Decolonization in Tropical Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 316-332
Author(s):  
Frederick Cooper
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
World War ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Colonial Empire ◽  
National Sentiment ◽  
Single Moment ◽  
Independent States ◽  
African Community ◽  
Alternative Routes

The end of empire in Africa was not a single moment separating independence from colonial rule, but a prolonged time of uncertainty extending from the immediate aftermath of World War II through 1994’s end of white rule in South Africa. Colonial empire was a moving target, adjusting to new situations and pressures. African political activists were not limited to creating independent states as expressions of a particular national sentiment. Some sought a pan-African nation embracing all oppressed people of colour; others saw colonial rule becoming a Euro-African community stripped of inequality and exploitation. Instead of a stolid colonialism leaving determinant ‘legacies’ to today’s Africa divided into nation-states, we should recall the possibilities, hopes, struggles, and disappointments that Africans experienced along the way. This chapter brings out alternative routes out of empire that were in play in different parts of Africa and how they expanded, contracted, and at times expanded again.

scholarly journals Esoteric Theravada Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 55-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Foxeus
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Theravada Buddhism ◽  
World War ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Asian Nation ◽  
Insight Meditation ◽  
The Government

The achievement of independence in 1948 was in many ways a watershed in Burma’s history. At this time, a variety of Buddhist movements emerged that were part not only of a ‘Burmese Buddhist revival’, in which even the government was involved, but also a general re-enchantment of Asia. In the period following World War II, projects of nation-building and further modernization were implemented in many newly independent Asian nation states. The theories of modernization adopted by the rulers had presupposed that a new, rationalized and secularized order that had set them on the path of ‘progress’ would entail a decline of religion. However, instead there was a widespread resurgence of religion, and a variety of new, eclectic religious movements emerged in Southeast Asia. In the thriving religious field of postcolonial Burma, two lay Buddhist movements associated with two different meditation techniques emerged, viz.; the insight meditation movement and the concentration meditation movement. The latter consisted of a variety of esoteric congregations combining concentration meditation with esoteric lore, and some of these were characterized by fundamentalist trends. At the same time, the supermundane form of Buddhism became increasingly influential in the entire field of religion. The aim of the present article is to discuss how this supermundane dimension has reshaped the complex religious field in Burma, with particular emphasis on the esoteric congregations; to present the Burmese form of esoteric Theravāda Buddhism, and to situate the fundamentalist trends which are present in these contexts.

Contemporary Issues

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Tolan ◽  
Gilles Veinstein ◽  
Henry Laurens
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
First Century ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
World War ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Newly Independent States

This chapter chronicles the struggles of the Muslim world and Europe during World War II as well as its aftermath. It shows how the war had helped to end European rule and begin the process of decolonization for Muslim nations such as Libya. And with the Muslim state now independent of direct European domination, the second half of the chapter explores the ways in which the Muslim world tackled the issue of development as well as a fresh wave of problems regarding human rights, universality, and other pitfalls of newly independent states struggling to survive in a world that has changed profoundly after a series of major conflicts. The chapter also reflects on the still-intertwined relationships between the Muslim world and Europe as history progresses into the twenty-first century.

Algeria’s Mortified Memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oana Panaïté
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Colonial Empire

Anger and incivility are integral parts of the post-colonial ethos that oriented France’s response to the violent dismantling of its colonial empire in the wake of World War II. The chapter examines the recent convergence between autobiographical and documentary writings by Harkis and Pieds-noirs which present two distinct yet interconnected types of memorial writing that recollect or re-enact the colonial past by setting it in contrast with the post-colonial present, thus marking a turn from “memory wars” (Stora) to what I call the “anger consensus.”

Introduction: Mrs. A. and Dev Satya Nand

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Sarah Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Young Woman ◽  
Social World ◽  
New Method ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
World War ◽  
Dream Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Mind

In the middle of World War II and at the end of colonial rule, a young woman in Punjab met with family friend Dev Satya Nand as a willing participant in his new method of dream analysis. This chapter introduces Mrs. A., Satya Nand, and the outlines of the case, which began with a discussion of bringing “Hindu Socialism” to Indian peasants and turned into an exploration of love, sexuality, ambition, and life after marriage. The case appeared early in the career of Satya Nand, a prolific but little remembered figure in twentieth-century Indian psychiatry, who theorized complex connections between the mind and the social world, casting the psyche as an organic vehicle for ethical imagination. This introduction also introduces Draupadi, Shakuntala, and Ahalya, central mythic figures who entered Mrs. A.’s musings and Satya Nand’s science. It asks what it means to begin a conversation about ethics from elsewhere than the usual sources in European myth and philosophy, and wonders at how we might consider this narrative in and beyond its place and time, Punjab on the eve of Partition, considering what it demands of us as readers of and alongside Mrs. A., an anonymous yet intimate voice.

Secular Emergence in Senegal

2017 ◽  
pp. 84-105
Author(s):  
David T. Buckley
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
World War ◽  
Post World War Ii ◽  
French Colonial ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Leopold Sedar Senghor

How did Senegal arrive at the twin tolerations after independence from French colonial rule? This chapter the existence of benevolent secularism in Senegal’s post-World War II founding documents, and traces its impact on Senegal’s Muslim majority, Catholic minority, and secular elites. Evidence draws on communication between political and religious elites during the independence period, with special attention to communication between Léopold Sédar Senghor and Muslim and Catholic elites. The chapter closes with an examination of tensions in Senegal’s benevolent secularism manifested in the controversy over the Code de la Famille.

