exploration of a backward country. Conrad’s treatment of the theme of white imperialism was influenced by his own visit to the Congo and his exploration of that dark country. His rendering of Marlow’s conscious and subconscious thoughts was also based upon his own reactions to what he had himself seen in the course of his voyage through the dark country of Congo in a streamer on the river Congo.
From the understanding of the empowerment theory, one can see its positive relevance to South Africa’s decolonization and Africanization process. This can be so in that, a critical analysis on pre 1994 South Africa shows that the Republic was under white colonial rule of the National Party which sort to increase patterns of colonial discrimination of the Black South Africans through the devolution of political structures and the promotion of a putative independence in the African reserves Laura (2012). Race also played a pivotal role during this colonial period. The White rule was characterized by installation of oppression, denial of opportunities and poverty on the black majority based on belief in biological racial difference and hierarchy. This exemplifies the notion of oppression, discrimination and powerlessness suffered by the marginalized individuals and groups in some societies as argued by the empowerment theory.