Colonialism and Development

2. Colonialism and Development • Colonialism • Development • The Second World • Development Anthropology • Strategies for Innovation

3. Colonialism • Colonialism – political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended period of time • Imperialism – policy of extending the rule of a nation or empire over other nations

4. Colonialism • European colonialism had two broad phases • 1492 to 1852 • 1850 to just after end of World War II • Second period more imperialistic

5. Imperialism • Imperialism almost as old as the state • Colonialism traced back to ancient Phoenicians 3,000 years ago • Rebellions and wars aimed at independence for American nations ended 1st phase of European colonialism

6. British Colonialism • Driven by need for economic expansion • Peaked about 1914 • First phase of British colonialism concentrated in the New World, West Africa, and India • Closed with the American Revolution • British empire covered a fifth of world’s land surface and ruled a fourth of its population

7. British Colonialism • British colonial efforts justified by what Kipling called “white man’s burden” • Asserted native peoples not capable of governing themselves • During the second period of colonialism, Britain eventually controlled most of India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and large portions of eastern and southern Africa

8. Map of the British Empire in 1914 • Source: Academic American Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 (Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1998). p. 496

9. French Colonialism • First phase, starting in early 1600’s, focused in Canada, the Louisiana Territory, the Caribbean, and West Africa • Second phase (1870 to World War II) included most of North Africa and Indochina • French colonialism driven by state, church, and military, rather than by business interests

10. French Colonialism • Spread French culture, language, and religion throughout the colonies • French used two forms of colonial rule • Indirect rule – practice of governing through native political structures and leaders • Direct rule – practice of imposing new governments upon native populations • Ideological legitimization for French colonialism was mission civilisatrice (similar to “white man’s burden”)

11. Map of the French Empire at Its Height around 1914 • Source: Academic American Encyclopedia, Vol. 8 (Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1998). p. 309

12. Colonialism and Identity • Many modern political boundaries in West Africa based on linguistic, political, and economic contrasts that are the result of European colonial policies • Whole countries, along with social groups and divisions within them, were colonial inventions

13. Small West African Nations Created by Colonialism

14. Postcolonial Studies • Settler countries – large numbers of European colonists and sparser native populations • Nonsettler postcolonies – large native populations and only a small number of Europeans • Mixed postcolonies – sizable native and European populations • Postcolonial – study of interactions between European nations and the societies they colonized

15. Development • British Empire – white man’s burden • French Empire – mission civilisatrice • Economic development plans – industrialization, modernization, westernization, and individualism are desirable evolutionary advances that will bring long-term benefits to natives • Intervention philosophy – ideological justification for outsiders to guide local peoples in specific directions

16. Neoliberalism • Free trade best way for nation’s economy to develop • No restrictions on manufacturing • No barriers to commerce • No tariffs • New form of old economic liberalism laid out in Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations

17. Neoliberalism • Since fall of Communism (1989-1991), revival of economic liberalism • Now called neoliberalism • In exchange for loans, governments of Postsocialist and developing nations must accept neoliberal premise that deregulation leads to economic growth • Prevailed in U.S. until President Roosevelt’s New Deal during the 1930s

18. The Second World • Includes former Soviet Union and the socialist and once socialist countries of Eastern Europe and Asia • Second World refers to Warsaw Pact nations

19. Communism • Small-c communism – social system in which property is owned by the community and in which people work for the common good. • Large C-Communism – political movement and doctrine seeking to overthrow capitalism and establish form of communism such as that which prevailed in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991 • Two meanings of communism

20. Communism • China • Cuba • Laos • North Korea • Vietnam • By the year 2000, only 5 Communist states left, compared with 23 in 1985

21. Communism • Communist party monopolized power • Relations with party highly centralized and strictly disciplined • Nations had state owners of the means of production • Regimes cultivated a sense of belonging to an international movement • Many communist states totalitarian and demanded total submission of the individual to the state

22. Communism • Rise of nationalism in form of ethnic-religious minorities • Corruption • Unemployment and poverty • Difficulties establishing new values, social relations, and groups • States that once had planned economies now following neoliberal agenda but face problems

23. Postsocialist Transitions • Postsocialist Russia has faced many problems • Since fall of Soviet empire in Tajikistan, Islam replacing socialist ideology • Yugoslavia breakup more violent and created a series of secessions • Neoliberal economists assumed dismantling Soviet Union’s planned economy would raise GDP and living standards

24. Postsocialist Transitions • Alexei Yurcahak describes official-public and personal-public spheres within contemporary Russian state • What is legal (official-public) and what is considered morally correct don’t necessarily correspond • Corruption – abuse of public office for private gain – common problem in postsocialist countries

25. Postsocialist Transitions • Postsocialist and developing nations include promotion of civil society – voluntary collective action around shared interests, goals, and values

26. Former Soviet Socialist Republics of Central Asia, including Tajikistan

27. Development Anthropology • Development anthropologists do not just carry out development policies plan by others • They plan and guide policy • Branch of applied anthropology that focuses on social issues in, and the cultural dimension of, economic development

28. Development Anthropology • Local-level research often reveals inadequacies in the measures that economists use to assess development and a nation’s economic health

29. The Greening of Java • Emphasis on front capital and advanced technological and chemical farming allowed bureaucratic and economic elites to strengthen their position at expense of poorer farmers • Ann Stoler’s analysis suggested that it differentially affected such things as gender stratification, depending on class • Green revolution has increased food supplies and reduced food prices

30. The Greening of Java • Commonly stated goal of development projects is increased equity, which means reduction in poverty and more even distribution of wealth • Goal frequently thwarted by local elites acting to preserve or enhance their positions • Equity

31. Location of Java (yellow) in Indonesia (orange)

32. Strategies for Innovation • Kottak found culturally compatible economic development projects twice as successful financially as incompatible development projects

33. Strategies for Innovation • Be culturally compatible • Respond to locally perceived needs’ • Involve men and women in planning and carrying out changes that affect them • Harness traditional organizations • Be flexible • To maximize social and economic benefits, projects must:

34. Strategies for Innovation • Projects that failed were usually economically and culturally incompatible • Project problems have arisen from inadequate attention to, and consequent lack of, fit with local culture • Overinnovation – development projects that require too much change

35. Strategies for Innovation • Many development projects incorrectly assume that nuclear family is basic unit of production and land ownership • Many development projects also incorrectly assume cooperatives based on models from former Eastern bloc will be readily incorporated by rural communities • Underdifferentiation – tendency to view “less-developed countries” as more alike than they are

36. Third World Models • Realistic development promotes change, not overinnovation, by preserving local systems while making them work better • Best models for economic development found in target communities