Formations of Colonialist Discourse

¶ … biases present in our culture that encourage those whose primary culture is rooted in Western civilization to view their culture as the most significant and important one. It calls this view "Eurocentric," and gives many, many examples of how Eurocentric bias has been presented in textbooks about world history. The author gives examples of how people are indoctrinated to accept an Eurocentrist view using examples from movies as well as those who seem to attempt to view Columbus more clearly.

For instance, when Christopher Columbus is criticized for the wrongs he did, such as his arrival at Hispaniola resulting in the deaths of 8 million natives during the following 21 years, the implication is that these effects are somewhere in the past. In reality, it never stopped. Native peoples in the Americas are still persecuted to this day. Thus the careful re-representation of history has been taking place for centuries.

The lopsidedness of portrayals is shown in the perspective used in the great majority of movies produced, showing the action from the bow of the European ship, not from the shore as one of the indigenous peoples. The author does note some films that portray the experiences of the indigenous people more accurately, such as the film re-enactment of the tortured execution of Tupac Amaru and his family. However, these movies do not receive wide exposure, and the typical cinematographic treatment sanitizes the actions of the conquering Europeans.

The book makes other important points, such as how language was sanitized. Originally the Spanish used the word "descubriniento" (discovery) to describe what they had done in the New (to them) World, replacing the older and more accurate term, "conquista" (conquest). Slavery is a more complex issue because of its many historical roots -- Aristotle justified slavery.

However, with the conquest of the "new" world and the believed need for slaves, Europe turned its eye to Africa and methodically farmed it for humans who could be forced to work as beasts of burden. However, these wrongs have been given more footage in cinema, including stories of slave uprisings in Cuba and Brazil along with the story (Quilombo) of a fugitive slave republic in the "new" world called "Palmares," which withstood repeated attacks by the Portuguese (about one every 15 months) for 100 hundred years.

Not all Europeans accepted what was happening blindly. The French writer Montaigne argued that the conquering Europeans were far more barbaric than the natives they so easily conquered with their superior weapons and brutal methods. He identified the real reason for these actions -- greed (as he said, pearls and pepper). Shakespeare made a reference to it in The Tempest, in the character "Caliban" (a play on 'cannibal'), who complained that the European Prospero had stolen his land.

The most egregious defense of Western domination over other cultures is that they viewed it as the "natural order of.