1
Jules Ferry This site offers a speech by the French Prime Minister Jules Ferry on the value of a colonial empire.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1884ferry.html
Questions for further exploration:
According to Ferry, what are the economic benefits of a colonial empire? Ferry, however, also says that colonial empires are significant for other reasons. What are they?
2
German Imperialism in China This site features two speeches of Kaiser Wilhelm II given on the occasion of the departure of troops to China. It also features a version of one of the speeches that was taken down verbatim and not edited for public consumption.
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~german/gtext/kaiserreich/china.html
Questions for further exploration:
How are the Chinese portrayed in these speeches? Is the reason for their actions discussed? What alone matters? What nationalistic images are raised to inspire the troops? How is Christianity employed? How are these related, i.e. how Christian is Germany’s “place in the sun?”
3
Isandhlwana The first of these two sites gives an account of the British debacle at Isandhlwana by a British historian. The second of these sites offers an African nationalist perspective of the incident that predates the end of apartheid.
http://www.kwazulu.co.uk/ and http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/misc/isandhlwana.html
Questions for further exploration:
Enter the kwazulu site for an introduction to the Nagol-Zulu War, then click on the “fact or fiction” gallery to the right of the introduction. What were the causes of the Anglo-Zulu War? Who was the aggressor? How did myths spring up among the British about the battle? How do these myths evoke imperialist passions at the expense of Africans and the truth of these events. At the anc.org site, how and in what ways does the overall tone and focus of the article differ from the previous site? What was the impact of the ultimate defeat of the Zulu forces?
4
Japanese Imperialism in Taiwan This site examines the origins, nature and impact of Japanese imperialism in Taiwan.
http://www.mcauley.acu.edu.au/staff/andrewp/Taiwan_Pages/Taiwan_History_4.htm
Questions for further exploration:
Draw examples from this essay that indicate how Japanese imperialism in Taiwan was in many ways a classic expression of European imperialist values, from it burden of civilization, to its failure to offer incentives or benefits to Taiwanese, to the nativist revolts that challenged Japanese rule, and to the legacy of instability left in the wake of imperial retreat.
5
Shooting an Elephant This site offers George Orwell’s short story, Shooting an Elephant.
http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/shoot.htm
Questions for further exploration:
Recounting an episode from his service as a minor police official in British Burma, Orwell realized the story gave him “a glimpse of the real nature of imperialism.” What was it that Orwell found and revealed in his account?
6
Heart of Darkness This site features the opening pages of Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness.
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/conrad.html
Questions for further exploration:
The preamble to this reading suggests that the novel conceals levels of meaning that place Africans in a poor light as a people. Others suggest the opposite, that what Conrad is exploring is the horror inherent in the domination of men by any other men, and how that horror was made known to him “on the ground” in Africa, not as a matter of fiction, but as a matter of his own encounter with the evil itself while he himself was in Africa. How does he regard the African seamen he sees (he is himself a seaman)? How does he regard the French naval bombardment he witnesses and what does he deduce from the “criminals” he sees escorted by an African in a uniform? Do these incidents suggest Conrad has any sympathy with Africans? After witnessing these sights (and on hearing about the Swede who committed suicide), he feels forewarned about what is to come, but he goes on. Why? How would Orwell, in the reading above, provide something like an answer?
7
Kipling’s Burden This site offers an essay that is a direct exercise in textual analysis of Rudyard Kipling’s novel, Kim. It attempts to find within the relationships of characters in the novel evidence of both the author’s views on empire and how these views validate imperial assumptions about the relationship between colonial peoples and, in this case, their European rulers.
http://wwwhost.cc.utexas.edu/ftp/pub/das/.html/south.asia/sagar/spring.1994.issue/nandi.bhatia.art.html
Questions for exploration.
How may the relationship between Kim and the Babu, and between Kim and the Lama be interpreted to reveal significant elements of the relationship between Indians and their British rulers?
8
The White Man’s Burden Rejected This site examines the American anti-imperialist attack on Kipling's famous poem on race and empire by offering a large number of contemporary responses by American men and women who were angered at the imperialist content of the poem.
http://www.boondocksnet.com/kipling/
Questions for further exploration:
Choose five of the many American anti-imperialist responses provided at this site and compose an essay identifying the nature of their hostility to the empire inspired by Kipling’s call to America to take up the burdens of imperial leadership.
9
Women and Imperialism: A Dutch Case Study This site offers a glimpse into a burning debate over the place of women in the history of European imperialism. One aspect of that debate has focused on the place of European feminists who sought recognition of their platform at a time when even the slightest anti-imperialist sentiment might have discredited their movement. Not all feminists, moreover, were paragons of egalitarianism; some reflected the racial and political bias of their culture, just as others overcame them. Florence Nightingale was the first Briton to praise the creation of the Indian National Congress, but had to move carefully in championing equality for Indians lest she be dismissed as merely a mad meddling “dangerous woman.” The burdens of women in the age of imperialism, as victims and as agents of the process, were, as always, greater than those borne by men.
http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_womens_history/v011/11.2bosch.html
Question for further exploration:
In what ways did Dutch feminist Aletta Jacobs express wholehearted compliance with Dutch national rhetoric and colonial practice?.
10
Post-imperialism? This site offers an essay that suggests that conceptualizing the era of high imperialism as a feature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, an “era of the past,” inhibits understanding of the forces at work in the contemporary world.
http://chnm.gmu.edu/rhr/carty1.htm
Questions for further exploration:
What examples drawn by the author from recent events are used to suggest that the era of imperialism has not yet passed? Which of the leading theorists of empire does she drawn upon to frame her arguments? On what basis does the author conclude that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
