Achebe’s Things Fall Apart challenges ethnocentrism, colonialism, and the arrogance of exploiting colonies through integrating into the socioeconomic structures. There are many strong themes throughout the novel; Power, masculinity, gender roles, wealth, respect, religion, and family are all described in detail to deliver as much insight about Okonkwo’s village as possible. Because Achebe is so successful at delivering sympathetic, meaningful character and cultural development that the reader can actually share some of the misfortunes and destruction to the Iglo culture and language once the Europeans become increasingly established in the West Africa village. Initially, the Europeans seem to be interested in land that the village people perceive to be cursed by their gods and the villagers believe that they will be free from the early colonist before any realm implications and influences of European culture become integrated into their respected and inherited ways. Ultimately, this clash between economic and religious belief drives Okonkwo and his son into disagreement allowing for Achebe to symbolize each character who embodies the qualities of both the traditional beliefs and the colonists newly implemented Christianity. Not long after Christianity becomes more prominent, the European leader becomes replaced by a more radical and forceful leader that really drives Colonialism deeper into the socioeconomic and religious structure and beliefs. Achebe successfully captures the viewpoint of the village becoming colonized rather than the European’s ethnocentric viewpoints.
This lead me to become interested into Colonialism within the United States and around the world, in which I found a very interesting and informational video that helps describe the current status of North America’s Indigenous peoples. The video describes how the United States government were successfully able to deprive North American Natives by taking their resources and driving them into less fertile and resource depleted land, and as we know from reading Things Fall Apart, farming and agriculture are a means of survival, status, power, and currency. The Dawe’s Act gave Native Americans a defined amount of land, however, the government still owned the land.
PLEASE WATCH THIS QUICK VIDEO ON COLONIALISM IN AMERICA.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Achebe, Chinua, and Peter Francis. James. Things Fall Apart. Clipper, 2010.
- Colonialism: Then and Now | The Renewing Indigenous Economies Project, PolicyEd, 4 Apr. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxTvcuKIqAc.
- Harvard Divinity School. “The Colonial Era (1882-1960).” Religious Literacy Project, rlp.hds.harvard.edu/for-educators/country-profiles/nigeria/colonial-era-1882-1960.
- IndigenousEcon.org, indigenousecon.org/.
Very interesting you tie colonialism into the United States. When we talk about colonialism I too often think of just the large European super powers, but as to your point the United States is equally as guilty. When you think of the indigenous folk that inhabited the United States before European colonizers, they parallel in many ways to the story Achebe tells in “Things Fall Apart.” The depriving of land, the forcing on western cultural assimilation (both educational and religious) are just some of the few themes the parallel between these to marginalized universes. Well done!
Thank you for this post, bringing the concept of colonialism close to home for us. This is an area of American history that is glossed over and so many of us have no idea of the ways that the lives, cultures and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples have been trampled on by federal power. I was struck by a few powerful images in the video. The first was an image of a stylized map of a reservation, with three looming men in suits pointing at it and making decisions, slamming the Indian Reorganization Act on top of the map. Whose interests do these men have in mind? Not the people who were on the land first. The second image was the image of the woman entrepreneur and the woman who she was doing business with being bound by strands of white tape or paper from the capital. They were thriving and doing on their own and then were cut short by outside control that they neither wanted nor needed. The third was the change in music and tone of the video when it shifted from narration about what the Dawes act and other federal control have effected on Native American life and livelihood to words from the mouths of Native persons themselves. I found the music to be striking because I feel it represented that the people who the Federal government have tried to control all these years have not simply taken it and allowed it to detract from their dignity, but have continued to preserve their culture and traditions as well as they can.
I think that it is important for us to consider the themes that we are studying this week in “Things Fall Apart” as they have impacted our own country.
