By early 17th century russia already controlled Siberia.
By 1820 the Brits controlled mainland South Asia.
1.6% of the planet colonized the rest.
The impact of colonization is colossal; a tiny little peninsula of the Eurasian continent - that is, Western Europe - controlled the world. In effect, very few countries were left unaffected by European Colonization: Ethiopia (Africa’s strongest state [soldier]), Afghanistan (Afghan wars in the 19th century, but it always succeeded in keeping Brits out), Japan (became a colonizer itself), China ([lol??]), Thailand (/Siam), Liberia, Iran, Korea, Turkey, most of the Arabian peninsula.
Professor thinks his course is relevant. Very topical. Greenland. Israel is colonizing parts of Palestine. At home (lol) colonial past. Decolonization may be a buzzword but there is a growing demand to do so to libraries, universities, the mind. You may think this is woke, ideological, militant-activist, but there are reasons to it.
Breffu (St. John Island revolt), Tacky (Jamaica), Toussaint L’Ouverture (Haitian revolution) - not commonly known by people [in the class at least], but very important in uprisings of enslaved peoples.
We are neglecting important people in (European) colonial history: we should get rid of Eurocentric frameworks of thinking and become aware of how much we don’t know [hello Socrates], and how much we’ve been ignoring.
Michel-Rolph Trouillot emphasizes that history is not object but interpretive. Historians are not neutral.
Course should remind us of the selectivity/subjectivity of what we have been taught prior.
Idesbald Goddeeris. He’s white. He’s male. Still not [maybe?] that old. Not that privileged. Took the images of Curacao, Suriname, etc., himself.
He apparently studied Polish and russian in his youth (as part of area studies). Other people think different [or something].
Currently does research on missionaries, post-colonial debate, works with doctoral students from Congo, India, who still catch him on eurocentric faults. He also teaches the Interculturality course. Was a (co-)coordinator of the Faculty of Arts Diversity network. Also talked about Decolonization in this.
Professors are growing increasingly aware of their Eurocentric bias. They often include information attempting to correct it as a dessert rather than a main course (i.e. a small chapter at the end of the course - see Till and Continental’s feminism section).
You don’t need to be of color to bring in other perspectives. You don’t need to be a woman to teach on gender. Need to combine it with modesty though. One may always contact him. He will also learn from others. If one has questions, e-mail him. E-mails will be answered publicly in an anonymous manner.
There will be a mock exam [might be for first-years only?]
Learning process: take this course as a learning process; prof. is also learning; he will also make mistake; language mistakes; factual mistakes; he is also ignorant about many things in colonial history; he also recently learned about people or facts that he didn’t know before, and that, he thinks, is interesting and important to include in the course; he is eager to include this feedback in the course since they will also illuminate himself. All in all he sees this course as a co-creation, even though he’s lecturing and he has the power and the voice [omg dune reference], but though he’s been teaching this course for over 20 years [fml], it has evolved over the years thanks to student comments. Again, do not hesitate to e-mail him
This course is in English [????????????????????????????????????? WHAT]. He wants to include foreign students. He [hates]/(wants to include) more than just Dutch/Flemish students.
[Man i’m starting to see why people get pissed at woke. Goddamn I just got a wordle in 3
[Wordle 1,696 3/6]
🟩⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛🟨🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩].
In the Era of AI, he had a discussion with his daughter, who today celebrates her 27th birthday, urged the prof. to completely change his course - “you find this immediately via ChatGPT” - prof. thinks it’s important to stick to factual knowledge to strengthen one against the hallucinations and nonsense coming out of AI; Prof is 53, he’s addressing a different generation now.
Lot of wars. This is very important. We hardly realize the extent of the violence European colonization was associated with. So many people in Western Europe today will still emphasize the benefits for the colonies, while completely ignoring the dire harms inflicted upon the colonies, the millions of casualties.
There is required reading of a book on the colonial Congo. There will be exam questions on the required readings.
[T-minus until Edward Said is mentioned, over/under 2 weeks?]
We will [he claims] understand the world differently in light of this course, we will see International Relations/Geopolitics/etc. in a different light.
We will [presumably] know things the average European doesn’t.
He says some slides are boring af. They are a waste of ink [wow].
Lectures are recorded. There may be technical issues, and they will be online until end of exam period.
Definitions
No clear-cut definitions, open for interpretation [WHAT THE FUCK IS THE POINT OF A DEFINITION THEN??????????]
Colony: etymologically related to Colere - cultivation. A Colonia, in Latin, was an agrarian settlement. Imperare comes from ‘to dominate.’ ‘Colonization’ and ‘colony’ were used even in prior times, but was used in a different manner until the end of the 19th century.
With the start of colonization by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 16th this was about dominium, conquest, civitas, a fight against barbarism.
In the 17th, it would go to commerce, trade, private property, and so on.
Until ~1870s, colonization was settler colonization.
Colonization is a form of expansion (latter being the broader term). Expansion has more meanings as well, it can come without colonization - such as in an exodus, where an entire population is displaced due to whatever reason. In an exodus, there is no controlling center (metropole) left behind, thus it ≠ colonization.
Emigration, as well, is a form of expansion. Yet emigrants integrate into the host societies, so it can’t be [this is absurd logic] called colonization.
Colonization can come in the forms of:
- Border colonization (country stretching its borders)
- Overseas colonization (naval networks, overseas settlement)
The latter is the kind of colonization we will be talking about.
In Jürgen Osterhammel’s view (echoed by prof.): A colony is a new political organization created by invasion (conquest and/or settlement colonization). Its alien rulers are in sustained dependence on a geographically remote ‘mother country’ or imperial center, which claims exclusive rights of ‘possession’ of the colony.
Colonization is the process of establishing colonial rules. Colonies can come without colonization in military conquest, and colonization without colonies (border colonies).
russia is not part of this course except for the next 20-30 minutes. But it has so many similarities with Western European overseas colonization, that it’s worth at least bringing up.
The timeline of russian expansion lines up with European colonization. The mechanisms - private funding - were also similar. russia also extracted and pillaged shit.