AP WORLD HISTORYCHAPTER 24

“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