Colonized Schooling Exposed

Progressive Voices for Transformative Educational and Social Change

Pierre Orelus, Curry Malott, Romina Pacheco

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317605669
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Policy

This book presents a novel perspective on neocolonialism, education and other related issues. It unveils the effects of neocolonialism on the learning and well-being of students and workers, including marginalized groups such as Native Americans, Latino/as, and African Americans. It is a collection of in-depth interviews with and heartfelt essays by committed social justice educators and scholars genuinely concerned with educational issues situated in the context of western neocolonialism and neoliberalism.This dialogical way of discussing important issues and co-constructing knowledge can be traced back to ancient philosophers, who used dialogue as a form of inquiry to explore and analyze educational, socio-economic and political issues facing the world. It will cover many interwoven and pressing issues echoed through authentic voices of progressive educators and scholars.

Part I
Unmasking the Wretchedness of Neoliberalism and Neocolonialism

1
Colonialism in the 21st Century

A Critical Analysis

Pierre Wilbert Orelus

Colonialism denies human rights to human beings whom it has subdued by violence, and keeps them by force in a state of misery and ignorance that Marx would rightly call a subhuman condition.

—Jean P. Sartre, foreword to The Colonizer and The Colonized (Memmi, 1965)

Being born and raised in a country with a history of colonialism is one of the greatest challenges that descendants of formerly colonized countries have been facing. The reason is that the shadow of colonialism is deeply imprinted on their psyche and human consciousness and follows them throughout their journey in life. In fact, the legacy of colonialism overshadows the multifaceted aspects of neocolonized subjects’ ways of living and being in the world. In this sense, it is reasonable to argue that these subjects are in the best position to know how it is like to be neocolonized and cope with the aftermath and legacy of colonialism, such as continuous colonial domination of the school, political, and economic systems of their native land, and their misrepresentation, including the misrepresentation of their culture and history. This chapter aims at shedding light on these crucial issues. To this end, I begin by reviewing key scholarly work of postcolonial scholars like Albert Memmi and Frantz Fanon. I go on to analyze the ways and the extent to which the legacy of colonialism continues to impact the school system, the economy, and the political apparatus of many formerly colonized countries, such as Haiti and India. I end this chapter making proposals as to what needs to be done to counter the effects of the colonial legacy on people living in countries that were colonized and continue to be victimized by such a legacy.

Colonialism Still at Work: A Historical Overview

In the Colonizer and the Colonized, Albert Memmi (1965) brilliantly dissected the structure of the colonial system. Memmi analyzed how colonialism dehumanized the colonized through brutal exploitation, subjugation, and misery. However, as Memmi made clear, the colonized were not the only ones who suffered from colonialism. The colonizers also suffered from it. They constantly feared that the colonized could violently revolt against the inhumane conditions they were forcibly put in by poisoning or brutally killing their colonizers. Thus, it can be argued that the colonial system rendered both the colonizers and the colonized its slaves. To paraphrase Memmi, the so-called freedom that the colonizers enjoyed could only be maintained by sophisticated weapons, ideological brainwashing, and institutionalized fear. Psychologically, they were not free; to some extent they were just as enslaved as the colonized.

Memmi’s economic and political analysis of colonialism is very insightful in that it can help one understand Western neocolonialism. Although Memmi did not explicitly make any claim as to what would happen to formerly colonized countries decades after they were colonized, his ideas, as articulated through his book, were somewhat prophetic. That is, the economic and political situations of colonized countries, as Memmi laid them out in his book, are not so different from the current educational, economic, social, and political situations of countries such as Haiti, Congo, and India. For example, during colonialism the educational, political, and economic system of these countries was dominated and destroyed by European colonial powers’ policies. Currently, with the rise of Western neocolonial and neoliberal economic policy, implemented through the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization, the economic system of Haiti and India, for example, seems to be as bad as it was during colonization. For example, as a result of the implementation of this policy in these countries, many Indian and Haitian farmers have been forced to abandon their farms. This has economically and psychologically affected both the Haitian and Indian farmers and their family. According to Arundhati Roy (2006), sixty wives of Indian farmers committed suicide because they were overwhelmed by the accumulated debt of their husbands who were forced out of work due to Western neoliberal economic policy. Roy put it in those terms while she was commenting on the official visit of former U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006 in India to sign an “economic deal” with the Indian government:

But I must say that while Bush was in Delhi, at the same time on the streets there were—I mean apart from the protests, there were 60 widows that had come from Kerala, which is the south of India, which is where I come from, and they had come to Delhi because they were 60 out of the tens of thousands of widows of farmers who have committed suicide, because they have been encircled by debt. And this is a fact that is simply not reported, partly because there are no official figures, partly because the Indian government quibbles about what constitutes suicide and what is a farmer. (Roy, interviewed by Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, May 2006)

Roy’s statement illustrates that colonization, through the Western model of globalization, is still happening in formerly colonized countries, albeit manifested in different forms and shapes. It also can be inferred from her statement that Western neoliberal economic policy has mainly served the interest of already existing privileged groups in formerly colonized countries but not that of the poor farmers and factory workers.