Comparing the similarities of Nigerian colonization with Native American colonization made many of the concepts in Things Fall Apart make more sense. Interestingly, the first colonists to arrive on what is now American soil were trying to escape the rule of the European government. They themselves were tired of oppression and felt like slaves to the kings and queens that ruled them. Yet shortly after obtaining freedom of their own they enslaved Native Americans and began to dominate territories. It is amazing how hypocritical the actions of early colonists were. This unfortunate display of greed displaced thousand of Indians and led to years of war and destruction. The U.S. still governs Native American land and, in many cases, will not allow its citizens to economically advance.
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in the state of Massachusetts is currently fighting for the right to conduct business on its territory. However, the state is suing the tribe because they cannot collect sales tax on items/services sold on the reservation. If the state of Massachusetts wins, they will essentially take away the tribe’s ability to prosper and empower their own people. It has been hundreds of years since colonization to place, yet the U.S. government continues to harass Native Americans with made-up laws and policies.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/31/trump-administration-revokes-mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-reservation-status
It is interesting to connect the background of Things Fall Apart to United States Colonialism. To those colonist, they all had the same purpose of preempting the interests that they can obtain from the colony. But it can cause difference by changing narraters’ way of depicting the picture. Achebe centers his depiction around the perspective of Okonkwo, which pushes me to think about what else he is trying to convey apart from the colonialism. I strongly agree with your opinion that “Achebe successfully captures the viewpoint of the village becoming colonized rather than the European’s ethnocentric viewpoints.” Great post.
Thank you for the post. Your post really inspire me about the context of the book and help me relate it into reality. It’s true that many colonizations eliminate many different cultures and impose people there to suffered from the lost of own belief and culture. It’s absolutely a cruel process. But in some degrees, the uniform of culture especially language helps the communications between groups. A lot of factors finally form the current world we live in. However, I believe it’s important to keep cultures in some forms for people who interested in them.
Your post was very insightful! Explaining the colonialism in West African and then comparing it to colonialism in the United States made the connection so much clearer. I was not aware how much the U.S. government regulates Native American land. You also pointed out the similar main reasons for colonialism in West Africa and in the U.S. which was land and resources.
I really enjoyed your post! You talked about how colonization can eliminate many original cultures and force indigenous communities to adapt to new culture. I believe that it is a cruel but inevitable thing since it is easier for a country to regulate and maintain social security if they hold the same belief and values. Besides, except for colonization, many cultures in small community have been gradually disappeared because of urbanization which can be considered as another potential risks for culture. I do think that people in such communities should learn new cultures while not forgetting their family original values in order to keep social consistency and culture diversity at the same time.
I thought that your post was very insightful. I found it interesting how you said that the United States are just as much to blame for colonialism as European countries. This post made me more interested in the reading this week and I found the video very helpful in understanding modem colonialism.
I think you did a very nice job. I was really glad that you started your presentation off by stating the general themes that were present throughout this novel. It helped me to better prepare, and understand what I was about to further my knowledge on. I thought your words were clear, and easy to understand, which helped me better understand certain things that still stood unclear to me. I really enjoyed the video as it had a length that held my attention the whole time (in other words, it was not too long), and provided me with yet another explanation that helped me understand the idea of colonialism even better. I also think that by adding the video, your presentation became balanced with the amount of text, and visual representation.
This video was very helpful to me in understanding these concepts. I’m shocked at how underrepresented and how little we learn and hear about the relocation of the indigenous people. This is just another example of “the Other” concept, the “Master-slave” relationship, Adichie’s “A Single Story”, and Morrison’s “Recitatif”. The United States has driven out the Indigenous people of North America to grow the power of “American”, or more modern, culture.
Thanks for your sharing! It is a very meaningful topic when we talk about colonization. The impact it takes is irreversible. When a group of indigenous people invaded another ethnics, it is eradicating a culture and assimilating the difference in a mandatory way. I think the change from colonization results today’s structure. It would be a totally different world if colonization has not happened.
