Browsing by Subject "Colonialism"
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Item The Aeneid of Brazil : Caramuru (1781)(2012-05) Mora García, Belinda; Arias, Arturo, 1950-; Lindstrom, Naomi; Roncador, Sonia; Arroyo, Jossianna; Canizares-Esguerra, JorgeThis dissertation concerns the epic poem Caramuru (1781) by José de Santa Rita Durão. I propose both a post-nationalist or postcolonial reading of Caramuru, as well as a pre-nationalist or historical analysis. The first part of this dissertation focuses on the form itself, particularly the genre of epic poetry to which Caramuru belongs. The title of this dissertation references Virgil’s Aeneid, while the comparisons between this and other epics focus on the conventions of epic poetry, placing Caramuru within the context of other epic poems. Traditionally, and even recently, Caramuru has consistently been compared to Luis de Camões’ Os Lusíadas. I have tried to establish a closer connection with Virgil’s Aeneid, rather than Os Lusíadas, as the model epic for Caramuru. Chapter One focuses on the topic of imitation, specifically the many similarities with the plot of Virgil’s Aeneid. Chapter Two offers a historiographical approach to how the readings of colonial texts changed over time, including a historical background of Caramuru, which was written soon after the fall of the so-called enlightened despotism of Portugal under the Marques de Pombal. The second part of this dissertation is a close reading of the text itself, and focuses on the colonial discourse present in the poem. Chapter Three is an analysis of the religious discourse in Caramuru, which reflects the preoccupations of an Augustinian monk living in the Age of Enlightenment. Chapter Four concerns the representations of Amerindian resistance in the poem, particularly of two characters who belong to the insubordinate Caeté tribe. The last chapter focuses on the issue of gender and how women are represented in Caramuru. The main woman protagonist is a Tupinambá woman who becomes a prototype for Iracema, a well-known fictional character from nineteenth-century Brazil. Santa Rita Durão was born in Brazil but lived most of his adult life in Portugal, plus 15 years in Italy. He wrote that the motivation to write this poem was his ‘love of homeland’ or nationalist sentiment, even though the nation of Brazil was yet to exist at the time he wrote Caramuru.Item Art education as violence : Western European influence upon the Mandan(2011-05) Timme, Matthew Robert; Bolin, Paul Erik, 1954-; Adejumo, Christopher O.This thesis attempts to complicate the solely positive nature most often attributed to art education. This complication occurs through a deconstruction of an episode of art education and subsequent interpretation and analysis through both poststructural literary theory and postcolonial theory. By conducting a close reading of a colonial interaction, between two artists trained in the Western canon and two Native American artists, the study begins to view the process of art education as an act of violence, manifested in the rapid shift in artistic style away from a traditional Mandan technique towards one that reflects a Western European tradition. This violence is in turn viewed as typical in the systematic destruction of the culture of a colonized group, as a means for the West to gain, and maintain, authority through the use, and the controlling, of both knowledge and education. Ultimately the field of art education is described as being central within this struggle, in that ideology is both created and promoted within the field at the expense of supplanting previous cultural knowledge. This process of ideological struggle, while inherently violent, is not automatically negative. The struggle between violence and negativity within the field of art education forms the final section of the study.Item Cameroonian Cinema and the films of Jean-Marie Teno : reflexion on archives, postcolonial fever and new forms of cinematic protest(2006-12) Tchouaffe, Olivier Jean; Straubhaar, Joseph D.; Downing, John (John Derek Hall)This work argues that Cameroonian cinema is in the thick of cultural reclamation and human rights debates in the country. The crux of the problem is this: in a country colonized for over a century by three major western powers (Germany, France and Great-Britain), what is left of Cameroonians and their indigenous culture? Did colonialism demolish them into a mass of emasculated cultural bastards led by self-loathing elites locked into the country colonial archives, or did some withstand that colonial onslaught to reclaim their humanity, from within, consistent with a genuine, homegrown progressive indigenous culture? To answer these questions, this author argues that three propositions have to be considered: first, for any forms of cultural reclamation and human rights, denials of the past mixed with official thought control do not work in the case of Cameroon. Second, within, this logic, only grassroots democratic