e. industrialized (Greenberger, 2004)
The appearance of uncivilized territories convinced many expansionists they had a God-given mission to take new territory and to spread Christianity and the benefits of European culture. The colonial powers did provide some benefits, one might say, as a result of this assumption. The powers "built new communications and transportation systems, established universities, and introduced modern medical practices." By making the colonized look, dress, behave, and hopefully believe like Europeans, these racial 'others' could be civilized, with proper aid from the Mother country. However, because 'the other' could never be perfectly like 'us,' that is like the face of the colonizer, "many nations took advantage of their colonies by exporting natural resources without providing economic return for most of the people. Many colonial administrations were insensitive to local customs and destroyed old ways of life." (Greenberger, 2004) "Every claim to cultural dominance on behalf of the colonizer was also an assertion of cultural lack of the colonized, in the "justifying discourse" of colonialism. (Strongman, 1996)
Many examples of this justifying discourse can be found Punch, a popular magazine that generated support for the colonies in England, in the heart of the common "John Bull Englishman." "One cartoon from September 3, 1853 was entitled 'The Great Barbarian Dragon.'" it showed free trade and capitalism as a moral force against Chinese economic and cultural insularity, giving a lesson to "John Chinaman."
Punch's tendency to personify other nations, from the "unspeakable"...
Religion and Politics Uses and Abuses of the Concept of Orientalism There have been many uses and abuses in regard to the cultural and social concept called Orientalism. "Unlike the Americans, the French and British -- less so the Germans, Russians, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Swiss -- have had a long tradition of what I shall be calling Orientalism, a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on
Butterfly David Henry Hwang's Pulitzer-prize-winning drama M. Butterfly is almost single-minded in its examination of the role played by preconceptions in the establishment of cultural expectations and stereotypes. Based on a true story, the drama to some extent lays out in clear precise terms the ways in which Western prejudices toward China can lead to results that would seem wildly implausible in a brief factual summary, but are nonetheless the foreordained
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now