“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). Which was a source of worry to him regarding the eventual corruption of the “native simplicity” of Africa (Mitchell 2).
Furthermore, Harrison disagrees with Kipling by symbolising the very tool used by the Europeans
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Johnson in 1898, she states “Johnson maintained European ascendancy in Africa ominously signaled that whites would soon subjugate blacks across the continent” (Mitchelle 2). And demonstrated in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness by the character Kurtz, whose documents contained a message “Exterminate all the brutes” (Conrad 63). Which supports the killing of Congolese who tried to resist the highhandedness of the Imperial company.
Also, Harrison’s poem alluded to the construction of the kings and chiefs in Africa as subjects to the European dictates and whose powers are no more binding to his people but to the imperial power superimposed on them all because of the Eurocentric perception of having a burden to make the ‘other’ be like or defined to the standard set. This is a process of othering which supports the idea of subjugation and mastering of the inferior. And in most cases, might take a violent approach in an effort to define the ‘other’ as subjects and the empire/colonial government itself as the superior and lord over those it colonises and intend to ‘liberate’. Moreover, this form of imposition through checkmating anything the colonised see as a form of identity as portrayed in “And check our racial pride;” (12) can include language suppression as Macaulay suggested in his book, Minutes,
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And in the process of identity creation is what Spivak and other postcolonialists see as othering. For the poems of Rudyard Kipling, two distinct identities were created. The problem solver, the guardian and the grown man who have decided in “White Man’s Burden” of Kipling to do away “ ... with childish days-” (50) and joined the imperialist club” who shouldn’t forget the divine duty of bringing the those not in the law into the law as experienced in “Recessional, A Victorian Ode”. Whereas, the ‘other ' occupies the inferior position-people filled with sadness, are devil-like, and not worthy humans whose road to a better life are to be determined and are the mercy of the Sacrificial ‘Other’ by divine appointment from God are required to assist the “sullen people” to become a happy people. But this form the negative construction of the ‘other ' is what anti-imperialists of the Victorian era saw as a gradual degradation of the "Native simplicity" (Mitchell 2) of Africans and others. For Harrison in his poem, the construction of the ‘other ' was a way to exploit the naivety of the ‘other’ and subdue them for the economic gain of the ‘Other’. For the poem, the negative construction shouldn’t be for the ‘other’ but for the ‘Other’. And if really the imperialism was about genuinely assisting the ‘others’ then it should
The book serves as a sharp contrast with the deception of Colonists as well as a symbol of solid realness within a fantastical dream where truth is impossible. When describing the book, Marlow’s diction are highly positive, using words like “honest”, “humble” and “simple”. The direct expression and singleness of intention serves as a contrast with the lies the Colonists tell to conceal the reality in Africa. Europeans justify their bloodthirsty conquest as something they did for a greater cause. In 1876, at the Geographical Conference on Central Africa, King Leopold justified “To open to civilization the only part of our globe which it has not yet penetrated, to pierce the darkness which hangs over entire peoples, is, I dare say, a crusade worthy of this century of progress” (Cleary).
This chapter addresses the central argument that African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed. For example, the author underlines that approximately 50,000 African captives were taken to the Dutch Caribbean while 1,600,000 were sent to the French Caribbean. In addition, Painter provides excerpts from the memoirs of ex-slaves, Equiano and Ayuba in which they recount their personal experience as slaves. This is important because the author carefully presents the topic of slaves as not just numbers, but as individual people. In contrast, in my high school’s world history class, I can profoundly recall reading an excerpt from a European man in the early colonialism period which described his experience when he first encountered the African people.
DBQ Imperialism came in a viscous roar throughout the 1900s creating a stir of trouble all while leaving great progress. A time where people were starting to trade more efficiently. When they started taking and improving the land they discovered out on a voyage. The time of imperialism was a time when people came together from different parts of the world and combined their ideas or became independent and made their own. The new comers used the land and its goods to change the ways of most of the people already living there.
Imperialism DBQ Throughout the history of the world, imperialism has played a major role. Imperialism is one nation taking over another by social, economical, political aspects. This policy was introduced and also practiced in Europe during the 1800’s and the early 1900’s. The foreign policy of Imperialism was the product of The Industrial revolution.
