Colonialism

The colonial construction of what?

by Jakob De Roover

Co-authored with Sarah Claerhout, published in Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism (Routledge, 2010).

This chapter raises three fundamental questions to clear the conceptual ground required for theory formation on the... more This chapter raises three fundamental questions to clear the conceptual ground required for theory formation on the construction of Hinduism. First, the authors analyze the question ‘Is religion a construct?’ The claim that religion is only a conceptual tool of the scholar, which does not refer to any empirical reality, they argue, fails to make sense in the absence of a theory of religion. However, this does not imply it is nonsensical to speak of the construction of Hinduism. ‘Is Hinduism a construct?’ is answered in the positive but qualified in a limited empirical sense. Third, the authors raise the question as to ‘What is constructed in the process of construction?’ On one hand, one could argue, as they do, that Hinduism has been created as a conceptual unit in certain descriptions of India. These descriptions have had impact upon Indian society, but this does not entail that Hindu religion exists in India today. On the other hand, one could suggest that Hinduism has come into being as an object also, a new religion that materialized on the subcontinent.

A hapless attempt at swimming': Representations of Eric Moussambani

by John Nauright

published in Critical Arts 17:1/2 (2003), 106-122, co-authored with Tara Magdalinski

One of the most powerful images to emerge from the pool at the Sydney 2000 Olympics was that of Eric Moussambani from... more One of the most powerful images to emerge from the pool at the Sydney 2000 Olympics was that of Eric Moussambani from Equatorial Guinea who swam his heat of the 100-meter freestyle alone after the other two swimmers in his heat were disqualified. Moussambani completed the distance over one minute slower than eventual gold medallist Pieter van den Hoogenband. The media coverage of Moussambani's performance illustrates that the discourses of colonialism, paternalism, and racial stereotyping remain central in the modern Olympic movement. This paper analyses media reports of Moussambani and identifies three main frames used to contextualize his performance at the Olympics. We situate Moussambani's swim within a broader framework that reveals the mechanisms used to display African bodies for the European gaze as well as the paternalist Olympic discourse that seeks to universalize Western sporting practices within a global culture that privileges Western cultural and economic practices.

Sulayman b. Nasir al-Lamki and German colonial policies towards Muslim communities in German East Africa

by Michael Pesek

published in n Islam in Africa, edited by Thomas Bierschenk and Georg Stauth. 211-229. Münster: LIT, 2002

Biopolítica borbónica en Chile: el discurso antropológico sobre la ociosidad y el vagabundaje

by Patricio Lepe-Carrión

En editorial para ser publicado en el libro colectivo "Revisando el presente. Ensayos críticos desde el sur". CEAPEDI. Universidad Nacional del Comahue - Argentina.

Fair trade and empire: An anti-capitalist critique of the fair trade movement

by Ian Hussey

Article in Briarpatch Magazine 40(5): 15-18. September 1, 2011.

Quote from intro: "Fair trade marketing and advocacy rely on the idea that fair trade increases connectedness... more Quote from intro: "Fair trade marketing and advocacy rely on the idea that fair trade increases connectedness between Global South producers and Global North consumers. But while fair trade does reduce the number of intermediaries in the supply chain as compared to the free trade system, it also serves to reinforce racist and colonial distinctions between the poor Global South farmer and the benevolent Global North consumer. While it may channel slightly more income into agricultural communities, it ultimately fails to address the colonial capitalist structures that produce the impoverishment of farmers on an ongoing basis."

Parameters of the Fur Trade in New Netherland: Eighteenth-Century Evidence? (2006)

by Kees-Jan Waterman

Paper delivered at first joint conference of the American Association for Netherlandic Studies (AANS) and the New Netherland Institute (NNI), Albany, N.Y., USA, June 2006.
Published in Margriet Bruijn Lacy, Charles Gehring, Jenneke Oosterhoff (eds.), From De Halve Maen to KLM: 400 Years of Dutch-American Exchange [Studies in Dutch Language and Culture, vol. 2, Margriet Bruijn Lacy,
(ed.)], pp. 135-148. Münster: Nodus Publikationen, 2008.

The objective of this article is to establish whether close examination of a Dutch account book for the fur trade with... more The objective of this article is to establish whether close examination of a Dutch account book for the fur trade with Indians in colonial Albany, 1695-1726, yields useful data to assist us in reconstructing some parameters of the fur trade in New Netherland. From the account book a number of broad characteristics can be distilled that characterize the trade between Indians and two members of a family with strong New Netherland ancestry. The approach of this article is inspired by ethnohistorical studies that deploy a technique called "upstreaming": the researcher identifies a given set of circumstances and consults sources from progressively earlier times (goes "upstream") to examine if and to what degree such circumstances were recognizable in previous periods. In doing so, one may gain insights into the persistence or adaptations of the practices developed and deployed in the intercultural trade between colonists and Indians in New Netherland.

