后殖民主义分析.ppt

A2 Theoretical Approaches “the continuing impact of the colonial experience on contemporary culture” But what is “the colonial experience”? Colonialism is a product of imperialism Most European countries, including Britain, have a history of military imperialism. They attempted to build their empires by the conquest of less developed countries across the globe and imposed their rule their rule upon them, usually to ensure a supply of cheap raw materials to help support the development of European economies. A most notorious aspect of imperialism was the slave trade. Africans were forcibly shipped to the Americas to be sold to plantation owners; a practice which was not abolished until the early part of the nineteenth century. The wealth of many British cities, including London, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow was built on the ‘triangular trade’ in which slaves were bartered for sugar, tobacco and cotton. About four million African were shipped to the New World in British slave ships like this one A third of them died en route The demise of the Atlantic slave trade did not, of course, signal the end of imperialism. In fact, the major conquests of European imperialism only began as the slave trade came to an end. Britain’s empire reached its peak, in terms of territory, in 1924 when it amounted to nearly a third of the world’s territory. This was the empire on which ‘the sun never set’, including India, Jamaica, South Africa, Egypt, Ireland and Australia. The ‘Idea of Empire’ held a powerful grip on the British national consciousness, particularly the upper classes, who convinced themselves that the interests of Britain, the Empire and God amounted to more or less the same thing. We dont want to fight but by Jingo if we do, Weve got the ships, weve got the men, weve got the money too (1878 Music Hall song) The empire began to fall apart in the period after world war two as most of the colonies successfully fought for independence, kicked out the British rulers and