I thought that the blog post was insightful. I liked that you brought up colonialism in the United States. In my opinion it feels as though we talk about the history of the United States relative to that of Europe rather than in relation to Natives. I found the video helpful in understanding more modern colonialism.
It’s a good post to help me sort out the contents of the book from a big point of view. There are many conflicts and developments mentioned in the book such as power, men and women, and the family, which are reflected in the history of all parts of the world. You pointed out that the colonists had deprived the land from the indigenous peoples of the Americas, which reminded me of some of the capitalisms of Europe that had colonized other countries. In the history, some of the major capitalist countries had made a series of backward countries lose their independent status to varying degrees and become dependent countries. They did so for colonial gain.
As I was reading this book I began thinking about colonialism in the United States. I have always been interested in the history of the native americans. However, there definitely is not enough education concerning the history and how native americans were treated by the United States government. Your thoughts and comments were very insightful and I enjoyed reading this blog.
Thank you for your thoughtful post. I appreciate the Colonialism within the United States and around the world. I think there needs to be more education because of the history and native americans need more attention.
I enjoyed the video that you uploaded, it was interesting and helpful to watch. I learned in high school about the United States government depriving North American Natives by taking their resources and driving them into less fertile and resource depleted land and I always found it super sad, taking so much from people who built everything from scratch.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. It definitely helped me organize the contents of this book. Truthfully, I also had began to think of colonialism in general while you made the connection specifically with the United States. I really liked the video you attached to the blog post. It was insightful and I feel like there should be a section in our history classes in our curriculum where students are taught more in depth of what the US government had done to the Native Americans who were stripped of their own land during the colonization period as well as nowadays to many indigenous people. I liked the connections you made with West Africa as well. Overall, this was very beneficial for my understanding!
I really appreciate the thought behind this post, as I’m sure many others do. I have not finished the book yet, but this definitely helped me to visualize the impact of colonialism on the population that Achebe writes about. I have studied a lot about American colonization and its impact on the indigenous people, and completely agree that it is one-sided, terrible, and greedy. The video that you provided completely proved this point by showing how American capitalists use the Native American land and people for their own personal benefits, and that the true, original way of life in America went extinct in 1492 when Columbus destroyed their culture, beliefs, and lifestyle.
This context and relation helps me and certainly other people to understand just how drastic this change was for the West Africans in the book, and the magnitude of the situation. Hopefully, just as we have begun to take steps to eliminate our ties to Columbus (i.e. taking down Columbus statues, changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day, etc.), other victims of colonization are able to grow and change and embrace their roots.
Thanks for sharing. This is very powerful and insightful. For colonialism, I’ve only learned it in history class and the focus is always Puritans, May Flowers, and the first 13 colonies. The Native Americans weren’t stressed enough in my opinion. Most of the Americans today have European origin and the Native Americans are the only people who can be called true Americans.
Thank you for sharing this post, I thought it was very intriguing, I think it would be very cool to come from a Native American decent. They have a lot of history in this country. I think it is very disappointing how American Indians were treated back in the day and even now. All slogans, mascots and team names have been taken away or being debated on to get taken off of sports teams and brands.
The connection you draw between the displacement/genocide of the native Americans and African colonialism is very astute- it seems that European powers, both with the intent to occupy (as in the US) and with the intent to extract resources (as in Africa) behaved in very similar ways, with very similar results.
Well written post! It is unfortunate how much of the history regarding natives is ignored in school especially at younger ages simply because America was the bad guy. I appreciate the video, it truly highlighted the greed of capitalists as well– eradicating cultures for more for more power was not merely a European concept. Reviewing these historical injustices greatly contribute to understanding of Things Fall Apart as they are threatened by colonialism.
Thank you for your great presentation! It is very informative as you introduced the background knowledge of Things Fall Apart and this helps me picture what the real scene was like in the book. I also really like how you link the similarity between the European colonizing powers and the US in terms of colozining indigenous people in the past.
