Transcript Identity and Cultural Change in the Colonial Era

Identity and Cultural Change in
the Colonial Era
AP WORLD HISTORY
CHAPTER 20
“COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS (1750-1914)”
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:
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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 Senhor
West 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:
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Dressed in European clothes
Learned French or English
Built European-style houses
Got married in long, white dresses
 Education created a new
The King of Siam and other young
students, all dressed in European clothing
cultural divide = between the
minority who had mastered the
ways of their rulers and the
majority who had not
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Education
 Western-educated elites believed
they were the key to modernizing
their societies
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Believed they could do so within a colonial
framework and in association with
colonial authorities
 These educated elites = had these
hopes crushed
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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.
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By the 1960s = about 50 million
Africans had converted to
Christianity
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Religion
 Attractions to Christianity:
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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
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More distinct and unified
 Purposes of this revived
Hinduism:
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Swami Vivekananda
One of India’s most influential
religious figures of the 19th century
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
Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Race
 New cultural identity = an
“African identity”
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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, classridden 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
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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
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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