Dark Continent by Mark Mazower argues that while postcolonialism is often seen as an issue affecting the lives of countries that lived under and escaped from colonial rule, it should also be understood as shaping the evolution of Europe. He argues that as Conrad pointed out in his famous novel, Heart of Darkness, Europeans not only found darkness in Africa but brought their own darkness with them.
Rather than seeing the social and political...
Dark Continent by Mark Mazower argues that while postcolonialism is often seen as an issue affecting the lives of countries that lived under and escaped from colonial rule, it should also be understood as shaping the evolution of Europe. He argues that as Conrad pointed out in his famous novel, Heart of Darkness, Europeans not only found darkness in Africa but brought their own darkness with them.
Rather than seeing the social and political conflicts that tore Europe apart as anomalies as Europe marched on a continuous path towards the Enlightenment ideals of liberty, equality, and democracy, instead Mazower sees the rise of authoritarian regimes and internecine wars as part of the inevitable logic of late capitalist imperialism.
He argues that the forces of tribalism, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia have remained important in Europe, and that authoritarian regimes rose in response to these forces and succeeded by promising their people security and prosperity. He argues that these these forces remain endemic in European culture, as reflected by the rise of far right parties and the forms of tribalism that still make many European nations fissiparous, including Catalan and Basque separatism, the ongoing tensions between Flemish and Walloons in Belgium, and a general inability to assimilate minorities, whether Romani or immigrant, in many European cultures.
No comments:
Post a Comment