and marginal media communication theory can help the viewer to understand how Cameroonian cinema interrogates and critiques the naturalizations of a neo-colonial political order through the construction of counter hegemonic voices. Third, it is essential to show how these counter hegemonic cinematic narratives are building new forms of democratic archives out of the colonial ones. Consequently, this author claims that Cameroonian cinema, one of the few independent media of communication, that for decades has both managed to resist dictatorship and thrive, is keeping a steady drumbeat of freedom on behalf of ordinary Cameroonians by consistently targeting the state in order to demonstrate the dangers of an institution uninterested in the work of cultural reclamation by not allowing proper conditions for artists to create original work. These confrontations with the state give Cameroonian cinema a cachet to voice human rights questions as well. As a result, cinema blurs the line between art and social activism. It brings a new mystic to human rights' work because these filmmakers demonstrate that culture and human rights can no longer be consigned to the margin of Cameroonian society. What is at stake, it is the knowledge that the road ahead, Africa’s future, lies with those with the skills to take advantages of technologies and the contemporary global discourse of human rights, democracy and globalization not the same old beaten paths of neo-colonial clientelism and patronage, lower standards of governance, defining actual Cameroon’s neo-colonial state practices. With this background, both filmmakers and human rights activists are forcing the state to take notice. This work indicates that arguing against technologies and global flows in our contemporary world is akin to try carrying a cat by the tail.Item Designed communication : structures that shape meaning(2002) Rodgers, Angela Sue; Not availableItem Imperialism and the Emerging White State in the Early Colony of Virginia(2014-05-08) Becker, Stuart DavidWhat accounts for the reality of U.S. imperialism and race today? How, and to what extent, is today?s system of racial domination and U.S. imperialism prefigured by the early English colonization of Virginia during the time period 1607-1669? I examine primary documents such as narratives and laws from the colony Virginia. Through this case study of the colony of Virginia, I utilize anti-colonial, internal colonialism theory, and a Black Marxist approach to show its effectiveness explaining that capitalism and systemic racism are two sides of the same coin. Through the dialectical method, I show the elite colonists? efforts at uniting all colonists as ?white? against the indigenous people and the African servants and slaves in an early emergence of a ?white state.? The white people?s state is a unification of the white ruling class and white laborers against colonized people. Through this case study of the colony of Virginia, I show some key characteristics of Euro-American imperialism such as the white elite imperialists? attempt to attain wealth through stealing land and natural resources of peoples throughout the world. These white imperialists use violence and terrorism in order to steal the land and extract natural resources from peoples around the world. I also utilize the Marxist-Leninist theory of the imperialist state and apply it to my analysis of the Virginia General Assembly. The function of the state is to protect private property and to protect the interests of the elite exploiting class. For instance, this alien state power legalizes the usurpation of land of the indigenous people. It also legalizes the enslavement of Africans and indigenous people and the exploitation of European indentured servants. The largest planters sat on the Virginia General Assembly and wrote laws in their own selfish interests of profitmaking. Through primary sources, I show the early emergence of the white racial frame in the narratives of the elite colonists of Virginia and how it rationalizes stealing the land, natural resources, and labor of colonized people of color.Item Jazz reception and rejection in India 1935 to 1947(2015-12) Redfield, Lee James; Slawek, Stephen; Moore, Robin,This report explores the reception and rejection of jazz in India from 1935 to partition in 1947. Of central focus is the impact of the global political enviornment leading up to and during World War Two as well as the possible impact of British control of mass media during the 1930s and 1940s. Western media projected racialized Others through media that justified colonial hegemonic structures and Eurocentric racial superiority. I assert that this imagery and constant colonial subtext present in British controlled media impacted Indian acceptance of jazz music. Those that associated jazz with Western colonialism and were opposed to British rule would tend to reject the music and those that recognized the struggle of African Americans as being similar to the