Identity and Cultural Change during the Colonial Era IN AFRICA AND ASIA

Food for Thought  How what would you describe your identity?  What characteristics do you consider when describing your identity?

Considering Identity  Your culture, as well as sub-cultures, that you are apart of can significantly impact how you perceive and identify yourself.  Additionally, changes, progress, or disruptions to your culture can impact how you view your identity.  Can you think of any examples?

Education

Key Terms  Education: the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.  Western Education: the teaching of the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits as valued in Western societies (Western European countries, United States, etc.)

Impacts of Western Education on Colonies  As a Western education was provided by missionaries and governments  Many developed a new sense of identity.  Education helped many escape undesirable tasks, such as forced labor.  Opportunities provided by having an education :  Access to better paying jobs in government agencies, business firms, etc.  Access to imported goods and luxury items.  Social mobility and elite status.  Beginnings of equality with whites. Leopold Senhor West African writer and political leader in the early 1900s

Impacts of Western Education on Colonies Con’t  Many Western-educated people embraced other aspects of European culture as well:  Dressed in European clothes  Learned French or English  Built European-style houses  Got married in long, white dresses  Education created a new cultural divide between the minority who had mastered the ways of their rulers and the majority who had not. The King of Siam and other young students, all dressed in European clothing

Impacts of Western Education on Colonies Con’t  Western-educated elites believed they were the key to modernizing their societies:  Believed they could do so within a colonial framework and in association with colonial authorities.  These educated elites = had these hopes crushed  Europeans generally declined to treat their Asian and African subjects as equals.  Europeans constantly referred to their cultures as primitive and backward.  Result? Western-educated elites turned against colonial rule and foreign imperialism and became leaders in struggles for independence. “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.... We need not wait to see what others do.”

Religion

Key Terms  Religion: An organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supernatural, along with ceremonial practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects of the universe otherwise beyond their control.  Purposes:  To provide a model of the universe.  Explaining the unknown and making it understandable.  Sets guidelines for acceptable behavior.  Establishes a moral code and prompts reflection for self-conduct and behavior.  Maintains social solidarity – i.e. “group unity.”  Offers educational experiences.

Geographic Reach of Religions  Widespread conversion to Christianity in: New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, non- Muslim Africa, etc.  By the 1960s = about 50 million Africans had converted to Christianity

Impact of Religious Diffusion  Religion: provided the basis for new or transformed identities.  Remember Purposes:  To provide a model of the universe.  Explaining the unknown and making it understandable.  Sets guidelines for acceptable behavior.  Establishes a moral code and prompts reflection for self-conduct and behavior.  Maintains social solidarity – i.e. “group unity.”  Offers educational experiences.

Christianity  Attractions to Christianity:  Military defeat shook confidence in the old gods and local practices, which led to openness to new sources of supernatural power  Christianity  associated with modern education (because missionary schools provided education)  Oppressed groups (young, poor, women, etc.) found new opportunities and greater freedom with missions  Spread of the Christian message  mainly by African teachers and pastors, not European missionaries German Missionaries in Southwest Africa, c. 1910

Hinduism  In India = many turned toward a revived Hinduism  More distinct and unified  Purposes of this revived Hinduism:  Provide India with an accessible religion on an even keel with Christianity  Provide Indians with a feeling of worth when faced with the humiliation of colonial rule  Uplift India’s village communities  Offer spiritual support to a Western world caught up in materialism and militarism Swami Vivekananda One of India’s most influential religious figures of the 19th century

“Race” and “Tribe”

Defining Race  New cultural identity as associated with “race”  an “African identity.”  Before 2 nd Wave of Imperialism, no one in Africa identified themselves as “African”  Based their identity on their: local community, religion, state/empire, etc.  Goal  to revive the cultural self-confidence of people in Africa by creating a larger, common, and respected “African tradition” equivalent to “Western culture.”  Unity in a strong identity to counter that of Europe. See modern proposals for a United Africa

Impact of the Concept  West African scholar Edward Blyden ( ) argued that the world’s races are different, but each has its own distinct contribution to make to the world:

Defining Tribe  Most important was the new sense of belonging that developed during the colonial era  the idea of “tribe” or “ethnic identity”  Idea of an Africa sharply divided into separate and distinct “tribes”  a European idea.  To help with colonial administration  People even had to identify their “tribe” on applications for jobs, schools, and identity cards.

Impact of the Concept  New labels were not just imposed. Africans gradually found ethnic and tribal labels useful  especially in large urban cities  Helped them to categorize themselves and others in these massive cities with a wide variety of people  Sense of security in being part of a tribe  Tribal and ethnic associations created to provide mutual assistance while in the cities Women from the Igbo Tribe of southeastern Nigeria