SOAN 309: Colonialism &
Development
TuTh 1:20-2:35, Alumni 207
Colgate University
Fall 2004 Professor Thomas Hall
Office: 408 Alumni, x7083, email: tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
OFFICE HOURS: Tu 2:45-4; W 1:30-2:30 & 5:20-6, Th
12-1, & by appt
Last Updated 8-9-04
SYLLABUS
COURSE GENERAL GOALS:
Virtually everyone "knows" that over the last 500 years or so states, based
primarily in
northern and western Europe, expanded to colonize most of
the rest of the world. Virtually no part of the world was untouched with by this
expansion--whether it was formally colonized or not. These are typically known as
"spread" effects. Somewhat less widely studied have been
the effects of colonization on those doing the colonizing. These are typically known
as "backwash" effects. Similarly, during this time period
European societies themselves underwent dramatic changes. The modern nation-state
was invented and the industrial revolution occurred. Both of these drastically
transformed the ways in which many people lived their daily lives. In the nineteenth
century thinkers began to puzzle over how and why the changes that were then occurring in
Europe were happening. Later in the nineteenth century and throughout the 20th
century other thinkers have puzzled over why the rest of the world did not follow suit,
and at times actively resisted following suit. The changes associated with modern
European society, and their spread around the world are often glossed
under the term "development."
However, this European expansion needs to understood in larger contexts. First, it is important to note that European expansion was not the first instance of colonialism. In fact all states, since they were first invented some 5,000 years ago have attempted to expand and colonize new areas and new peoples. This is important to know because it allows us to see that colonialism not unique to Europeans or people generally classified as "white." In fact the only state who have not tried colonialism were those that were themselves colonized right after they formed. Second, we will see that these colonial processes are rooted in BOTH conditions and processes internal to themselves AND conditions and processes external to them and embedded in larger interstate systems. Third, the interplay of these processes have shifted over time and with types of state involved in colonial processes. Third, development of states and other groups are part and parcel of these larger, changing systems. Fourth, the social sciences, especially Sociology & Anthropology were "born" or "invented" late in the European expansion, mainly in the 19th century. Fifth, much recent Sociology & Anthropology (the last few decades) has been directed at addressing and countering the effects of their 19th century origins
This course, Colonialism and Development, will focus on these broad issues. Obviously, we can not cram the entire history of Europe, not to mention 5,000 years of history, in complete detail into one course. Thus, the approach at times will be abstract and theoretical. However, to approach colonialism and development only at an abstract and/or theoretical level would leave out the real actors, and the human elements of feelings, daily experience, etc. So my strategy in this course is to study many of the general theories emphasizing the ones I am convinced tell us the most about the processes [that is, I am convinced they encompass more of the "truth" than other theories, but clearly are NOT the complete truth]. These will be illustrated through various case studies, in various degrees of depth. These will be supplemented by a few novels and accounts which bring in the human element more clearly and that get down to the "nitty gritty" of colonialism and resistance in considerable detail.
SPECIFIC GOALS, i.e., Objectives: My specific objectives for each of you to have an enhanced understanding of colonization and development, from both colonizers and colonized points of view; to develop you own appreciation of the complexities of such processes; and to increase you ability to assess critically purported "facts" and various theories about these processes.
Another key objective is for you to develop and strengthen what sociologist C. Wright Mills called the "sociological imagination," that is, understanding the place of biography in sociology, or in less formal terms, understanding your individual roles in much larger social processes.
Closely related to this is to understand Karl Marx's famous dictum: "men make their own histories, but not any way they please." [Today we would replace "men" with individual humans" in this statement. Thus, less formally this objective is to develop a more nuanced and subtler understanding how our individual actions shape change, yet also understand how the choices we have, and sometimes even make, are often constrained by processes and conditions beyond our control.
