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When we hear "colonization" our minds may wander back to our middle school or high school history classes, where we most likely learned that some well-intentioned Europeans went to "primitive" countries in places like Africa to educate the "savage" people of the land and bring them into the modern world by sharing clothing, food, religion, and other cultural traditions. We know now, however, that the real story is much less well-meaning than that and much more violent. What really happened? These Europeans stole land from the native people inhabiting the land and forced them to assimilate to their Western culture through violence, massacres, and slavery. They tried to completely eradicate any trace of their original culture. The Postcolonial Era in Great Britain brought about it fear, violence, atrocities, and a mentality of superiority. We can see the fear of the unknown as this new societal epoch was on its way in W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming," in which he describes the new era as a "rough beast" as he knew there would be much destruction and turmoil that would come post colonization. In Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" narrative, we see the atrocities committed in African countries, like The Congo, and a critique of such actions. Such violent actions and colonial influences changed the culture of these nations forever. Despite the clear criticism that Conrad provides toward colonization, his portrayal of the indigenous people, and even of Africa as a whole, still shows the racist views that existed in Great Britain, even for the so-called good guys" like Conrad. As Chinua Achebe stated, "Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as 'the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality" (Snyder, 2016). Lynsey Chutel also criticizes the narrative, calling it problematic, as "The Africans portrayed in the book are primitive, defeated, and grotesque. They are manipulated by the book’s shadowy character, Mr. Kurtz, and are capable of committing terrible atrocities. They are also silent, never able to respond to their colonial masters...African stereotypes continue to dog the continent perhaps because they still reward the European and American journalists who trot them out" (2017). Credit where credit is due, it is a surprise that authors were calling out the atrocities that were committed by the nation, however, the tone-deaf approach they took at the time shows the bias that clearly still existed in early-postcolonial Britain.
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Not only did this era bring about turmoil in other nations and a moral crisis in Britain itself, but it also brought about other violent insurgence movements, particularly in Ireland after the split into two factions: officials - those who sought independence through peaceful tactics - and provisionals - those who sought independence and power through violence ("Irish republican army," 2019). With this split, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a Catholic militant group, took form, insisting on molding society, by force, into a Theocracy adhering to the Catholic faith. This organization was responsible for approximately 1,800 deaths ("Irish republican army," 2019). The atrocities that this organization committed are highlighted in Seamus Heaney's "Punishment" in which the narrator looks upon a woman who has been drowned to death, presumable for the act of adultery, by the IRA. The narrator expresses his desire to speak up, but his silence due to fear of the consequences. One event, in particular, has been brushed under the rug in an attempt to forget what happened: Easter Rising, where members of the IRA staged a rebellion against Britain and attacked British troops in Dublin to seize control of the government ("Easter rising," 2019). Eavan Boland writes about how the nation ignores this event and tries to forget it in her piece "The Doll's Museum in Dublin," in which she compares those who remember the event as dolls whose eyes never forget what they've seen. It is clear in the literature from this time that this era was marked by violence and terror.
As we look at modern Great Britain, we see stories like Hanif Kureishi's "My Son the Fanatic," that describes the hybridity of identities that UK immigrants experience due to the conflict of assimilating to the dominant culture while also trying to hold on to, or even understand, their own culture. In Kureishi's story, we see a father who has abandoned his Punjabi culture to conform to the Western culture of British society, while his son, Ali, abandons his wester, European culture to get closer to his Muslim roots, claiming that the materialistic England is immoral and hates him for his non-Western background. This story brings light to the issue of discrimination and obstacles that immigrant families experience in the UK, including restrictive laws against immigration, attacks from British citizens who see immigration as a threat, blatant racism, and employment inequality ("Experiences of immigrants..."). It would be no surprise that this superiority complex that exists among White, British citizens comes from the nation's past with colonization of non-Western nations. This Postcolonial Era brought violence, fear, and hatred to Great Britain, which is highlighted in many works of literature, and was even predicted by a multitude of authors before the era even began. The nation has gone through many reforms of social policies that have progressed the country into the modern, more accepting world. However, like many other nations (or really most other nations) it has a ways to go.
References:
British Pathe [Screen name]. (2014, Apr 13). War in Ireland - Eastern rebellion (1916) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=zOlrtS2nsCE
Chutel, L. (2017). It's time to stop using Joseph Conrad's heart of darkness as a guidebook for the Congo. Quartz Africa. Retrieved from https://qz.com/africa/1063558/its-time-to-stop-using-joseph-conrads-heart-of-darkness-as-a-guidebook-for-the-congo/
"Easter rising." (2019). History.com. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/easter-rising
"Experiences of immigrants in the modern era 1900 - present." (n.d.). British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zwsbtyc/revision/1
Geo History [Screen name]. (2018, Dec 22). Colonization of Africa - summary from mid-15th century to 1980 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbb7nbIUUEM
"Irish republican army." (2019). History.com. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/irish-republican-army
Snyder, L. A. (2016). A exploration of racism in heart of darkness." APEX Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.apex-magazine.com/an-exploration-of-racism-in-heart-of-darkness/
References:
British Pathe [Screen name]. (2014, Apr 13). War in Ireland - Eastern rebellion (1916) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=zOlrtS2nsCE
Chutel, L. (2017). It's time to stop using Joseph Conrad's heart of darkness as a guidebook for the Congo. Quartz Africa. Retrieved from https://qz.com/africa/1063558/its-time-to-stop-using-joseph-conrads-heart-of-darkness-as-a-guidebook-for-the-congo/
"Easter rising." (2019). History.com. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/easter-rising
"Experiences of immigrants in the modern era 1900 - present." (n.d.). British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zwsbtyc/revision/1
Geo History [Screen name]. (2018, Dec 22). Colonization of Africa - summary from mid-15th century to 1980 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbb7nbIUUEM
"Irish republican army." (2019). History.com. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/irish-republican-army
Snyder, L. A. (2016). A exploration of racism in heart of darkness." APEX Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.apex-magazine.com/an-exploration-of-racism-in-heart-of-darkness/