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Neo-colonialism: A Comparative Essay
We live in a neocolonial era. US military involvement in the Gulf and the Horn of Africa, structural dependency in the Caribbean and Latin America, racial discrimination of Africans, and most of Asia, the Pacific, and the Middle East, multinational corporations’ worldwide hegemonies, information industries favored country treaties and trade blocs that exacerbate economic differences, a range of internecine conflicts tacitly backed by former colonial powers, widespread corruption in sponsored authoritarian governments across the so-called Third World; increasing ethnic violence. All of them serve as unwelcome reminders of Fanon’s thesis that colonialism does not end with political independence or the ceremonial lowering of the final European flag.
As a result of colonialism, post-colonialism arises. It refers to the discussion of the consequences of colonialism on culture and society (Huggan, 1997). It is concerned with culture from the end of colonialism to the present, or, in other words, the post-independence period. Throughout and after the colonial period, colonizers’ views, particularly Western concepts, have dominated world culture while conquered cultures have been sidelined (Bhabha, 1994). The colonizer’s culture is regarded as superior to the colonized culture, which is regarded as inferior. The relationship between the colonizer and the colonized is then viewed through the lens of post-colonialism. It casts doubt on the beliefs that the colonizer’s culture is superior to that of the colonized. Because many individuals in various nations throughout the world have been affected by colonialism, post-colonialism is an important means of articulating the colonized people’s experiences. The purpose of this article is to compare the ties between the colonial past and Neo-colonialism in The God of Small Things, A Small Place, and This Earth of Mankind.
Arundhati Roy’s novel The God of Small Things, published in 1997, is set in Ayemenem, Kerala, India, and alternates between 1969 and 1993. The story follows the Ipe family, a rich Syrian Christian family consisting of grandma Mammachi, her divorced son Chacko, her divorced daughter Ammu, and Ammu’s dizygotic twins Rahel and Estha, as they navigate post-colonial India. Despite India’s independence from Britain, colonialism’s negative consequences are still felt 22 years later. During British control, India was promised a civilized society full of academics and scientific breakthroughs, but the British had no way of knowing how colonization would intensify the Ipe family’s patriarchy. Chacko and Ammu, brothers who had the same possibilities in the beginning but a radically different conclusion, are shown in the novel as allegories for British colonialism, respectfully demonstrating the gap between the hope of British colonialism and the reality of its repercussions (Roy, 1997).
The British conquered India under the guise of improving the country’s prospects by teaching and developing its people in the sciences and other intellectual fields. It sought to abolish the caste system and promote equality, but it failed to see how profoundly sexism and classism flowed through India’s rivers like veins. Chacko and Ammu are siblings who were reared by the same parents, in the same environment, and with the same results. While they both started off the same way, sexism prevented Ammu from attending university like Chacko (Roy, 1997). Pappachi believed that a college degree was an unnecessary luxury for a lady, thus Ammu had no alternative but to leave Delhi and join them. In Ayemenem, a young lady had no choice except to wait for marriage proposals while helping her mother with the chores. The colonial reforms were unable to remove the ingrained belief that men and women had different values. As mentioned in the text, a woman is expected to clean the home, marry, have children, and then clean the house again. Ammu sees being educated and becoming a scholar as a cost, but Chacko sees going to Oxford as an investment. Since her father did not have enough money to finance a decent dowery, no proposals came Ammu’s way,â the paragraph continues, demonstrating obvious chauvinism. Why, if her father could afford to send Chacko to a famous British institution, couldn’t he afford to pay for his own daughter’s dowry? Their father, like the rest of India, did not allow colonization’s progressive prospects influence his views on gender roles. Chacko is the epitome of Britain’s aspirations for India’s people. However, it is important to remember that he came from a better social class and a wealthier family than others, and that his sister, who had the same start and opportunities as him, did not have the same success. A man of lower class, or lower caste, since that inbred belief could not be entirely eliminated, and especially not a lady of lower status, could not have done what Chacko did. Britain’s colonization of India was fraudulently marketed as an improvement, yet it exacerbated previously existing problems by a factor of two (Roy, 1997).
