‘Despite the collapse of the European empires, colonialism has never really gone away.’ An evaluation of practices today that still betray ‘colonial’ attitudes by M. J. Mvula.
Introduction.
Once upon a time, there were empires that were so powerful. They crossed the seas and conquered many lands. They composed a song about their victories:
Land of hope and glory
Mother of the free …
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set …
God who made thee mighty
Make thee mightier yet.
(
Empires created colonies that were under their control and with the passing of time, disappeared. Did colonialism go with the demise of empires? What legacies did they leave behind? This essay will look at colonialism and critically assess whether its vestiges are still with us. We will then examine whether there are practices today that still betray ‘colonial’ attitudes? Firstly, let us define colonialism.
Definition of colonialism.
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 1973, defines the verb to colonize as to settle in a Country. A colonist is therefore one who settles in a new Country other than his own. Different scholars have come with different definitions of the term. Tim Allen and Alan Thomas define it as “the political control of peoples and territories by foreign states, whether accompanied by significant permanent settlement (settler colonies) or not.” (Tim Alen and Alan Thomas 2000, 242). Although some of the people indicate that colonialism was not a profitable venture and had a Christianizing and civilizing motif; the majority of scholars agree that it expropriated wealth from the colonies by controlling the local production in such a way that they became major producers and exporters of their raw materials and consumers and importers of their finished products. In that way, an economic formula of siphoning out wealth through the capitalistic practice of controlling the demand and supply of goods in the market was put in place. (Ankie Hoogvelt 1997, 17; Ania Loomba 1998, 2 - 3;
The Shorter O.E.D. defines capitalism as the condition of possessing capital or using it for production. In essence, a capitalist looks for resources, the major ones being land and labor. On one hand, there are owners of money and on the other, there are owners of labor. The owner of the money comes up with a means of producing goods and services as his means of making life. A capitalist aims at using capital and labor to make profit. To do this, there are several ways. He can create monopoly of property and access of means of production. In that way, he wards off others from competing with him. He can utilize cheap labor or even make you to be cheap in the process to make profit. The driving force behind capitalism is profit. Colonialism and capitalism are bedfellows and strive together.
Has colonialism ended?
This is a many-sided question. Amilcar Cabral sets the stage when she says: “national liberation takes place when, and only when, national productive forces are completely free of all kinds of foreign domination. …” (Amilcar Cabral 1994, 56). Loomba mentions that if one looks at imperialism as meaning a political system where there is centralized governance, the granting of independence could mean the end of empire and colonialism. But if it includes the manipulation of the market forces through capitalistic theories, the granting of independence does not end colonial practices. (Loomba 1998, 6). Young, Vijay Mishra and Bob Hodge sheds more light to the debate when they say we should understand postcolonial to mean coming after; colonial and imperial in the sense of being under the subjection of another state. When we consider economic and political dominance of the ex-colonizers, imperialism still exists. (J. C. Young 2001, 44; Mishra and Bob Hodge 1994, 276 ). McLeod further argues that “while colonialism is virtually over today, imperialism continues apace as Western nations such as
Let us look at what we experience in our daily lives that makes us say that colonialism exists in some ways. We will look at our Political, social, economic and spiritual life with special reference to
Political life: Most of African states are politically unstable. This has its origin in the way how Africa was partitioned in 1884 by colonies that met in
The political system imposed on
In addition to that, when the nations got independence, power moved to an elitist class which was neither colonial nor national in its representation. Hoogvelt describes them this way: “European colonial rule had involved selective co-option and careful nurturing of a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern … a class of persons Indian in blood and color but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and intellect,” (Hoogvelt, 32) who in a way did not represent the multitudes. (McLeod 108 -109). We now have a bourgeoisie class – the national elites, who dominate over the lower classes – the subalterns. Women continue to be marginalized in many African Countries. The structures of colonialism were only transferred to Africans.
