Unmasking Ideology in Imperial and Colonial Archaeology

Unmasking Ideology in Imperial and Colonial Archaeology

Author: Bonnie Effros

Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press

Published: 2018-12-31

Total Pages: 501

ISBN-13: 1938770617

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This volume addresses the entanglement between archaeology, imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, and war. Popular sentiment in the West has tended to embrace the adventure rather than ponder the legacy of archaeological explorers; allegations by imperial powers of "discovering" archaeological sites or "saving" world heritage from neglect or destruction have often provided the pretext for expanding political influence. Consequently, citizens have often fallen victim to the imperial war machine, seeing their lands confiscated, their artifacts looted, and the ancient remains in their midst commercialized. Spanning the globe with case studies from East Asia, Siberia, Australia, North and South America, Europe, and Africa, sixteen contributions written by archaeologists, art historians, and historians from four continents offer unusual breadth and depth in the assessment of various claims to patrimonial heritage, contextualized by the imperial and colonial ventures of the last two centuries and their postcolonial legacy.


Imperialism and Human Rights

Imperialism and Human Rights

Author: Bonny Ibhawoh

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2008-01-03

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 0791480925

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2007 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title In this seminal study, Bonny Ibhawoh investigates the links between European imperialism and human rights discourses in African history. Using British-colonized Nigeria as a case study, he examines how diverse interest groups within colonial society deployed the language of rights and liberties to serve varied socioeconomic and political ends. Ibhawoh challenges the linear progressivism that dominates human rights scholarship by arguing that, in the colonial African context, rights discourses were not simple monolithic or progressive narratives. They served both to insulate and legitimize power just as much as they facilitated transformative processes. Drawing extensively on archival material, this book shows how the language of rights, like that of "civilization" and "modernity," became an important part of the discourses deployed to rationalize and legitimize empire.


Null and Void

Null and Void

Author: M. B. Szonert

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

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Null and Void: Poland: Case Study on Comparative Imperialism traces the history of Poland from the 1930s to the 1950s, dealing with the Nazi era and focusing especially on the Stalinist period. The contemporary relevance of the issues Poland faced is relayed through the vivid true story of a Polish freedom fighter, Halina. Null and Void intertwines non-fiction narrative and historical analysis. Halina's story illustrates and ties together the analysis. Flashes forward to Halina's life today integrate the history of WWII Poland with present-day America, shedding important light on the relevance of Halina's experience to our lives today. Book jacket.


Violence and Colonial Order

Violence and Colonial Order

Author: Martin Thomas

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-09-20

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 0521768411

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A striking new interpretation of colonial policing and political violence in three empires between the two world wars.


Ecological Imperialism

Ecological Imperialism

Author: Alfred W. Crosby

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-10-06

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 1107569877

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A fascinating study of the important role of biology in European expansion, from 900 to 1900.


Imperialism and the Developing World

Imperialism and the Developing World

Author: Atul Kohli

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 561

ISBN-13: 0190069627

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How did Western imperialism shape the developing world? In Imperialism and the Developing World, Atul Kohli tackles this question by analyzing British and American influence on Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America from the age of the British East India Company to the most recent U.S. war in Iraq. He argues that both Britain and the U.S. expanded to enhance their national economic prosperity, and shows how Anglo-American expansionism hurt economic development in poor parts of the world. To clarify the causes and consequences of modern imperialism, Kohli first explains that there are two kinds of empires and analyzes the dynamics of both. Imperialism can refer to a formal, colonial empire such as Britain in the 19th century or an informal empire, wielding significant influence but not territorial control, such as the U.S. in the 20th century. Kohli contends that both have repeatedly undermined the prospects of steady economic progress in the global periphery, though to different degrees. Time and again, the pursuit of their own national economic prosperity led Britain and the U.S. to expand into peripheral areas of the world. Limiting the sovereignty of other states-and poor and weak states on the periphery in particular-was the main method of imperialism. For the British and American empires, this tactic ensured that peripheral economies would stay open and accessible to Anglo-American economic interests. Loss of sovereignty, however, greatly hurt the life chances of people living in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. As Kohli lays bare, sovereignty is an economic asset; it is a precondition for the emergence of states that can foster prosperous and inclusive industrial societies.


Rational Empires

Rational Empires

Author: Leo J. Blanken

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2012-04-09

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0226056732

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The nineteenth century marked the high point of imperialism, when tsarist Russia expanded to the Pacific and the sun was said never to set on the British Empire. Imperialism remains a perennial issue in international relations today, and nowhere is this more evident than in the intensifying competition for global resources. Leo J. Blanken explains imperialism through an analysis of the institutions of both the expanding state and its targets of conquest. While democratic states favoring free trade generally resort to imperialism only to preempt aggressive rivals—or when they have reason to believe another state’s political institutions will not hold up when making bargains—authoritarian states tend toward imperialism because they don’t stand to benefit from free trade. The result is three distinct strategies toward imperialism: actors fighting over territory, actors peaceably dividing territory among themselves, and actors refraining from seizing territory altogether. Blanken examines these dynamics through three case studies: the scramble for Africa, the unequal treaties imposed on Qing Dynasty China, and the evolution of Britain’s imperial policy in India. By separating out the different types of imperialism, Blanken provides insight into its sources, as well as the potential implications of increased competition in the current international arena.


Extracting Profit

Extracting Profit

Author: Lee Wengraf

Publisher: Haymarket Books

Published: 2018-02-19

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1608468763

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Extracting profit explains why Africa, in the first decade and a half of the twenty-first century, has undergone an economic boom. This period of “Africa rising” did not lead to the creation of jobs but has instead fueled the growth of the extraction of natural resources and an increasingly-wealthy African ruling class.