Colonial Legacies Post Independence

Government

– As international institutions created post WWII, these countries (even large ones) left out of leadership posts

– Varied in effectiveness depending on:

• local (good) or European administrators (not so good) under colonialism

• a presence of a tax system

• a good sense of national identity

– Lots of corruption fills vacuum of efficient administration

• In Europe, civil services emerged to curb power of business or for moral reasons;

• In colonies, government services were the source power, “rent seeking”

• Education

– Education did come with colonialism, but often to a minority, often only until high school

– Those with most education often could not fit in abroad or at home

• This is because Europeans taught that their system was best, and that local systems or ideas were not just different, but inferior

– Figuring out how to devise a locally relevant education still plaques many former colonies

Legacy (cont.)

• Economics

– Remained dependent on “core” for finished products, processed materials like steel, markets for raw materials

– Many dependent on a few exports, susceptible to price drops

• Almost no gov. owned manufacturing, which was most profitable at the time

• Health

– Life expectancy (especially among infants) increased exponentially with basic hygiene and medicine, leading to huge population growth

• (Lack of) Stability

– Borders often designed to not produce unity or with no logic

Nationalism: One nation, under a grove.

People & Terms

• Benedict Anderson – One of the most important thinkers on nationalism, argued instead of being around from forever, came about as modernization made “imagined communities” possible

– He especially singles out universal education and newspapers

• Eric Hobsbawm – Another thinker on nationalism, wrote history book tracing the emergence of national traditions in recent centuries

– Called it the “Invention of tradition,” by harkening back to a quasi-historic, geographically selective heroic epoch to define the nation

• Ideology -- The integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program.

• Sometimes it is: “big” over-simplified ideas and half truths that the powerful put forth to blind the masses to the truth of their social situation

• Practice – Idea that things are done more by action, than conscious thought (i.e. hierarchy doesn’t come from thinking about it, it comes naturally as tasks are performed)

Nationalism

• Nationalism – Desire to bring cultural and territorial imperatives together (identifiable group + land)

• Idea that people have something cultural that unites them despite distance, gender, race and class

• Inherently geographical – idea that “as time passes (for the nation), the space (of nation) is still there.”

• Nationalism is something that is created

– Requires new institutions to be created to make diverse groups feel as one

• Institutions don’t necessarily have to have a positive effect to unite people

– These institutions make up an imaginative discourse

• Is a highly gendered concept

– Nation is often referred to as a woman – motherland; lady liberty, Britannia

– In the founding discourse of a nation it is often men who are represented as fighting to protect women/land

– Women’s roles in revolutions often overlooked, they were only expected to participate as child-bearers (they actually did much more)

Nationalism (cont.)

• Johann Herder, 19^th century German philosopher and major influence on early modern geography, was probably first philosopher of nationalism

• thought each “nation” should have government to allow democratic free expression of their needs and identity

• Thus the idea of the “nation state”

• Emerged in many colonies by the 1920’s

– Struggle against colonial power

– After independence, renamed many streets, buildings, even cities (Sri Lanka, Cairo, India)

• Also can be Diasporic, i.e. people who still feel a part of one nation, even though they now live somewhere else

– Originally applied to Jews w/ homeland in Israel, people living throughout Europe, Middle East, Americas

– Now applied to Africans on all continents (Pan-Africanism), South Asians

Nationalism (cont.)

• Nationalism is not going away (and seems to be increasing), despite global media, global economy

– Allows a group to hang onto something in the face of external economic and cultural changes

• Think U.S. post 9/11

• Sub-State Nations (separatist groups) often leading the way. Why?

– Nation state only exists in theory

• All states are multi-national states (states with more than one national group).

– Japan and South Korea most homogenous

– Linguistic difference (Basque, Quebec)

• Often in making the larger nation state, peripheral languages are discouraged, become politicized.

– Groups losing language are also usually peripheral to economy and national culture

– Religious difference (Timor Leste, Chechens, Tibetans) which lead to differential inclusion.