Britain warned everyone that they may end up like Chako, but they lacked the resources or care to send Indians to school in England. Instead, much of India will wind up like Ammu, with the same restricted prospects enticed by the possibility of something greater. It’s no surprise that Ammu rebelled against the Love Laws out of desperation, yet she still ended up worse than her contemporaries. Ammu would be welcomed, cared for, and believed in an ideal society, but Ammu has to suffer because British colonialism prioritizes upper-class males and ignores those considered lower-class (Roy, 1997). They restricted her possibilities for outcomes, and no matter what she selected, she would have been evaluated since she was a woman who had not traveled to England and so was not worth as much. Ammu is, in the end, the downtrodden people of colonial India’s voice. A bitterly angry story rife with injustice, treachery, and insanity (Roy, 1997).
The novel A Small Place (Kincaid, 2018), depicts the detrimental effects of global capitalism on Antigua, both during and after colonialism, as well as the subsequent neocolonialism or recolonization. The story depicts Antigua as a colonial city with colonial buildings and foreign invaders enjoying posh, opulent lives at the cost of locals. She condemns colonialism and all of its negative consequences, stating that current Antigua’s corruption is the product of ill habits learnt from its colonists, who imprisoned, murdered, and controlled via terrible administration. I mean the economic component that Hugh Hodges refers to as the transnationalization of capital and industry, which has allowed firms to transcend national borders and travel across the world to take advantage of cheap labor and establish new markets for goods and services. This comprises foreign interests that dominate the tourism sector, manufacturing, distribution, and lending and financing in these areas, as well as international corporate organizations and international agencies working in Antigua. Economic supremacy always leads to social and cultural domination. According to the book, the most common threat associated with the concept of global culture is that it will eventually result in homogeneous world culture, erasing existing cultural differences and leaving an impoverished, soulless, Americanized or Europeanized culture of commodity consumption in its wake. Globalization research, like postcolonial studies, raises concerns concerning the existence and survival of social and cultural identity (Kincaid, 2018).
From the slave trade, which supported the island’s wealthiest residents, to the extreme prejudice suffered by local citizens inside the education system, the story explores how racism shaped the little island of Antigua. With humans, racism has always existed. Racism treats people differently or unfairly just because they are from a different ethnic group, have a different religion, or are of a different nationality. Racism is defined as someone who believes that their race is superior than others and feels superior to others because of their vehicle. Because of prejudice, many individuals have died, lost their families and children, and have stayed homeless throughout history. Racism ignites a conflict that threatens to wipe humanity off the face of the earth. Feeling superior to or more powerful than another race exemplifies racism’s depravity. and their family. World War II is an excellent illustration of racism. One of the major causes of the conflict was the belief that one’s career was superior to that of other races. When this happens, conflict breaks out, and many people lose their lives. Slavery, which impacted African people, is another type of racism. One race utilized strength and might to conquer and subjugate another.
This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta details the development of Minke, a local Javanese kid who enrolls at a prestigious Dutch-run colonial high school. He is a great student, a keen observer, and a descendant of Javanese nobility. As a result of these characteristics, he is able to critically examine the hazardous and complex environment in which he finds himself. When a highly unconventional family asks him to live with them, the protagonist’s life is disrupted. Minke encounters a diverse group of people in this household that push him to confront issues that plague his society, such as gender and racial discrimination (Toer, 1981). Nyali Ontosoroh was the leader of the home where Minke lived. Nyali is a half-European concubine in charge of her treacherous Robert and gorgeous Annalies, as well as the family dairy company. Minke and Annalies fall in love despite their ethnic differences. Robert, on the other hand, is dissatisfied with this connection and becomes an outspoken opponent of Dutch colonial control (Toer, 1981).
