SOC 102 – BECOMING MODERN: The Social Origins of Modernity

OUTLINE Announcements - The painting - Thought of the day - Writing Workshop - Assignment #2 Colonialism - Why Study colonialism? - Why does poverty matter? Why should we care about it? - Age of Exploration - Social Consequences (exploitation and empire building) - 2nd wave Colonialism (19th Century) - Indian Holocaust - Race for Africa

Thought of the Day “Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever.” - Mohatma Gandhi

Assignment #2 1) A clear research question 2) A thesis that answers the question 3) A well-organized thesis 4) A well-supported thesis

What is Colonialism?

Why Study Colonialism? Poverty Famine Sweatshop factories Modern-day slavery Political instability Terrorism Environmental sustainability

Recap: Portugal’s Exploration What did Portugal’s Exploration consist of? Azores 1439 1415: Ceuta China1543 Madeira 1420 1543 Japan Cape Verde 1460 Sierra Leone 1480 1499 India 1500 Brazil 1488

The Spanish Empire

Consequences of Spanish Colonialism Death and destruction related to the Capture of Tenochtitlan (1521)

Consequences of Spanish Colonialism - Natural Mineral extraction… endentured labor by the locals, pollution of the environment, theft of their natural resources… Cerro Ricco (rich mountain), Potosí, Bolivia

Slavery

Slavery

The Dutch Empire (1600 -1700)

The British Empire (1600 -1700)

Second Wave Colonialism

Consequences of British Colonialism: The Great India Famine of 1876-1878

Colonial Genocide: It is estimated that at least 24 million Indians died during the Indian Holocaust, due to decisions made by colonial administrators to dispossess people of their land and their food… so as to make it available for the European markets

SOURCES OF THE INDIAN HOLOCAUST - Colonialism’s dispossession of lands from the natives The introduction of railroads to accelerate the dispossession of crops The ideology of economic liberalism Ideology of Eurocentrism… The idea that Indian lives did not matter The El Niño weather patterns Cholera

DECOLONIZATION (1948 – 1973)??

DECOLONIZATION Asian countries: India, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia Middle eastern countries: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Libya African countries: Ghana, Zaire, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda Caribbean: Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago Pacific Nations: Fiji,Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Philippines

Has Decolonization Actually Occurred?

Key Questions about Third World Poverty What is the country’s colonial past? Who colonized the country? - What political system did the colonizers impose? To what effect? - What cultural ideologies did they impose? - What economic system did the colonizers impose? To what effect? - Who owns the land? How is the land used? That is to say, is it used to grow crops for the locals? Or is it used to grow export crops for the European countries? - What resources are being extracted from the country? By whom? For whose benefit? And at whose expense? - What “structural adjustments” have been imposed on the country by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)? How has that impacted the country’s funding of its infrastructure, including its education and healthcare systems?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF COLONIALISM: Roots (video series about slavery in North America) 500 Years Later (video on long-term consequences of slavery for Africa) The Buried Mirror (video on colonisation of South America) Jared Diamond. 1998. Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Short History of everybody for the last 13,000 years. ON EUROCENTRISM: JM Blaunt. 1993. The Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History. Louise Levathes. 1994. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1503-1433.