Likewise, Memmi’s diagnosis of the situation of the colonized and their occupied territories seems relevant today and will most likely remain relevant for decades to come unless neocolonial subjects, including intellectuals, align with the masses to combat Western neoliberal economic policy. Simply put, as long as Western neoliberal policy is still at work, Third World countries will continue to experience educational, economic, and political dominations. With respect to the school system of formerly colonized countries, such system continues to reflect the colonial legacy through its practices, including language policies implemented in these countries.

In the case of former colonized country like Haiti, I argue that any anti-colonial project aimed at rescuing the country from the colonial vestige should first and foremost involve transforming the Haitian school system that is still colonial-based. The earthquake occurring there in 2010 destroyed major historical and school buildings in this country, for example. However, in my view, the colonial mentality that has long inhabited these buildings has not disappeared. In other words, the colonial mentality would persist in many Haitians’ minds and souls regardless of the fact these school and historical buildings were collapsed during the earthquake. These minds and souls need to be decolonized (Thiong’o, 1986) if Haiti is to transcend the negative effect of the French colonial legacy in order to become the independent, autonomous, and prosperous Haiti that genuinely concerned and caring Haitians have long wished for. After two hundred years of independence, Haiti unfortunately continues to emulate the French educational system. French, the language of the colonizer, is still valued over the Haitian Creole, the maternal language of all Haitians except those from the upper class who grow up speaking French as their first language.

Haitian students whose minds are still colonized tend to value more the French language than the Haitian Creole. They also tend to show more appreciation for French literature and history than for Haitian literature and history. Until a fundamental change occurs in the Haitian educational system, including a profound transformation of the colonial mentality of many Haitian students, Haiti would continue to be a neocolonized nation. Likewise, until Haitian leaders with human and political dignity join their brilliant minds and souls together to discuss and attempt to solve the pressing educational, socioeconomic, and political problems that Haiti has been facing, it would continue to be a nation that depends on its former colonial and imperial powers, such as France and the United States, respectively, to solve its internal problems. A nation can’t shape its destiny and stand on its feet when its people are still trapped in a colonial mentality.

Like Haiti, many formerly colonized countries have been experiencing a new form of colonialism since their “independence.” This new form of colonialism, which is analyzed in the book, is perhaps worse than nineteenth-century colonialism because, although subtle at times, it is operational at all levels (e.g., educational, political, social, economic, cultural, and ideological) in non-Western countries particularly. It is worth emphasizing that Memmi’s detailed and perspicacious descriptions of the political, economic, and social situations of the colonized to a great extent reflect the political, educational, social, and economic situations of marginalized Haitians, Indians, Somalis, and Sudanese, among others. These neocolonized subjects have been deprived of basic human rights and needs, such as clean and safe water, food, and shelter, while living under the constant threat of imperial and neocolonizing powers such as the United States, Great Britain, and France.

People who have lived under colonialism and/or have to deal with the historical, educational, political, social, cultural, and psychological effects of colonialism do not know what their lives would have been like if their countries were not colonized. But this might not even be relevant or important to them in the final calculation, for after experiencing colonization, what these people do know is the color and taste of exploitation and humiliation resulting from it. Memmi (1965) explains this colonial phenomenon in the following terms:

We have no idea what the colonized would have been without colonization, but we certainly see what has happened as a result of it. To subdue and exploit, the colonizer pushed the colonized out of the historical and social, cultural and technical current. What is real and verifiable is that the colonized’s culture, society and technology are seriously damaged. (p. 114)

Placing Memmi’s argument in the context of neocolonialism, I argue that the struggle for political, economic, and cultural autonomies of countries that were formerly colonized must go on even though these countries have been “independent” for decades. The reason is that, despite the fact that White colonial administrators are no longer present in the colony to defend the interest of their superior colonialists in the Western metropolitans, formerly colonized countries are still under the gaze of Western neocolonial powers. Arundhati Roy (2003) eloquently unravels this neocolonial phenomenon in most of her scholarly and activist work. Roy (2003) argues:

This time around, the colonizer does not need a token white presence in the colonies. The CEOs and their men do not need to go to the trouble of tramping through the tropics, risking malaria, diarrhea, sunstroke, and an early death. They do not have to maintain an army or a police force, or worry about insurrections and mutinies. They can have their colonies and an easy conscience. “Creating a good investment climate” is the new euphemism for western repression. Besides, the responsibility for implementation rests with the local administration. (p. 17)

What Roy points out above reflects the sad political and economic realities of most—if not all—formerly colonized countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and in the Caribbean. Despite radical nationalist movements that emerged out of mass struggle to resist the hegemonic influence of the West on Third World countries, the former still finds ways to control internal affairs of these countries through complicity of corrupt leaders. These corrupt leaders are often put in power to defend the interests of the West while the majority of people, including journalists, students, and factory workers, are being murdered, exploited, and oppressed. The assassination of the famous Haitian journalist Jean Dominique, in 2000, is a case in point. (See the movie The Agronomist for more details.)