Nyai and Minke are highly educated, haughty, and strong-willed individuals who are unable to accept the authority and freedom that constitute their society’s hierarchy. Individual power and independence in their culture, for example, are highly dependent on the amount of European blood in their veins. As a result, the two heroes teamed together to fight the evils that plague their civilization. Nyai’s moral authority is unassailable, despite the fact that she is a concubine with no legal rights to her thriving company or her children. Despite his natural constraints, Minke is seen as self-evident by many Europeans, and by his actions and words, he demonstrated that he was equal to anybody else. She encouraged Minke to focus on humanity’s life rather than humanity’s death when she found out he aspired to be a writer. He also points out that stories about people, whether they are about ghosts, gods, ogres, or animals, are more difficult to grasp than those about the environment (Toer, 1981).
Minke and his mother have an extremely close bond. Her mother adores him despite his father’s rejection and insistence that he adopt the Javenese identity. Her mother is upset because of their connection because he writes his journal in Dutch. In a letter, she begs her son to write the journal in a language that she and his people can comprehend. It is clear from these talks that the figure of the native intellectual enjoys a positive connection with the general public. For example, he recognizes the injustices people face and directs his focus to redress them. His connection with Nyai, his concubine, is also ideal, because she has no objections to the intellectual figure pursuing her half-Javanese, half-European daughter. As a result, his connection with the Dutch is good, as he fits in well when he enrolls in their school. Furthermore, he keeps a journal in Dutch, as indicated by his mother’s complaint that he keeps a record in a language that neither she nor his people understand (Toer, 1981).
In comparison to The God of Small Things, A Small Place, and This Earth of Mankind, which concentrates on post-colonial behaviors and neo-colonialism, The God of Small Things, A Small Place, and This Earth of Mankind focus on post-colonial behaviors and neo-colonialism. In the novels, the local intellectual is forced to absorb the imperialist culture, which causes them to lose their individuality. The intellectual native attitude about their people changes dramatically as a result of this integration. The native scholar, for example, learns the methods of the colonialists and works for them while ignoring the misery of his people. Neocolonialism is the belief that even after a country has won its independence, it is still subject to the tremendous influence of its parents. These freshly formed countries are still living in the shadow of their parent countries, but on top of the roots they have planted. As a result, the question arises: are these post-colonial countries that have just regained their footing and won independence better off as a result of their independence? The close imperial dominance of parent states explains the fact that these newly independent nations are free, but not better off, due to their parent nations’ and imperialism’s continued influence.
Colonialism is a trait that has defined many of today’s contemporary nations’ foundations (Dirlik, 2002). Numerous previous tribes and cultures have benefited from the impact of many ancient nations. From Africa to India to Asia, all of these countries have had some form of cultural impact from another country. This comes as no surprise, after all, globalization is a well-known fact. Cultural imperialism and hegemony, on the other hand, are not as easily defined as globalization. Then there’s neo-colonialism, which has become a powerful force. Powerful countries employ neocolonialism for a number of reasons, and it is constantly changing not only particular cultures, but global culture as well.
In fact, neo-colonial endeavors may conceivably utilize any facet of culture. Language, for example, has been described as being utilized in a neocolonial manner (McLeod, 2020). Similarly, as in the instance of the God of Small Things book, education has been identified as a significant tool for neocolonialism (Roy, 1997). It’s also crucial to consider the long-term consequences of these actions. Globalization, or cultural homogeneity as it is more generally known, is arguably the most powerful factor impacting the global landscape today. For example, some projections predict a 90% decline in the number of languages spoken globally by 2100, while others clearly demonstrate that the number of speakers would be concentrated in a few languages by that time (Batibo, 2005). These global tendencies are inextricably linked to the practice of neocolonialism. While growing populations may help certain languages gain popularity in the future, it’s no wonder that the languages at the top of these lists have homelands that have a history of neocolonialism. While the word ‘globalization’ implies that the consequence is a varied global culture, the truth is that this continuing homogeneity of ethos is dominated by cultures that are most aggressive in their neocolonial aspirations. The culturally imperialistic activities of the core nations limit the impact of other cultures while strengthening their own, resulting in a global culture that is more dominated by the core than the periphery.
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