COURSE STRUCTURE: The course will be a combination of discussion and lecture. We may have some videos, and I may occasionally ask you to attend a lecture outside of class if it is particularly germane to our topics. The course will be organized in five parts. These parts will traverse the same ground repeatedly. Each time with more breadth and/or depth. The organization is based on a recognition that learning is often a spiral process, in which one first gains a broad, if sketchy understanding, THEN refines it in detail and scope. This also allows students with quite diverse learning backgrounds to "get on board" and fill in gaps so that they will not be left behind when we start moving much faster through other material.
THE READINGS (also listed under books):
MAIN TEXTS (I will use author surname in bold, to refer to these texts):
Bodley,
John H. and Kevin Reilly. 2002. Power of Scale: A Global History Approach.
Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe.
McMichael, Philip. 2003.
Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective,
3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine
Forge.
Memmi,
Albert. 1965. The Colonizer and the Colonized, expanded edition,
1991, Trans. Howard Greenfeld, from 1957 French original Boston: Beacon.
Shannon,
Thomas R. 1996. An Introduction to the World-System Perspective
2nd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
RECOMMENDED:
Wolf,
Eric R. 1982. Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
NOVELS & ACCOUNTS:
Achebe,
Chinua. Things Fall Apart. any edition.
Norberg-Hodge,
Helena. 1991. Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. San
Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
Toer,
Pramoedya Ananta. 1991. Child of All Nations.
Trans. Max Lane. London:
Penguin.
Reserves:
Eventually I will have most of these on reserve at
Case Library and some brief readings in the SOAN reading room:
Alumni 430. These will be listed on the Reserve Readings page.
ABOUT THE TEXTS:
Bodley gives an overview of evolution of societies, and will both
help us place the colonialism of the last 500 years in a broader perspective and
give us a different view of contemporary colonial and colonial-like relations.
McMichael gives a detailed analysis of recent events that are
often listed under development, colonialism, neocolonialism, modernization,
globalization, and neoliberalism. He will also give us a detailed view of
today's world.
Memmi's The Colonizer and the Colonized
discusses the effects of colonization on both colonized and colonizers.
While it may seem obvious to everyone that colonialism distorts or reshapes the
lives of colonized peoples, he also argues that it similarly distorts or
reshapes the lives of colonizers, often in ways that are harmful to the
colonizers themselves. He also helps us bridge the gap between large
structures and processes and individual feelings and actions. Memmi is
especially insightful. He was a Black, Jewish psychiatrist who lived in
Tunisia when it was a French colony, who was simultaneously a colonizer and a
colonized person.
Shannon provides a world-systems analysis of the last 500 years.
This is the perspective from which I work, and the one I have helped modify in several ways [If
you want a quick summary of what I have done, check "Hall, Thomas D. in the index].
Wolf presents one
of the most cogent and readable accounts of this era, emphasizing as his title suggests,
those peoples who have been neglected by historians. In 2004 his arguments may seem
overstated since much work by historians and other social scientists, has helped
fill the gaps he notes. Still, much of it remains uncharted territory, and it
remains one of the best overviews of "the periphery" since the 1400s.
ABOUT THE NOVELS & ACCOUNTS:
Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a fictionalized account
about the coming of white missionaries to a village, Umuofia, in the Ibo region
of Nigeria. It shows how relatively mild intrusion can have devastating
effects on a society.
Norberg-Hodge gives a first hand account of how a "traditional" agrarian society, Ladakh in the border region between Indian, China, and Tibet, was disrupted by "modernization." In many ways it parallels Things Fall Apart but in a more complex tributary society and examines not missionaries but modernization, development, and markets. Among other things, it will lead you to question, or interrogate the meaning and value of "modernization," and the common assumption that it is "good."
Toer's Child of All Nations is the second of four novels (the Buru quartet) on colonialism in Indonesia. This book, part 2, illustrates Memmi's analysis of the colonizer and colonized.
Communications with professor Hall:
Also I am at Colgate only Tuesday through Thursday [most weeks], but read email daily. Of course, if the question or issue cannot be dealt with via email, we can meet during office hours or any other mutually agreed upon time.
Occasionally I will respond to an emailed question asking you to please re-ask the question in class. This is NOT an to put you off. Rather, it is because I think you have an excellent question, and that the entire class should hear the answer.
Send comments or questions to tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
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