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AP WORLD HISTORY CHAPTER 20 “COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS (1750-1914)” Identity and Cultural Change in...
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Transcript of AP WORLD HISTORY CHAPTER 20 “COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS (1750-1914)” Identity and Cultural Change in...
AP WORLD HISTORYCHAPTER 20
“COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS (1750-1914)”
Identity and Cultural Change in the Colonial Era
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Education
Many generated a new identity as a result of Western education = provided by missionary and government schools
Education = helped many escape undesirable tasks, such as forced labor
Education provided many opportunities: Access to better-paying jobs in
government agencies, missions, business firms, etc.
Access to imported goods and luxury items
Social mobility and elite status within the community
Equality with whites (as much as possible)
Leopold SenhorWest African writer and
political leader in the early 1900s
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Education
Many Western-educated people embraced other aspects of European culture as well: Dressed in European clothes Learned French or English Built European-style houses Got married in long, white dresses
Education created a new cultural divide = between the minority who had mastered the ways of their rulers and the majority who had not
The King of Siam and other young students, all dressed in European
clothing
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Education
Western-educated elites believed they were the key to modernizing their societies Believed they could do so within a
colonial framework and in association with colonial authorities
These educated elites = had these hopes crushed Europeans generally declined to treat
their Asian and African subjects as equals Europeans constantly referred to their
cultures as primitive and backward Result = Western-educated elites turned
against colonial rule and foreign imperialism and became leaders in struggles for independence
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Religion
Religion = provided the basis for new or transformed identities
Widespread conversion to Christianity in: New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, non-Muslim Africa, etc. By the 1960s = about 50
million Africans had converted to Christianity
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Religion
Attractions to Christianity: Military defeat shook confidence in
the old gods and local practices led to openness to new sources of supernatural power
Christianity = associated with modern education (because missionary schools provided education)
Oppressed groups (young, poor, women, etc.) = found new opportunities and greater freedom with missions
Spread of the Christian message = mainly by African teachers and pastors, not European missionaries
German Missionaries in Southwest Africa, c. 1910
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Religion
In India = many turned toward a revived Hinduism More distinct and unified
Purposes of this revived Hinduism: Provide India with an accessible
religion on an even keel with Christianity
Provide Indians with a feeling of worth when faced with the humiliation of colonial rule
Uplift India’s village communities Offer spiritual support to a Western
world caught up in materialism and militarism
Swami VivekanandaOne of India’s most influential
religious figures of the 19th century
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Race
New cultural identity = an “African identity” Before = no one in Africa
identified themselves as “African” Based their identity on their:
local community, religion, state/empire, etc.
Goal = to revive the cultural self-confidence of people in Africa by creating a larger, common, and respected “African tradition” equivalent to “Western culture”
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Race
Scholar Edward Blyden argued that: the world’s races are different, but each has its own distinct contribution to make to the world
African Culture European Culture
Cooperative and egalitarian societies
Competitive, individualistic, class-ridden societies
Harmonious relationship with nature
Dominate and exploit the natural order
Religious sensibility Religious sensibility lost – more attention now to material gain
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Tribe
Most important new sense of belonging that developed during the colonial era = the idea of “tribe” or ethnic identity
Idea of an Africa sharply divided into separate and distinct “tribes” = a European idea To help with colonial administration
People even had to identify their “tribe” on applications for jobs, schools, and identity cards
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Tribe
Africans gradually found ethnic and tribal labels useful especially in large urban cities Helped them to categorize
themselves and others in these massive cities with a wide variety of people
Sense of security in being part of a tribe
Tribal and ethnic associations created to provide mutual assistance while in the cities
Women from the Igbo Tribe of southeastern Nigeria