Written oral history: Dimensions of identity of Chukotka’s indigenous people in the works of Rytkheu

by Ivan Sablin

published in AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, vol. 8, no. 1, 2012, pp. 27–41.

Through the examination of two autobiographic works of Chukchi writer, Rytkheu, this study demonstrates the research... more Through the examination of two autobiographic works of Chukchi writer, Rytkheu, this study demonstrates the research potential of indigenous literatures, offering a new perspective on the past and present of indigenous peoples. The study seeks to provide new interpretations of identity in Chukotka, the northeastern extremity of Asia, of the 1930s and 1940s and to contribute to the identity debate in indigenous studies. In the article identity is understood as a multidimensional whole, with the discussed dimensions being based on ethnicity, nationality, occupation and place of residence. The article pre-eminently addresses the identity of the coastal sea-mammal hunters of Chukotka.

Mapping indigenous Siberia: Spatial changes and ethnic realities, 1900–2010

by Ivan Sablin

co-authored with Maria Savelyeva, published in Settler Colonial Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, pp. 77–110.

This article discusses spatial changes in the ethnic territories of Native Siberians from the late nineteenth century... more This article discusses spatial changes in the ethnic territories of Native Siberians from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed to model and observe these changes. The GIS also features resource-oriented economic activities, major waterways and railroads. Analysis of the model, textual sources and statistical data made it possible to determine what factors constituted Siberia’s ethnographical pattern of the early twentieth century and led to its changes in the ensuing decades and what impact on the indigenous peoples these changes had. Four special maps showing Siberia in the 1900s–10s, 1930s–40s, 1970s–80s and 2000s–10s were produced from the GIS and are included in the article. The current legal status of the indigenous peoples’ territories was also examined. This article presents an interdisciplinary macroscale case study.

Not Confined to the Village Clearings: Indian Women in the Fur Trade in Colonial New York, 1695-1732 (2008)

by Kees-Jan Waterman

Motivations and Practicalities in the New York Fur Trade, 1695-1732 (2011)

by Kees-Jan Waterman

Dockside Prostitution in South African Ports

by Henry Trotter

History Compass 6/3 (2008): 673-690

Prostitution has been a staple of dockside social life for centuries. In South Africa, it dates from the Dutch East... more Prostitution has been a staple of dockside social life for centuries. In South Africa, it dates from the Dutch East India Company's establishment of a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope. But unlike other prostitution sectors—streets, brothels, agencies—the women of the dockside sex trade in Cape Town and Durban participate in a global traffic of ideas, diseases, DNA, contraband, and currency through their ceaseless interactions with foreign sailors. They exploit their knowledge of the seamen's languages and cultures so as to more effectively solicit their marks in a competitive and cosmopolitan environment.

Social historians provide passing glimpses of dockside prostitution in their consideration of larger historical themes—Company rule, slavery, British colonial governance, the Mineral Revolution, the Anglo-Boer War, and apartheid—but they have yet to treat it as a distinct analytical category through which to view the past. Yet popular intellectual trends suggest that research into the dockside sex trade would add new dimensions to the histories of cosmopolitanism, gender, globalization, maritime recreation, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

This article provides a quick and accessible introduction to the historiography of dockside prostitution in South Africa.

Sailors as Scribes: Travel Discourse and the (Con)textualization of the Khoikhoi at the Cape of Good Hope, 1649-90

by Henry Trotter

Journal of African Travel-Writing, 8 & 9 (2001): 30-44

Travel narratives have been one of the primary means by which Europeans learned about the rest of the world. This... more Travel narratives have been one of the primary means by which Europeans learned about the rest of the world. This paper examines how travel narratives concerning the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) from 1649 to 1690 utilized specific images of the Khoikhoi to serve either Dutch imperial intentions or a larger European cultural project. In both cases, writing was utilized as a technology of representation: texts served as tools in the construction of a Euro-managed Khoikhoi identity.

The paper is based on sailors' accounts. Between 1649 and 1690 at least eighty-eight reports of the Cape of Good Hope were written by sailors, many of them quoted by later academics and imperial strategists. This paper focuses on the most popular and representative of these writings. It first looks at how Khoikhoi were represented as "strategic shepherds", as herders who were seen as important assets in the Dutch colonial establishment at the Cape. It then investigates how travellers tapped into and enhanced the trope of the godless savage, extending this rather popular stereotype to Khoikhoi as part of European understanding of the "other". Finally it examines how local Cape peoples were valued as ethnographic specimens.

Charlatans Chicanery

by Mohamed Eno

Thr poem is an excerpt from my forthcoming volume Guilt of Otherness

The volume is under review with a subject area expert and a literary critic. The volume is under review with a subject area expert and a literary critic.

