Postcolonial Era Vocab

Boko Haram

Nigeria-based militant group active since the early 2000s, aiming to overthrow the Nigerian government and impose strict Islamic law.  

Uyghurs

A distinct ethnic muslim group who are currently being persecuted by the Chinese government

Rohingya

A distinct ethnic muslim group who were recently persecuted by the government of Myanmar (Burma)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

A United Nations decree, stating that all people deserve to be treated equally and fairly

General Assembly

The main policy making part of the United Nations that includes representatives of all member nations

Security Council

A part of the United Nations that is responsible for maintaining peace and security throughout the world

Nationalism

advocacy of or support for the political independence of a particular nation or people

Rowlatt Acts

Laws that banned protesting in India, and enabled government officials to jail offenders for up to 2 years without a trial

Amritsar Massacre

An event that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of protesting Indian civilians and resulted in widespread support for the nationalist movement

Mohandas Gandhi

A leader in India who supported nonviolent protest to achieve independence

Civil disobedience

A form of nonviolent protest in which people are encouraged to break unjust laws

Salt March

A specific protest organized by Gandhi to challenge a British taxes

Jawaharlal Nehru

The first Prime Minister of an independent Indian nation.

Indira Gandhi

An Indian Prime Minister who was assassinated by Sikh nationalists

Partition

The term given to the division of India into separate Hindu and Muslim nations- and Palestine into separate Jewish and Palestinian Nations

Negritude Movement

A movement in which French speaking Africans and West Africans celebrated their heritage of traditional African culture and values

Kwame Nkrumah

The nationalist leader of Ghana who utilized protests and worker strikes to achieve independence

Pan Africanism

The attempt to create a sense of brotherhood and collaboration among all people of African descent whether they lived inside or outside of Africa.

Jomo Kenyatta

African nationalist who worked toward the independence of Kenya

Apartheid

A South African policy of complete legal segregation of the races, including the banning of all social contacts between blacks and whites

Nelson Mandela

Leader of the African National Congress, who became the country’s first black president

Desmond Tutu

Catholic Bishop who organized a multinational trade embargo with South Africa in an effort to pressure the country to end its policy of apartheid

Tutsi

Ethnic minorities in Rwanda who were the victims of a genocide in the late 1990’s

Darfur

A region in the western Sudan that has recently seen state sponsored violence against ethnic minorities in the region

Refugee

A person who has been forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster

Hutus

Ethnic group in the African nation of Rwanda that is responsible for the brutal genocide of Tutsis and moderates trying to protect them

Janjaweed

Militia armed by the Sudanese government to terrorize and murder non-Arab settlements in the Darfur region.

Ethnic Cleansing

The mass expulsion or killing of members of an unwanted group in a society

Kosovo

A region of Yugoslavia that sought to become independent from Serbian control

Slobodan Milosevic

A Serbian leader who was responsible for numerous atrocities during the breakup of Yugoslavia

Armenians

Ethnic group that was forced to endure expulsion and genocide from the Ottoman Empire during WW1

Mustafa Kemal

Lovingly referred  to as Ataturk, he was a Turkish nationalist who became the first president of a secular republic of Turkey

Armenian Genocide

Refers to atrocities committed against ethnic minorities in the Ottoman Empire during WW1

PLO

A group that is dedicated to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the middle east

Yasir Arafat

As leader of the PLO, he carried out numerous attacks against Israel- Yet he eventually made peace with Israel and became the first president of the Palestinian Authority

Camp David Accords

The first signed agreement between Israel and an Arab nation, in which Egyptian president Anwar Sadat recognized Israel as a legitimate state 

Intifada

A Palestinian campaign of civil disobedience against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Oslo Peace Accords

An agreement in 1993, in which Israeli prime minister Rabin granted Palestinian self rule in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

Balfour Declaration

A promise by the British to create an independent state of Israel in Palestine

Zionism

Jewish nationalist movement started by Theodore Herzl in the late 1800’s

Khmer Rouge

Communist rebels under the leadership of Pol Pot committed genocide on the people of Cambodia

Pol Pot

A communist leader in Cambodia that was responsible for killing 1/3rd of the country's population.

Taliban

A political organization in Afghanistan that implemented strict laws that were especially harsh to women

al-Qaeda

The terrorist organization that is largely responsible for the attacks on the world trade center in the USA on 9/11.

Osama bin Laden

The individual who planned the attacks on the world trade center

Islamic Fundamentalism

Organizing society and politics by strictly following the laws of Islam