Jamaica Kincaid is very famously known for her novel A Small Place. She is an Antiguan-American essayist and novelist who was born in St. John’s Antigua. Kincaid has powerful feelings about neocolonialism, something Antigua and many other Caribbean countries are currently facing. She thinks it is pitiful that Antiguans are learning to admire the people that enslaved them in the past. Kincaid also believed that corruption is directly related to colonization which has lasting effects. Her use of postcolonial theories in the novel reveals the problems with the current state of the country. Even though Antigua has its independence, they are struggling with neocolonialism, adoring American culture.
There have been many purposes in ruling Antigua over the past 460 years since Sir Christopher Codrington came to the island with hopes of large-scale sugar cultivation. Even though they aren’t under British control anymore, many Antiguans are excited when royal people visit the country, showing their admiration for Brittin. Kincaid can’t understand how so many Antiguans think so positivly about England, even though they did benefit in some ways, such as better education. After their independence, the country has seen a lot of corruption. Government ministers do a lot of under-the-table stuff, such as stealing public funds and shady broker deals. The government can complete many of these fraudulent actions because of the passive population who is not putting their foot down. This idea can be attributed to colonialism and Brittan being able to boss them around. Just like when the British ruled, the ministers claim they are helping the public when they actually care about their personal economic wealth.
Neocolonialism is very bad for the development of countries. We are seeing that all over Africa, as they continue to fall behind other countries. It causes environmental, humanitarian, and ecological damage to colonized populations. A result of these causes is sporadic development and perpetual underdevelopment. Kincaid does not hold back his emotions regarding colonialism, as he indicates there needs to be way less colonizing moving forward.
Work Cited:
Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York, N.Y: Penguin, 1988.
Antigua and Barbuda / Antigua’s History and Culture, http://www.antigua-barbuda.org/aghis01.htm.
“Antigua Guatemala Today.” Casa Antigua, https://www.hotelcasa-antigua.com/antigua-guatemala/.
“Neocolonialism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/neocolonialism.
Thank you writing this context presentation and I was happy to be introduced to neocolonialism and how it can be harmful to underdeveloped countries. It’s unfortunate that people see foreign powers coming in for their own wealth as a good thing because they want nothing to do with the people. Maybe if they found a way to convey that to the people, they could finally take control of their government and further develop their country. This is a controversial topic that I would enjoy reading more about in the future!
I really appreciated you context presentation! I feel like when I am reading new texts it is hard for me to grasp the severity of them because I am too focused on the material I am reading. After reading your presentation I feel like I have a much better grasp on the state of Antigua and how it is affected by neocolonialism. I hadn’t fully understood the issue surrounding neocolonialism, and the detrimental affects it has on underdeveloped countries.
This presentation was really informative. For starters, I never knew much about Antigua’s history or current state of affairs. I think it is clear however that it is wrong for their citizens to adore the British or other foreigners who colonized their country in the past. I also see how corruption plays into this, because it causes Antiguan citizens to dislike their government. This leaves them no option but to admire other nations who are free and fair. And a lot of the times these are the nations that colonized others in the past.
Thank you for your in depth information on neocolonialism and how it affects the Antiguans, It seems like they are already being thrown under the bus with their own government. Maybe this is why they don’t feel like they have a voice? The colonialism that has created this marginalized outlook on their road ahead has definitely deflated the populations stand.
This is a great context presentation. You were very detailed while remaining understandable and succinct. I think that the topic of neocolonialism is so important, and what you said really highlighted and affirmed that for me. The historical tendency to commodify a culture and ignore native perspectives is not as historical as we would like to think it– this is a modern problem. Again, great job!
I really like that you tied in the way that corruption and other faulty government practices that we consider to be the fault of the “Third World” back to neocolonial origins. It offers a broad understanding for this week’s readings about the way that theories of people like Kincaid can be applied all around the world all the way throughout the history of colonialism. I think it is very interesting that you cited the example of British royalty visiting nations like Antigua and the way that the public sentiment proves a great misconception about power structures.
I appreciate this context presentation, corruption and neocolonialism are important topics that need to be discussed. The presentation gave me a good perspective and great amounts of information.