Wait, so what are these institution things?

• These are absolutely huge, because nations do not stay unified without some sort of push

• Institutions – Are “organizations” which perform a function for the “public”, be it economic, political, social or cultural

– Many argue that they are crucial for the reproduction of a cohesive society, because it is through them we acquire common ground

• Religions for a long time were the most prominent institutions

• Provide links across generations

• Provides moral codes

• Kept Written History and Records

Important Institutions if you want to build a nation state

• Education

– Reaches people at a young age

– While it is about making a strong workforce, it is also about building a citizenry with stories in common

• Building a common story is hard in very diverse places, especially where the diverse people fight

– Languages which get taught tend survive, as do traditions

– Not just schools, but also museums, archives, universities, books, documentaries

– Huge issue in Africa, where many places don’t have local textbooks

Other Government Institutions

• Welfare

– Providing social services and payouts causes people to be invested in the state

• Most extreme in Persian Gulf where most citizens are completely dependent on state for their livelihood

• Insuring Political Representation

– If government spreads position of power among various constituencies, or if they allow proportional representation, more people have voice

– But ideal is that people lose regional interests for national ones

• United States and United Kingdom have national parties, where people come to see past ethnic and regional interests

• Cult of Personality

– Where leader is elevated to near-god status, is “father” to everyone in the nation

Even more institutions

• The Arts

– Not just to make “well rounded” people, but build cultural capital, make money, and construct a national story

• Post-independence, many colonies tried to stop focusing on the Euro canon, and make their own

– Four types of support a government can provide

– Declaring certain resources to be art, which makes them symbols (can be paintings, buildings, even landscapes)

– Build spaces for display of “public art,” idea that prestige is transferred to anything inside

– Support creation of new work by paying (certain) artists, holding festivals where they can sell

– Support in indirect arenas, such as education, and copyright protection for individual works

• Private support of businesses is also crucial

Institutionalized

• Media

– After Independence, many countries chose government owned media

• In part because media not profitable in poor places

• Also to control messages, emphasize less contentious/more uniting issues

– More recently, media has been privatized

• It is now pop culture which unites people

– Soap Operas, Talk Shows, Reality TV

• Landscape

– Heritage tourism landscapes and monuments are sites of pilgrimage to the national story

• National Parks for both tourism and unity reasons

• Whose heritage and which heroes to be monumentized is a big question?

– Confederate statues are a good example

The Problem with Institutions

• Institutions also have the potential to divide as well unite, depending how they treat different groups

– If groups get excluded from or ignored by or disparaged in institutions, it will become a source of protest

• In secular Turkey and Iran, Islam became a form of protest

• In Algeria and Morocco, Berber language became a form of protest

National Institution: Sports

Modern organized sports originated in Britain

– Not to say there weren’t sports throughout the world, throughout history

– Britain established the same rules throughout the country, had institutions which set the rules

• Horse Racing, Fox Hunting, formalized in 17^th century & 18^th century (later golf)

– Associated with rural gentry, masculinity, and discipline

More Brits

• Soccer, Rugby, Tennis, and Track and Field solidify in the 19^th century

– Soccer and Rugby are the first to become working class team sports

– All sorts of legislation aimed at frustrated factory workers helped sports

• The half-day off on Saturday gave workers free time

• Playing Fields and the urban parks legislation turned parks and green space into center of leisure time for workers

• Owners, schoolmasters saw team sports as way to teach teamwork and discipline

• As professional teams emerge, allows people to spend time as spectators

Later Developments

• By late 19^th century, the United States and Canada began exporting its sports – basketball, volleyball, baseball, ice hockey (gym sports)

– Games are spreading to former colonies, though Europe and United States dominate in competitions

• 1960’s begin to see the turnaround, when former colonies begin surpassing colonizers (Brazil in Soccer, India/West Indies in Cricket, table tennis in China)