struggle of the colonized people of India would be more receptive to the music. I also explore how the mechanical reproduction of sound through recording and broadcast technology was fundamentally at odds with widely held Indian musical values. The report then touches on scene and anthropology of place in the context of live performance at the Taj Mahal Hotel and the music of jazz pianist Teddy Weatherford.Item Mining memory: contention and social memory in a Oaxacan territorial defense struggle(2014-05) Macias, Anthony William; Hale, Charles R., 1957-Faced with the profound social and ecological threats posed by extractivist projects such as large hydroelectric dams, wind farms, and mining operations, many indigenous communities and their allies in Mexico have articulated new forms of contentious politics into a broad territorial defense movement. This project explores the strategies of contention practiced by an anti-mining movement based in the Municipality of San José del Progreso in the southern state of Oaxaca. As a deeply-divided community that has suffered increased violence and conflict directly related to a Canadian-owned gold and silver mine operating in its vicinity, it presents a valuable case study in how strong social movements can still develop under conditions of disunity. This study combines ethnographic and archival research methods to uncover the deep historical roots of community division, and to develop a close analysis of the contentious strategies employed by the anti-mining movement. The historical record and local narratives show the central role that hacienda colonialism played in creating a salient geography of ethnic discrimination and division in the municipality whose effects can still be seen today. In response to the ongoing processes of colonization and dispossession in San José del Progreso, a legacy of contention has defined and defended both campesino (peasant farmer) and indigenous claims to local territory. More than a series of instrumental strategies designed to expel the hacienda and later mine project, this politics of contention operates as a form of social memory to produce a hybrid form of indigenous/campesino identity linked to healthy land stewardship, an interconnectedness between the earth and human subjects, and a shared history of struggle. As a result, the anti-mining movement in San José del Progreso has shown success in converting its troubled past and checkered present into the foundations of a healthy social and ecological commons, independent of its failure to fully-unite the municipality or close down the mine project in the short-run.Item Mothering a nation : the gendered memory of Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion(2015-05) Murimi, Wanjira; Richardson, Matt, 1969-; Livermon, XavierThis paper approaches fiction as a site of gendered history and memory and presents two pieces of literature by Kenyan authors - Passbook Number F.47927 by Muthoni Likimani and The Trial of Dedan Kimathi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and Micere Githae Mugo - as examples of countermemory production that disrupt dominant and colonially and post-colonially perpetuated narratives of Kenya's fight for independence within the context of the Mau Mau uprisings. I assert that historical fiction can be a medium of challenge and disruption of hegemonically formed reports of history, reweaving into the tapestry of national memory voices forgotten or excised. I posit that this contestation of history and memory through countermemory can be an ethical and feminist project. However, countermemory, much like the history and memory it challenges, does not exist in a vacuum, and is subject to structures of power that may result in its being participant and enacting of oppressive power. Using gender as a lens, I elucidate the ways in which both these pieces participate in and challenge heteropatriarchal notions of manhood and womanhood as resistance strategies for nation building.Item Once you go you know : tourism, colonial nostalgia and national lies in Jamaica(2012-05) Wint, Traci-Ann Simone Patrice; Gordon, Edmund Tayloe; Franklin, MariaJamaica is rich in contradictions. Life, like the landscape, is made up of great highs and lows, a wealth of beauty paralleled by intense desperation. This report explores these contradictions through an examination of the image of Jamaica packaged and presented to the world as a consumable tourism product. In 2012 as Jamaica prepares to celebrate 50 years of (in)dependence, the small nation finds itself battling (neo)colonialism, dependence, dispossession. Tourism is Jamaica’s main source of revenue and the industry is a major employer. The island’s role as a premier tourist destination is thus inseparable from Jamaicans’ daily lives. The current marketing slogan says to tourists ‘Once you go, you know”, I argue that this assertion is representative of the form tourism takes in Jamaica. By literally and figuratively granting understanding and