On a global scale, we have the first, second and third worlds. (Robert J. C. Young 2003, 16-17). There is a gulf (river) between the rich and the poor as seen in the film “The Motor Cycle Diaries.” In
Social life: The colonial system of governance centred its economic activities in cities. This resulted in people migrating to the cities seeking for employment. The economic imbalance resulted in some becoming economic migrants as they searched for a better place to live. Others crossed borders to other countries seeking greener pastures. We now have migrant communities in the major cities of the world. Some of the people were routed out of their homeland as slaves and rooted in foreign lands. They live a life of two worlds.
… Captured from their homeland and separated from their tribes and families they were enslaved in a new world … The African Diaspora is the story of how Africans, though scattered dispersed, managed to retain their traditions and reform their identities in a new world. (African Diaspora).
Effects on economy: In colonial days, some vast pieces of land were taken by foreign merchants to be their estates resulting into revolt for land later. (Robert Young 2003, 45-46). In the case of minerals: all the mines were owned by foreign companies – a way of expropriating the colony’s wealth. (Hoogvelt, 30; Benita Parry 2002, 67). Land has become a problem now as these private owned land can not be transferred to people for either food production or any other use. The issue of land is an explosive and divisive one in
The economy as a whole was stage managed by colonizers to their advantages. At the heart of colonialism was the subjugation of people as Young and McLeod put it (Young 2001, 15; McLeod, 17) and managing lands as one would do with his personal estate. (Hoogvelt 1997, 15). Their economies were structured to serve the colonizing nation; colonies were reduced to satellite depots for the production of raw materials of the colonizers. (Tunde Obadina 2000). This is one of the reasons for the perpetual poverty and dependency syndrome in
The creation of I. M. F and World Bank led to countries getting loans that they were unable to repay due to poor economic performance and unfavorable inflationary rates that led to more debt accumulation. (
Regarding topography, beautiful rain forests have been decimated by lumbering. The plundering continues as reports of modern machines being used for cutting timber in the
Effect on spiritual life: We now have a church that is very dependent on the west. Although the numerical growth of the church in Africa and Asia surpasses that of
People look at it differently. Most apologists say; look at what colonialism has done. In
One of the most important feature of missionaries’ work lay in their contribution of education through school and colleges. Christianity … was a religion dependent on literacy which alone made it possible for converts or others to read and study the Bible; literacy in turn, was dependent upon instruction … (Andrew Porter 2004, 317).
Critics and bashers of colonialism dismiss all this as a total sham. They maintain that whatever the case may be, colonialism denied people their right of expression, self determination and self destiny. The whole of civilizing motif is a total lie as if the colonies had no light within themselves. As industrialization and scientific advances were being made,
The seventy year colonial era was one of the most dynamic and scientific periods in world history. It was the period, for instance, that witnessed
Critical assessment.
The colonizing agents were not in the mood of learning from their colonies. In the case of
However; colonialism has gone and I would like to draw our attention to other practices that are equally very harmful to
Lack of patriotism: The colonial leaders passed on the mantle of leadership to some nationals who to a certain extent betrayed their nations. Some of these leaders had no political ideology to follow. They maintained the same colonial structures and repeated mistakes the colonialists made. Moreover, they further divided the countries on tribal lines. Loomba observed that even after independence, not all enjoyed the fruits of independence. Women, the civil service and the laborers never fully enjoyed this cake of freedom. “… Colonialism can be duplicated from within.” (Loomba 1998, 11-12). What we see in
is not just about handing land back to its dispossessed peoples, returning power to those who were once ruled by the empire. It is also a process of overturning the dominant ways of seeing the world, and representing reality in ways which do not replicate colonialist values … So, freedom from colonialism comes not just from the signing of declarations of independence and the lowering and raising of flags. (McLeod, 22).
When we hang out the national flag for uhuru meetings and rallies we don’t want the cries of wapi uhuru (where is uhuru) to drown the cheers. Our independence struggle was not meant to enrich a minority. It was cast off the yoke of colonialism and poverty. (Ali A. Mazrui, 2005).