Many of the Europeans who emigrated enjoyed being superior because they believed they were doing the right thing (Document K). With the increase of technology and development during the industrial revolution, the Europeans believed it was their duty to “assist” the Africans. In the poem, “The White Man’s Burden,” by Rudyard Kipling he writes, “Take up the White Man's burden; Send forth the best ye breed; Go bind your sons to exile; To serve your captives' need.” (Document P). This poem is proof that racism was a major selling point of African imperialism and is another example of paternalism, the idea that what they were doing was for the best of the Africans.
In Basil Davidson’s video, “Different but Equal”, Davidson examines ancient Africa, and how Africans were perceived in ancient and modern times. Davidson discusses pre-colonized Africa and its history, and how racism prevailed in the past and in modern day. By discussing early civilizations, as well as modern day perspectives, Davidson allows the viewer to have expansive information on how individuals view Africans and their culture. In Davidson’s video, he discusses how people in the past have viewed Africa and African culture, and how that relates to our perception of Africa in modern times.
Imperialism In Africa Imperialism was a huge advancement for Europeans in the nineteenth century. Europeans sought to colonize Africa in search for raw materials and markets. Colonies in Africa were affected negatively by Imperialism, it brought many problems regarding military, economic, and social changes to the African society. Warfare, natives losing their land, and foreigners degrading the natives were all significant effects that were bad for the Africans.
In that quote you can see the true disgust and hatred for something that was not European. This is just one of many different captains and scholars who traveled to Africa and to their surprise, were stunned by the amazing towns, workmanship, craftsmanship, and art that African people had. This was first accounts of Africa that would eventually lead to Europeans conquering the land and claiming it as their own
Sherman Alexie is a Native American poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, comedian, filmmaker and scriptwriter. He represents the second generation of Native American writers who have become prominent in the 1990s. He is the most recognized, prolific, and critically acclaimed author in modern Native American literature. He has been described by David Moore as "the reigning world heavyweight poetry bout champion in the second generation of Native American literary renaissance begun in the 1960s".1 Alexie was born on October 7, 1966, in the town of Wellpinit on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington State. Alexie's father, Sherman Sr., is from the Native American tribe of Coeur d'Alene.
“The White Man’s Burden” was what justified the European actions in Africa. The origin of this ideology came from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden” (Document 6). The Europeans believed that it was their duty and burden to “civilize” the African natives.
This comparison of the colonizers to robbers and murderers is based off of his experience in the Congo, where the idea of do-gooders was disproved and replaced with a much harsher truth of the European colonizer’s selfishness and corrupt
Moreover, Western civilization became the ideal civilization, and became way superior to African “civilization.” As a consequence, African tradition became perceived as primitive, outmoded, and sadly not welcomed by the rest of the world. Unfortunately, a lot of Africans experienced a trend of a dying out culture. (2) It can be implied that even the Africans’ self-perception dropped because the only lifestyle they knew was suddenly taken away from them and they were taught that it was substandard. Therefore, the indigenous inhabitants of the colonies, the Africans, had to adapt to a new, “superlative” culture and view it as more sophisticated than theirs.
Psychotic Darkness A gun gives you the opportunity, but a thought pulls the trigger. In this world, there are many life changing situations that can test one's sanity. Such situations can capture one's mind leading the mind to be on the verge of psychotic. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, grants the characters with a series of insane scenes that can generate question of psychotic characters.
The lights from the city reflected the Thames River because London is described as being light, the light symbolizes Conrad’s view of civilization. According to Conrad civilization is where evil is present but ignored. The light is the knowledge that is gained through exploring. Conrad uses Africa and the Congo River to represent the evil that waits in the unknown. The darkness is said to be full of savages and cannibals it is further emphasized as being the uncivilized part of the world where people eat people and the savages wait in the trees and in the darkness.
This greed grew strong and grew into the establishment of imperialism through the use of slavery. While the greed is still growing the English have know lost all of their moral value and have cast aside the meaning of life for the Natives of the Congo. This hunger of greed allowed the civilized to become the uncivilized “savages” they paint the Natives to be. Mr. Kurtz is the man that the english view as the idol in a way but dies seeing “The Horror”(154) of all the darkness the “light”(68) has made. Works Cited Qu, Caie.