Stranded Modernity

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daishiro Nomiya
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Developmental Pattern ◽  
World War ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Post World War Ii ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Nation States

High modernity claims that the modernity project gave rise to institutional organs of modern nation states, culminating in an emergence of ultra-military states with wartime economy in the early twentieth century. It also argues that the same developmental pattern continued to dominate in the post-World War II period. This chapter examines this high-modernity thesis, employing Japan and Hiroshima as cases to be analyzed. Against the high-modernity thesis, many believe that Japan had a historical disjuncture in 1945, being ultramilitary before the end of World War II and a peaceful nation after. Examinations show that, while the modernity project controlled a large-scale historical process in Japan, it met vehement resistance, and became stranded in Hiroshima.

You're a Better Filipino than I Am, John Wayne: World War II, Hollywood, and U.S.-Philippines Relations

2002 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles V. Hawley
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Power Relationship ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
World War ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

Between 1939 and 1945 several Hollywood studios produced significant films set in the war-torn Philippines, including Bataan (MGM, 1943), So Proudly We Hail (Paramount, 1943),and Back to Bataan (RKO,1943). Although these films immediately preceded Philippines independence in 1946, they do not position the Philippines as a soon-to-be autonomous nation. Instead, these films reaffirm, and even celebrate, the unequal colonial power relationship that marked the history of U.S. occupation of the archipelago. A careful reading of these films, which is the subject of this article, reveals the stamina of this colonial ideology (colonial uplift, tutelage, and nation-building) that legitimized U.S. colonial rule in the Phillapines and dates back to the turn of the century. What the perpetuation of this ideology suggests is the postwar neocolonial relationship between the two nations that U.S. government officials anticipated. This revised neocolonial ideology is expressed through the racialized and gendered images of Filipino characters and their interaction with U.S. American characters. The U.S. government attempted to control such images as part of its wartime propaganda, but had to rely on the voluntary compliance of the major Hollywood studios. While the Filipinos in films like Back to Bataan, made at the war's end, appear to challenge the racist stereotypes of prior films, they are re-inscribed by a neocolonial form of U.S. supremacy—— framed as wartime U.S. guidance and Filipino dependency.

The Spectre of Americanization: Western Europe in the American Century

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Gassert
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
Film Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
World War ◽  
Economic Threat ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

By 1945, the spectre of Americanisation had been haunting Europe for half a century. With the United States still struggling to establish colonial rule over the Philippine Islands, European observers began framing the ‘American challenge’ as a cultural and most of all economic threat to national independence. Controversies about the impact of ‘America’ often served as a stand-in for a more fundamental reckoning with processes of modernisation. The initial period of sustained Americanisation was the 1920s, when American film, music, and automobiles were conquering Europe for the first time. A second heyday of Americanisation ‘from below’ started with the ‘American occupation of Britain’ and that of continental Europe during and after World War II. This article focuses on Western Europe and Americanisation, highlighting Americanisation from above and Americanisation from below. It looks at two concepts that often come up within debates about Americanisation: Westernisation and anti-Americanism.

The Politics of Decolonization in French and British West Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Cooper
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
World War ◽  
Economic Equality ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Government ◽  
Territorial States

At the end of World War II, Britain and France tried to find new bases for the legitimacy of empire. Their hesitant moves created openings that African political movements exploited. Scholars have tried to capture the excitement of this process, first focusing on the drive to create nation-states, then exploring other possibilities, both regions within territorial states and federations among them. Historians have drawn on archives and interviews as well as a wide variety of texts produced by political movements. Although Africans had long conducted politics through both local idioms and pan-African connections, the postwar openings led political movements to focus on arenas where they could achieve results. In French Africa, this entailed a partially successful struggle for French citizenship, representation in both the French and territorial legislatures, and social and economic equality with other French citizens. Eventually the French government tried to diffuse claim-making by devolving internal autonomy to territorial governments. When Guinea obtained independence in 1958 and other African leaders differed over whether they should create a francophone African federation within a Franco-African confederation or participate as equals in a French federation, the movements shifted to seeking independence and a new relationship with France. Britain failed to get African politicians to focus on local governance. Instead, politicians demanded power in each colony. Meanwhile, Britain tried to appease African social movements with a program of economic development only to face escalating demands and heightened conflict. Although fearful of disorder and corruption, the government decided that the best it could hope for was to have attracted Africans to a British way of life and to achieve friendly relations with African governments that, led by Ghana, came into power.

scholarly journals Racial and Social Prejudice in the Colonial Empire

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
Patrícia Ferraz de Matos
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Interracial Marriage ◽  
World War ◽  
The Social ◽  
Colonial Empire ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Social Prejudice ◽  
Scientific Fields

This article analyses the issue of miscegenation in Portugal, which is directly associated with the context of its colonial empire, from late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. The analysis considers sources from both literary and scientific fields. Subsequently, aspects such as interracial marriage, degeneration and segregation as well as the changes brought about by the end of World War II and the social revolutions of the 1960s are considered. The 1980s brought several changes in the attitude towards Portuguese identity and nationality, which had meanwhile cut loose from its colonial context. Crossbreeding was never actually praised in the Portuguese colonial context, and despite still having strong repercussions in the present day, lusotropicalism was based on a fallacious rhetoric of politically motivated propaganda.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document