Like Memmi, Fanon (1963) addressed issues related to domination and oppression in the colonial context. In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon (1963) clarified the source of the pitfall of national consciousness caused by a national bourgeois class. This bourgeois class uses “the working class of the towns, the masses of unemployed, the small artisans and craftsmen to line up behind its nationalist attitude” (Fanon, 1965, p. 34) for its own political and economic gains. In other words, the bourgeois class uses the masses to take over the colonizer’s political and economic positions and to defend its own interests. The current economic and political state of formerly colonized countries, such as Uganda, Haiti, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Congo, and Rwanda, is a prime example of a national bourgeois class whose goal is to have access to and remain in power by using the masses.

After years of independence from the French and British colonial powers, these countries have been destroyed by the greedy elite who, in order to stay in power, have isolated and killed whoever opposed to their hegemonic agenda and violent actions. Moreover, while in power, this elite group usually reproduces the same colonial practices of the colonizer, for its political agenda is to replace the colonizers but not to change the status quo. As Fanon observed,

The national middle class, which takes over power at the end of the colonial regime, is an underdeveloped middle class. It has practically no economic power, and in any case it is in no way commensurate with the bourgeoisie of the mother country, which it hopes to replace. In its narcissism, the national middle class is easily convinced that it can advantageously replace the middle class of the mother country. (p. 149)

As Fanon noted, being obsessed with power, the emerging middle class from a colonial state has only strived to have access to and remain in power. Given their opportunistic and bourgeois attitude, members of this class throughout history have been known to be reactionary. Like the colonizers, this class, often supported by the West, has proven to be oppressive to the poor masses and its opponents while in power. Some Haitian leaders are good examples of this. As Chomsky (2002) observes, “The United States has been supporting the Haitian military and dictators for two hundred years—it is not a new policy” (p. 35).

Chomsky’s statement illustrates a very important point that I wish to make here. It is not merely the French and the British who have been oppressing and exploiting the Haitians, Ugandans, Sudanese, Zimbabweans, Somalis, and the Rwandans; also, the powerful Haitians, Ugandans, Sudanese, Somalis, and Rwandans who, by carrying out the legacy of colonialism and executing the economic order of the West at the expense of the poor, have been torturing and impoverishing their compatriots. The colonizers and occupying empires have “left” the formerly colonized land, but the powerless people living in this land have been experiencing what I would call intranational colonization by their own leaders. That is, being supported by and, in some cases, put in power by former Western neo-colonial and imperialist powers, such as the United States, Great Britain, and France, these so-called leaders have divided their poor countries into multiple hostile and antagonist groups for their political gains. They have also worked tirelessly to serve and protect both the interests of the Western imperial powers and their own.

Some of these postcolonial leaders have not proven that they are ready to govern and unite their nation and people living within. By making this argument, I do not intend here to justify the distorted view of the colonizers who, in order to maintain the colonial status quo, have repeatedly stated that colonized people are not ready or able to govern and represent themselves and must therefore let the colonial power do it for them. Rather, I am arguing that the real and uncompromising leaders emerging from the mass, or what Gramsci (1971) called organic intellectuals, have not had the chance to lead and govern their countries without being attacked or killed by internal and external opposing forces supported by Western colonial and imperial powers. A good example of this is the Congolese prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated by Western imperial power due to his nationalism and autonomous political and economic decisions to serve his country. (See the movie Lumumba for more details about the assassination of Patrice Lumumba by the Belgium and the U.S. governments with the complicity of some national political opponents.)

In Dying Colonialism, Fanon (1963) warned us of the danger of having a nationalist bourgeois and elite government take control of the nation after independence. Having assessed the social and political situations of the colonized Algeria, Fanon explained what consequences would result from the deceitful and dishonest political acts of the elite if they ever took over power. Fanon eloquently articulates that the elite have no interest in protecting from the colonizers the inalien...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• PART I: Unmasking the Wretchedness of Neoliberalism and Neocolonialism
• PART II Unmasking the Wretchedness of Neoliberalism and Neocolonialism
• Conclusion
• Contributors
• Index