lecture 2: colonialism

colonialism definition:

the policy of a country that seeks to extend or retain full/partial political control over other peoples and territories generally with the aim of economic dominance through control of labour/extraction/trade

colonialism definition always includes what 3 characteristics?

• it maintains a sharp distinction between the ruling nation and the subordinate one

• usually, a consequence of a conquest of a remote territory

• always entails unequal rights

what ideologies are closely related to colonialism?

imperialism, capitalism, various ideological structures as well as political and economic

colonialism and imperialism:

its closely related to imperialism but the difference is that imperialism implies a closely governed centre of power (imperialism = political control relationship; ex: india imperial control always remained in london)

colonialism and capitalism:

its closely related to capitalism; important and necessary for the development of capitalism, but capitalism is the economic system of production with particular structures of ownership and labour exploitation

________ starts long before _______ emerges:

colonialism; capitalism

can argue that capitalism exists because of…

colonialism; its its economic structure

colonialism’s ideologies often involve…

contradictions and inconsistencies

2 types of colonialism:

settler colonialism and exploitative colonialism

settler colonialism:

involves the movement of people from the metropole to the colonies, the appropriation of lands and the settling of people onto those lands; ex - canada, usa, australia, new zealand, algeria, brazil, south africa

3 main characteristics of settler colonialism?

1. settler colonizers “come to stay”

2. settler colonial invasion is a structure not an event

3. settler colonialism seeks its own end

settler colonizers “come to stay”:

unlike colonial agents such as traders, soldiers or governors, settler collectives intend to permanently occupy and assert sovereignty over indigenous lands

settler colonial invasion is a structure not an event:

settler colonialism persists in the ongoing elimination of indigenous populations, and the assertion of state sovereignty and juridical control over their lands despite notions of post-coloniality, settler colonial societies do not stop being colonial when political allegiance to the founding metropole is severed

settler colonialism seeks its own end:

unlike the other types of colonialism in which the goal is to maintain colonial structures and imbalances in power between colonizer and colonized, settler colonization trends towards the ending of colonial difference in the form of a supreme and unchallenged settler state and people

settler colonialism creating a supreme and unchallenged settler state and people is not a drive to…

decolonize but rather an attempt to eliminate the challenges posed to settler sovereignty by indigenous peoples claims to land by eliminating indigenous peoples themselves and asserting false narratives and structures of settler belonging

exploitative colonialism:

directly or indirectly administered for the extraction of resources - mostly in tropical areas of sub-saharan africa, india, southeast asia, etc.

neo-colonialism:

with the collapse of the colonial empires after the second world war, colonialism continues in the form of control of resources and labour by multinational corporations - this allows for the continuing direct or indirect control of dependent nations by other imperial nations

example of neo-colonialism:

levi jeans in botswana - when tariffs arose no more importation and botswana economy topples

internal colonialism:

essential empirical feature of internal colonialism is the continued subjugation of an indigenous people in a post colonial state - this results in uneven development within the state on a regional basis based on the exploitation of minority groups

internal colonialism, subjugation in every case involves restriction of: (5)

1. use of land/resources

2. varying degrees of administrative supervision

3. social discrimination

4. suppression of culture

5. denial of political and other rights and freedoms

internal colonialism example:

canadas treatment of indigenous peoples especially during the 1st half of the 20th century is an example of the full development of the 5 elements of subjugation

the moral claim of indigenous peoples differs from that of other subjugated groups in that…

it includes and rests upon the fundamental claim to land and use of resources which derives from prior and rightful occupancy

7 stages of colonialism:

1. movement of people from the metropole to the colony

2. decimation of indigenous population by disease

3. increasing economic dependency and undermining of traditional economy

4. destruction of indigenous political structures and replacement by european ones

5. appropriation of lands, confined to reserves, treaties

6. race as an ideology of colonialism

7. undermining of family structures

step 1: movement of people from the metropole to the colony

more concerned here with the actual movement of europeans to settle on turtle island rather than the establishing of fishing stations or fur trade posts which actually involved very few europeans for short periods of time

1600s (6) examples of movement of people from the metropole to the colony:

• 1605 french establish acadian settlement at port royal (annapolis nova scotia)

• 1607 colony in virginia in jamestown

• 1608 champlain establishes french settlement at quebec

• 1620 puritan plymouth colony in massachusetts

• 1624 dutch colony in new amsterdam/new york

• 1638 swedish settlement on delaware river

what did all of the 1600s examples of settlements have in common?

nearly all of the settlements were dissenting religious groups from europe; huguenots in port royal and quebec, catholics (illegal in england) in virginia, puritans (persecuted in england) in plymouth colony

step 2: decimation of indigenous population by disease (3)

• introduction of new pathogens into the populations led to virgin soil epidemics

• wiped out large portions of indigenous populations

• early accounts of puritans tell of large numbers of empty/abandoned villages indicating that epidemics had moved through very early ahead of the actual european populations

virgin soil epidemics in indigenous studies refers to?

the introduction of new pathogens into populations - where many of the diseases europeans introduced came from the close association between humans and animals in europe and the tranfer of pathogens from animals to humans (like smallpox)

what portion of indigenous populations were wiped out by disease and what did this cause?

large portions estimating about 75-90%; this destroyed community structures and created incest

step 3: increasing economic dependency and undermining of traditional economy (2)

• occurred largely over the course of the fur trade (debt system and overhunting)

• products that europeans traded would break and first nations had no way of fixing them so they had to continuously return to posts for repairs or new ones

two major factors that increased economic dependency and undermined the traditional economy during the course of the fur trade:

the creation of the debt system: fur trade companies drew first nations into debt so that they had to keep coming back to trade for more supplies

overhunting: the pressure to catch more and more furs led to overhunting across canada and wiped out most of the food supply for first nations

step 4: destruction of indigenous political structures and replacement by european ones (3)

• failure to recognize women’s leadership in indigenous communities led to the undermining of women and overemphasis of male leadership

• europeans didnt understand diffuse leadership nor the limitations on leaders authority - always looking for the king or major chief who they could deal with

• this culminated in the indian act imposing elected band councils onto first nations, ignoring whatever systems of governance were in place - and when indian affairs did not like who the first nations elected (usually existing leaders) they simply deposed them

step 5: appropriation of lands, confined to reserves, treaties (2)

• for europeans to settle the land for european style crop rotation agriculture they needed first nations to be removed from the land and out of the way

• did this through signing treaties whereby first nations gave up their rights in the land (in return for paltry sums of money) and moved first nations onto small and restricted reserves out of the way and on poor lands

first nations and the signing of treaties, what to note?

it should be noted that first nations did not see treaties as selling their lands but rather as entering into a permanent relationship where they shared resources with the incoming europeans

step 6: race as an ideology of colonialism (4)

• race had no basis in biology it is entirely a social construct, a way of categorizing people, there is more genetic variation within any populations than between

• emerged largely in the 19th century and became based on the colour of skin

• becomes a way pf asserting superiority and inferiority

• its a basis for dehumanizing people

step 7: undermining of family structures (4)

• most obvious is the residential schools which destroyed child/parent relationships

• forced change and manipulated clan systems especially those peoples like haudenosaunee who were matrilineal

• forced changes in marriage patterns like polygamy (sarah carter the importance of being monogamous)

• undermined and destroyed gender diversity (now referred to as two spirited)