Corruption: Corruption robs any nation of resources that could be used for development. Mobutu of Congo amassed so much worth meant for government. “By the time he was overthrown in 1997, Mobutu had stolen almost half of the $12bn in aid money that
Bad Governance. George Kinoti singles out bad governance as the major cause of
I have highlighted in these sections that colonialism can still be seen in the political, social, economic and spiritual life. We can not change our yesterday; but we can put strategies to change our destiny. Let us now turn to see if there are elements of mission today that still betray colonial attitudes.
The church and colonial attitude.
Missionaries and colonialism came together. Missionaries were seen either as collaborators or agents of colonizers in the annexing and extending imperial power. There seemed to be a symbiotic relationship between imperial rulers and the missionaries. After all, both the state and the missionaries were after the same people; they had to collude in some cases. (Porter 2004, 16-21; Andrew Porter 2005, 40 ; Brian Stanley 1990, 11). This kind of relationship was untenable. “…Missionaries did not want to be imperial propagandists and colonial rulers, any more than they intended to be consistent or uncritical supporters of capitalist enterprise.” (Porter 2004, 323). This is seen in their questioning the colonial authorities in their unfair treatment of the indigenous people. Maurice Leenhardt, who was a French Protestant missionary, suffered for defending the Kanaks land rights. William Sheppard and William Morrison, who were Presbyterian missionaries were tried in 1909 for defending poor rubber gatherers in the
Cultural and Racial imperialism: The church by its nature is superior. It brought schools, hospitals and the gospel in a western culture. Missionaries went to the field with what I would call replacement missiology. By replacement missiology, I mean the feeling that everything indigenous had to be replaced. It is observed that “We Christians, like our forebears, have used our faith to bolster our sense of superiority.” (Inglebay 2006, 3). Paul tells us the right attitudes. Phil. 2:5-11. Contemporary mission should strip off this pride.
Managers of mission: The west has a feeling that since they have been involved in missions for a long time; they are well experienced in mission and can manage it with their money and the rest should listen. This is wrong. In contemporary mission, there are more Christians in Africa and
Dominant ideology:
The gospel has imperialistic elements. It calls people to listen to them alone. The world has Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and all kinds of faiths.
A theologian who attempts to work out his position unaware that he does so as a member of a world society in which other theologians equally intelligent, equally devout, equally moral, are Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and unaware that his readers are likely to be Buddhists or to have Muslim husbands or Hindu colleagues – such theologian is as out of [touch with reality]. (Harold Coward 2000, 139).
Centre of mission: Imperialism operated from the centre (the west) to the colonies; which was very inward looking, very self protective. The structure of the church has that imperialistic element. The western church in its arts and design has been imported to the colonies. Churches were recreated abroad. (Porter 2005, 40). Globalization is knocking off the walls of centredness to a liberalized operation where the centre is becoming almost non-existent.
The class system: The church has its hierarchy as well. Christianity was associated with advancement.
In the west (at least in the past) Christianity used to be identified with social respectability … public prestige going for them … Dominant community pressure made church membership not only a necessity but also the mark of civilization, good manners and decent living. Much of this mentality had been exported to
Economic control: Colonialism used its economic muscle to control.
Servanthood: The imperialists came as masters to find markets for their products. The church should avoid the tendency of looking at people as products to fill the pews. The prosperity gospel in
Gender: Just as the fight against colonialism was dominated by men; the church is dominated by men and gifts of women marginalized. Women need to be given platforms and exercise their gifts without undue restraints.
Developing contextual theology: The west has reflected on theological issues for a long time.
We have such an opportunity in history to present a message of salvation and hope for our people in our time. Never was such an opportunity available to the church before. The technological advancement of our age makes mission easier. Both travel and communication can be done easier and faster; the whole world has been brought close to us. It calls for a shift in our thinking of mission; a shift in the methods of communication and a shift in interacting with people of other faiths. Since mission is the mission of God which include all people of God of different culture and languages, as we co-exist next door to each other; we have to learn how we can peacefully co-exist. Colonialism helps us to avoid mistakes that were made in the past. The contemporary mission provides us with opportunities of doing missions better. Let us remember, we have our own subalterns. Jesus spoke for them. Contemporary mission must speak for them.
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