Disputas administrativas na periferia do império português: O Espírito Santo nas buscas pela Serra das Esmeraldas

by Fabio Reis

During the 17th century, the search for the mythical Serra das Esmeraldas becomes strong in Espirito Santo. The legend... more During the 17th century, the search for the mythical Serra das Esmeraldas becomes strong in Espirito Santo. The legend says that it was situated somewhere in the Capitania. The desire to find it and receive the benefits (mercês) for the services to the King leads to long and complicated political fights that interfere in all the layers of the Portuguese imperial administration. Partial product of the Master‟s degree researches, the analysis of this political fights allow us to see the existence of peripheral powers that do not correspond to the desires of the Crown and powerful enough to change the final decision.

Independence, Globalization, Rice and Beans

by Richard Wilk

in Taking Stock: Belize at 25 years of Independence, edited by Barbara Balboni and Joseph Palacio, Benque Viejo, Belize: Cubola Productions. Pp. 310-322.

Belize has never been isolated and its history has always been deeply affected by events taking place far away.... more Belize has never been isolated and its history has always been deeply affected by events taking place far away. Therefore globalization is not something new to the country, for Belize has always been a 'globalized' nation. In this chapter I trace the changing history of Belizean globalization, from its beginnings as a bucanneer's outpost, to its recent transformation into a stop on the tourist "Ruta Maya." I use the history of the national dish, Rice and Beans, to illustrate my points about cultural and economic dependency and independence.

Colonial Time and TV Time

by Richard Wilk

Published as Wilk, Richard 1994 "Colonial Time and TV Time."  Visual Anthropology Review 10(1):94-102

A proposal for a global political economy of time, connecting the control of time to the colonial mastering of... more A proposal for a global political economy of time, connecting the control of time to the colonial mastering of cultural dominance and geographic distance. While ostensibly about television, the same argument could be extended to the way mass media such as radio and film worked under tight government control during the colonial era.

Debate about the effect of television in small and poor countries usually flows through the familiar channels of domination and resistance, globalization and localization, imperialism and local revitalization. Based on fieldwork in Belize, this paper suggests that this debate is itself a crucial "effect" of television, because it focuses attention on particular aspects of the nation and its identity. The debate about television is an important form of moral discourse, around which new political coalitions and alignments can emerge. At another level, discourse about television conceals dramatic transformations in the temporal order, in the way time is perceived in relation to space and power. In this paper I argue that the immediacy of satellite television has broken the linkage between time,¬ space, and culture that is essential to colonial and neo-colonial¬ consciousness. After satellite television, Belize remains distant, but it ¬is no longer "in the past." 

Slavery and Colonialism: The Worst Terrorism on Africa

by Mohamed Eno

Co-authored with Omar A. Eno, Mohamed H. Ingiriis, and Jamal M. Haji; Published in African Renaissance, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2012.

Humans need not justify terrorism of any kind, regardless of whether one is Muslim, Christian or Jew, because it is... more Humans need not justify terrorism of any kind, regardless of whether one is Muslim, Christian or Jew, because it is the axis of evil and devastation of mankind. However, the deliberate use of the term terrorism in recent decades was carefully selected, mainly, against a certain religion (Islam). The idea was then globally politicized by the Western world. Leaving that scholarly view in its own right, we disagree with the opinion raising terrorism as the devil’s just-born child of evil, when in reality Africans had been terrorized for centuries as slaves and human chattel. Hence the basis for the concept of this thesis: conceptualizing the episode of ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ from the broader perspective of its practice from the Middle Passage or the Atlantic Slave Trade. To portray that argument and broaden the scope of the debate over this critically sensitive subject, we divided the discussion into three sections: an examination of what constitutes terrorism and terrorist; history of terrorism and terrorists from an Africa perspective; and the ideological constraints within the subject of terrorism as practiced by the US and its Western allies.

From Population to Citizen: The Subjects of the 1939 Aboriginal New Deal in Australia’s Northern Territory

by Ben Silverstein

Kontur, 2011, no 21, pp 17–33

In 1939, the Commonwealth of Australia formulated a new policy for ‘native administration’ which mapped a transition... more In 1939, the Commonwealth of Australia formulated a new policy for ‘native administration’ which mapped a transition from ‘native tribes’ to ‘citizens’, staging a modernising Australia. In this article, I discuss the various processes of subjectivation at each point on the ‘long march’ of colonial ‘progress’ or settler colonial elimination. Writing a history of these linked colonial governmentalities casts light on practices of recognition, difference, and the self in the modern world.

Influence of the history of archaeological thought in South Asia on the understanding of ancient states and empires, including the prevalence of Colonial and Orientalist modes of interpretation.

by Seetal Gahir

Colonial Conquest and the Struggle for the Presence of the Colonial State in German East Africa, 1885-1903

by Michael Pesek