Thank you for your great presentation! It is very informative as you introduced the background knowledge of Things Fall Apart and this helps me picture what the real scene was like in the book. I also really like how you link the similarity between the European colonizing powers and the US in terms of colonizing indigenous people in the past.
I like your post very much. It gave me a better understanding of colonialism. It’s interesting that you associate colonialism with The United States. Colonization is an area of American history that is easy to overlook. Through the video given in the post, I learned about how the federal government persecuted the life of the Native American people. This is powerful and profound. Although most Americans today are of European descent, Only American Indians can truly be called Americans.
Great post! I found your overview of colonialism to be particularly compelling as it gives one far better understanding of one of the major themes in “Things Fall Apart.” I found your comparison between the United States government’s treatment of Native Americans and the British colonization in Umuofia to be particularly profound. Just as the British showed no respect for the land or the cultures of the Igbo people as they built their own colonization and forced the Igbo to conform to British cultural norms, the U.S. government essentially did the same exact thing when they took away the Native Americans’ land and sent them to reservations with poor living conditions. I think the comparison shows how no-matter who commits the colonization, the results on the native peoples is almost never positive.
Your excerpt of how the US involvement in colonization was interesting to read. I do know that the US also shares being colonized at a point in time by the British somehow may have influence how the US is always to quick in making drastic decisions for other countries. You opened more interesting issues about how colonization has been the force for changing other countries culture. That makes this weeks reading as well interesting and related.
I loved reading your post! It gave me a great insight on Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. You gave great examples and references also!
Great Post! Thanks for the informative insight on Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Colonialism.
Great post. I think you wrote a really good reflection on Things Fall Apart, and I like how you tied it to Colonialism in the United States, even though the book doesn’t involve America. I thought it was really interesting.
Much obliged to you for the post. Your post truly inspires me about the setting of the book and assist me with relating it into the real world. The facts demonstrate that numerous colonization’s dispose of a wide range of societies and force individuals there to experience the loss of own conviction and culture. It’s totally a barbarous cycle. In addition, aside from colonization, numerous societies in little network have been progressively vanished due to urbanization which can be considered as another expected dangers for culture. I do feel that individuals in such networks ought to learn new societies while not overlooking their family unique qualities so as to keep social consistency and culture decent variety simultaneously.
Great post! Thank you for your ties from the book to our current life. Critiques of colonialism have been coming up more and more, and its not favorable. I’m seeing critiques and calls of problematic nature of colonialism tied to our justice system, voting and even our beauty practices and standards. I’ve personally reflected on Things Fall Apart since I finished reading it, and it has hit me in so many ways. Thinking about this book along side the announcement of the Breonna Taylor case and today the announcement of a far right conservative supreme court nominee, I can’t help but feel like things are falling apart in real life.
I thought you did a great job of tying colonialism from around the world to colonialism in the United States. I thought that connection was a great idea to connect with what was going on in Things Fall Apart. I also think you did an amazing job of summarizing the themes in this story as well. The video you provided also gave me a better understanding of the points you were explaining. Great job!
I think you tied the colonizations of America pretty seamlessly into this readings themes. I knew the federal government has slighted the native American people since the very beginning but I never it was to the extent the video talks about. I also like how you summarized “Things Fall Apart”. You made it clear and easy to understand without dumbing it down. Overall a really great presentation in my opinion. Good job!
Your post was very insightful and does an excellent job of explaining what is happening in this week’s work. I thought it was really interesting how you compared this European conquest of colonialism and etc. to the United States who is just as easy to blame for what they have done. Very insightful video too and a great job all around!!
Thank you for bringing up such a great presentation that gives us the backgroud of the story Things Fall Apart. I didn’t have much idea about history and colonialism. I know that the first groups of people in the United States are from Europe, and people in the United States are from different parts of the world. It’s good to learn more about colonialism from your presentation. I appreciate that!