Hey!
Thank you for your post! I found it very interesting that they would grow excited when royal officials come to visit them. I believe that some of them view them as younger Americans view royals, amazing and interesting people! Though, I would also like to state that neocolonialism is horrible for the growth of countries. It slows down their progress and hinders their understanding of how to grow as a country.
This is really great post. It shows me a comprehensive background and the thinking of the author. The description of neocolonialism made by Kincaid makes sense to me. The way those people treat royals has not changed during the time, which proves their think was still affected deeply by colonialism. Your post resumptively introduced author’s idea in the novel.
Thank you for providing this great information about neocolonialism and its effect on Antiguans. This helps me to understand the text as I am reading since I do not have much knowledge about Antigua history and what neocolonialism has done to that country.
I really like your post. The information you provided really will help me understand this week’s content. I completely agree with the last paragraph you posted, especially ‘Neocolonialism is very bad for the development of countries.’ and ‘It causes environmental, humanitarian, and ecological damage to colonized populations.’
You did a wonderful job on this context presentation! This was well-researched. I am heavily undereducated about neocolonialism, and this definitely gave a clear definition of it.
Thank you for providing the information about neocolonialism. We usually learned the colonialism in our school, but may not realize the neocolonialism in the world now. And actually neocolonialism made many people and countries still poor and cannot develop now. And I have never knew something about Antiguans, this post told me some background of it.
This was a great post that provided me with lots more information about neocolonialism and its effects! I loved how you stated that neocolonialism causes environmental, humanitarian, and ecological damage to colonized populations.
Hello, I found your context to be very interesting. I did not have any prior knowledge on the topic before this module. However, after reading your essay I feel more informed. I also liked how you used pictures to help us visualize it better. I learned a lot about neocolonialism and its effect on Antiguans.
Thanks for the presentation. Neocolonialism is a topic that I think needs to be talked about more. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on teaching about the history of nations that had to deal with colonial rule over them and how that was bad in hindsight. However, I feel like the conversation often ends with that. Not as much conversation and research is done about countries and how they are still experiencing colonial rule through governments that were set up by colonial rulers when they “freed” those countries.
I really enjoyed reading this context presentation because it’s very informative about neocolonialism and how it’s still impacting many countries today. As an African myself I’ve also seen how this can negatively affect the people especially when leaders don’t work for the best interest of the people. This is also my first time hearing about how Antigua also faces this same issues and it’s sad to hear that different parts of the world also experience this.
Hi, thank you for your presentation. I learned so much as I really was not knowledgeable about what neocolonialism was. It is so unfortunate that we are still seeing how damaging this practice is and how it still negatively affects countries today. The situation with Antigua was especially interesting, particularly how they still regarded the English as royals and respected them.
Wonderful presentation, I learned a lot from this. This context helps me to understand the severity of the situation with Antigua.
Nice summary of the Small place, you are really good at summarizing and expressing your own idea. People know colonialism is terrible for the development of the countries, and you have stated how and why colonialism hurt the development of the countries. Overall, this is a perfect presentation of the content.
Thank you for sharing about this topic. I was unaware of how deep the issue of neocolonialism is. Colonialism is definitely more harmful for individual cultures than it is for the empire. It stifles the creativity of the colonized territories, and attempts them to fit in with the masses. This is something that needs to be stopped in the future.
Thank you for providing such insightful information on Antigua!! Before this week I hadn’t even heard of it, but i enjoyed learning much more about it thanks to this information and the readings. I think it is very interesting how the citizens there are still very excited when they are visited by British people, especially royalty.
Thank you for the context presentation! Through your article, I feel I have a better understanding of the current state of Antigua and how it is affected by neocolonialism. I know nothing about Antigua, and this article tells me something about its background.
Thank you so much for sharing more information about neoclassicism. It’s interesting to learn why some countries fall behind than others in development because of neoclassicism
Great presentation on neocolonialism. I believe that it is an obsession that not only Antigua but many colonized countries are facing. Other than been unique and standing by their grounds, they are admiring the western cultures, the same that colonized them and are trying to belike them including their lifestyle and appreciate and admire when they tour their countries.