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The World in 1900

The World in 1900. The Twentieth Century. A Century of War and Revolutions Few centuries can rival the magnitude, efficiency, and lethal intensity of 20 th century conflicts Revolutions in Mexico, China, Russia, Cuba Two World Wars Wars of Emancipation throughout colonial regimes (Africa)

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The World in 1900

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  1. The World in 1900

  2. The Twentieth Century A Century of War and Revolutions • Few centuries can rival the magnitude, efficiency, and lethal intensity of 20th century conflicts • Revolutions in Mexico, China, Russia, Cuba • Two World Wars • Wars of Emancipation throughout colonial regimes (Africa) • The Cold War

  3. World War I The Great War scared Europe, both physically and psychologically. German Troops in the Trenches. WWI. Source: NARA

  4. World War II

  5. World War II

  6. The Art of Satire • The 20th century opened with the Great War (1914-1919) – later dubbed as the First World War. • This and other conflicts made the 19th century focus on realism fail • 20th century was bent of discovering reality’s hidden faces • Novelty, individuality, disruption

  7. Modernity, Modernism, Modernization • Modernity became synonymous with what made progress possible- modernization • Modernization involved the scientific harnessing, ordering, and exploitation of natural resources and native populations • Modernism consolidated the difference between the modern and the modernizing

  8. Decolonization/Recolonization • Decolonization movements in the beginning of the century aggravated the contest between the principle ideologies of the day: • Marxism (East) • Capitalism (West) • Newly independent nations often turned to battle grounds with both systems promising salvation Even before the close of World War II, the tensions that would lead to the Cold War were well-established. Joseph Stalin, Harry S. Truman and Winston Churchill in Potsdam. NARA

  9. Decolonization/Recolonization • Place and space became issues in national literary cultures • In a global world, what was a national identity? • Geography, language, culture, and nation do not necessarily coincide

  10. History, Memory, Trauma • The early twentieth century was marked with paradoxical notions of time • Philosophy and psychoanalysis explored individual experiences of time, while industry tried to standardize time

  11. History, Memory, Trauma • After World War II, literature became an important means of working through the history of colonialism and recuperating indigenous myths and memories • Meanwhile, television and the computer oriented people’s thinking toward the present – weakening the historical sense

  12. History, Memory, Trauma • Nations across the globe struggled to deal with legacies of discrimination and violence • Western Europe: Holocaust • Latin America: desaparecidos taken by brutal dictatorships • Australia: “lost generation” of aborigines • South Africa: post-Aparatheid • 20th century literature embodies memories and brings neglected communities to center stage

  13. History, Memory, Trauma Images of some of the many desaparecidos Afiche de las Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Desaparecidos. Fecha de la foto: noviembre 2005. Autor: Pepe Robles. La foto es subida por el autor. "GNU Free Documentation License".

  14. Posts: Postmodern and Postcolonial • Postmodernism sought to disrupt the overarching, universalist schemes of modernism by focusing on the particular, the contextually specific, and the individually differentiated. • It ended up blurring the particularity of specific cultures • A symptom of its own impossibility

  15. Cultures in Motion: Migration, Travel, and Displacement Political upheaval was a major force behind the uprooting of large numbers of people throughout the century. • WWII: millions of displaced people • Flood of refugees has never stopped • Communist oppression in Eastern Europe • Colonial violence in Northern Africa • Palestinians by creation of Israel • Boat people • Afghans from Soviet occupation • Sub-Saharan Africa Refugee camp, South Vietnam. NARA

  16. Cultures in Motion: Migration, Travel, and Displacement • The search for better educational and economic opportunity has also led to Diaspora cultures • Populations follow routes of colonialism: From colony to colonizer • Arab minorities in France • Indian and Caribbean populations in Britain

  17. Cultures in Motion: Migration, Travel, and Displacement • Leisure travel had also further contributed to Diaspora • Search for the innovative spiritual and literary inspirations • International communication and travel became easier in the latter half of the twentieth century • Writers in exile • A global literary market made international literature more available

  18. Science, Technology, and Progress • The 20th century saw faster technological process than any previous century • Literary creativity at the close of the century is redefining itself both in relation to new media and in relation to techno-scientific knowledge

  19. Science, Technology, and Progress • Three important changes: • The shift in public scientific interest from physics to biology • The emergence of new media of communication • The fusion of information and communication technology (digital revolution)

  20. Science, Technology, and Progress Shifting interest from physics to biology • Interest in physics at the first half of the century • Relativity theory, quantum mechanics, atomic bomb • Interest shifts to biological concerns • DNA, genetically modified foods, cloning Atomic bomb creates mushroom cloud over Hiroshima, Japan. Source: NARA

  21. Science, Technology, and Progress The emergence of new media forever altered cultural imagination and literary production • Telephone, radio, motion picture, television, long-playing record, computer, and the Internet • In combination with transformation improvements, communication improvements have changed the way we view space and time

  22. Science, Technology, and Progress The digital revolution has opened new opportunities for literary creation • Computers enable writers to merge text, sound, image, and touch – reshaping possibilities for storytelling, lyrical expression, and theatrical performance

  23. Science, Technology, and Progress • Computers and the Internet have given rise to utopian hopes for a better connected, better informed, more democratic, and more tolerant world society. • Yet, enthusiasm for technology was increasingly countered in the middle of the 20th century by distrust and skepticism • Two technologically advanced world wars and Cold war • Destruction of natural environment Oiled duck on the shore following the Exxon Valdez oil spill.    Photo courtesy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.

  24. Science, Technology, and Progress Like the anti-Enlightenment skepticism of the Romantic period, academic and intellectual circles debate the theoretical and methodological procedures

  25. Science, Technology, and Progress Literature is in the process of redefining itself in an altered media landscape that sometimes limits the reach of literary expression and sometimes opens up new venues for it.

  26. The World in 2000

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