ownership of the island and its resources to foreigners, the construction of Jamaica’s tourism product systematically commodifies Jamaica, its people, and culture. I seek to interrogate the role of tourism in Jamaica’s continued exploitation and to question the presence of secrecy, colonial nostalgia and national lies in how Jamaicans self identify and in how we are portrayed.Item The Revolutionaries(2012-12) Basu, Rhituparna; Shea, Andrew Brendan; Stekler, Paul; Schiesari, Nancy; Ramirez-Berg, CharlesThis report outlines the creation of my thesis project “The Revolutionaries: An Untold History of Freedom” from concept to completed film. The Revolutionary Movement was an underground militant movement in pre-independent India which sought to overthrow the British government by force. The film interleaves the interview of an elderly ex-Revolutionary with a high-level history of this mostly-forgotten underground movement.Item Skin Bleaching in Jamaica: A Colonial Legacy(2012-07-16) Robinson, Petra AlaineLight skin color sits within a space of privilege. While this has global significance and relevance, it is particularly true in Jamaica, a former British colony. The majority of the population is of African descent, yet there is an elevation of Eurocentric values and a denigration of Afrocentric values in many facets of life, specifically in the promotion of light skin as an indicator of beauty and social status. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological and socio-cultural factors that influence the practice of skin bleaching in the postcolonial society of Jamaica. Additionally, the study outlined the nation's efforts to combat the skin-bleaching phenomenon. The naturalistic paradigm of inquiry was used to frame the study and to collect and analyze data. The sample consisted of fifteen participants?twelve participants (six males and six females) with a history of skin bleaching; a retailer of skin lightening products; a local dermatologist who has written and published in local newspapers on the practice; and a representative from the Ministry of Health who was integrally involved in the national educational efforts to ban the practice. Data came from three sources: in-depth interviews with respondents; observation of participant's skin-bleaching practices; and a review of local cultural artifacts from popular culture and the media. Data from the audio recorded and transcribed interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis. Some of the findings reveal that there are multiple and inconsistent definitions of bleaching; skin bleaching enjoys mixed reviews?much attributed to economic and social class distinctions; bleachers demonstrate and boast of their expertise in managing the bleaching process suggesting, that because of this expertise, they are immune to any negative side-effects of the practice; the bleaching practice was found to be intermittent, time consuming and laborious, costly and addictive; there are several motivations for the skin-bleaching practice, and these are primarily connected to issues of fashion, beauty, popularity, self-image and acceptability; there is a certain level of defiance towards the government?s efforts to ban bleaching yet an expressed sense of responsibility among bleachers. The overall findings show that there is a bias in Jamaica for light skin over dark skin and these values are taught in non-formal and informal ways from very early in life. The practice of skin bleaching is of social and public health concern, and this study has implications for national policy, practice and theory.Item A valiant effort : Faisal's failed inculcation of national identity in Iraq(2015-05) Abosch, Tova; Aghaie, Kamran Scot; Minault, GailThe lack of attention to any comprehensive scholarly study of King Faisal I of Iraq since his untimely death in 1933 is interesting, considering that the twelve years in which he ruled Iraq witnessed the imposition and evolution of many of the institutions of the twentieth century state along with their concomitant ideologies and justifications. The construction of the modern Iraqi state belonged solely neither to the British nor to the efforts of the Ottoman-educated ex-Sharifian officers who followed Faisal from his aborted kingdom in Syria to the newly established monarchy in 1921. It was more a mélange of competing ideas, collaborative efforts, and political realities. In all this, Faisal played no small part as he maneuvered delicately among the strategic concerns of two major European powers, a re-emergent Turkish nation, his family's historical nemesis in the Nejd, relations with Iran following the 1921 coup d'état, and a variety of internal separatist ambitions and parochial interests. This paper seeks to redress this lacuna, concentrating on Faisal's efforts to establish a solid base of support and control while crafting an independent, coherently functioning polity from the patchwork of provinces presented him on his accession to the throne of Iraq.