Context Presentation：A Small Place
A small place re-examined the harm done by the colonists to the colonized area through the perspective of the author, Jamaica Kincaid. Antigua was originally a small island, but it was named Antigua after it was discovered by Columbus. Later, the streets of Antigua were named after some criminals in the UK. Columbus was an explorer who discovered the continent and an Eluor who was a colonist. He was the first writer of Antigua colonialism. In fact, colonists always think that the people and societies in the colonized areas are unable to manage social resources and obtain a better quality of life, so they can colonize these areas in a justified manner. “Every place they have been to has been transformed into a place in the UK, and everyone they met has been transformed into a place in Britain, but no place can truly become a place in Britain, no place that does not look like an Englishman. Of people will become British, so you can imagine the destruction of the local people and the land by these changes.”
The damage done to Antigua by the British colonists was lasting damage. Although the colonists believed that they brought order and wealth to Antigua, for the locals, it was like Jamaica Kincaid said, “Even if I live on a tree like a monkey, it is better than after I met you. It is better to encounter these humiliation and become a slave to the colony. ’
From an economic perspective, because Antigua’s local natural resources are very limited, Antigua has to choose to develop tourism and service industries to drive economic development. Antigua has indeed become a favorite holiday destination for many Westerners. But for the locals, the scenery and rapid development of the tourism industry have not brought them a richer life and a higher quality of life. In order to cater to the development of the service industry, local residents have to participate in tourism-related service industries, and they cannot go to the beach to enjoy life. Although the tourism industry has brought benefits to the country, the country has not spent the money on investments related to local residents. At the same time, in fact, a large number of the bosses of the tourism industry are not local residents of Antigua but some foreign investors. Therefore, the scenery of the tourism industry is more like a punishment for the local residents of Antigua rather than happiness.
At the same time, colonialism in the past and the current tourism industry led to the lack of local culture in Antigua. This is also the greatest harm that colonialism does to the colonized areas. Because the colonists imported some ideas and culture into the colonized area with a higher identity, the local residents would be caught in a dilemma, which eventually led to the lack of local culture and the fault of cultural inheritance. “They did so with little regard for the people living in the newly controlled areas, or for existing geographic or cultural boundaries.”(Marker, 2016)
Although Antigua is already an independent region and country, local residents are still suffering from cultural erosion and suppression brought about by the tourism industry.
The harm of colonialism is long-lasting, while more harm is hidden. First of all, the economic and cultural damages mentioned above may be the beneficiaries of colonization for foreign observers, Antigua, but for the local residents, they continue to suffer from the pain caused by colonialism. . At the same time, because colonialism has rapidly accelerated the development of the entire society in a short period of time, this will cause the use of various local resources to be more unreasonable, and it will also cause the local government or leaders to lack sufficient experience. ”Intervening for selfish interests by overlooking human responsibility doesn’t make a nation more powerful. Although the human species is a single community, divisions have been drawn as provinces, countries and continents. It’s thus imperative and obligatory to openly provide selfless assistance of an unworldly nature looking beyond the contrived boundaries.”(Porrvi, 2019)
For a country and region, true freedom means that it can develop its own country and region’s economy and culture through the desire of its citizens, and it does not need to cater to the needs of other stronger and wealthier countries. At the same time, only when people no longer define themselves as a higher-level identity to demean others or conform to others with a lower-level identity, can people gain true freedom and get rid of the continuous and invisible harm of colonialism.
citation:
Effects of Colonization. (2016, July 5). Beyond Intractability. https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/post-colonial
Modi, P. (2019, March 20). Consequences of Colonialism: How It’s Still Having an Effect Today. Loyola Phoenix. https://loyolaphoenix.com/2019/03/consequences-of-colonialism-how-its-still-having-an-effect-today/
Great post Chang. I like how you examined Colonialism and its effects on developing countries, their people, and their long-term growth. Colonialism in theory sounds good but they way it has been executed through history leaves a lot to be desired to say the least.
I agree with what you said, that true freedom means that the desires of the citizens are reflected in development and culture. Due to the lasting effects of colonialism, this freedom may take a long time to come to Antigua. I think it is also interesting how much of the money generated from tourism does not come back to the citizens and Antigua also houses money from overseas due to low taxes. Despite all of this money flowing through Antigua, its citizens continue to be hurt and not supported by it.
Nice post! I think this was another good example of how colonialism could in some ways be helpful but always turns out to do more harm.
can people gain true freedom and get rid of the continuous and invisible harm of colonialism- this is a great way to end your post, it already has me stirring about my own thoughts and ideas. I think it is important to know what freedom is and how that can look slightly different to people.
This is an incredible post within your last paragraph you said, “For a country and region, true freedom means that it can develop its own country and region’s economy and culture through the desire of its citizens, and it does not need to cater to the needs of other stronger and wealthier countries.”. The way that I think about it be that there are two types of free there’s one of the pain stopping and them having independence but the other freedom would be forgiveness and scars of the individuals so in a way they are not fully free because the pain is still felt and trapped until they find their path to true freedom.
Good post overall. I think it properly displays an example of how a well-intentioned plan could seem helpful to society at first, then proceed to backfire and make things worse in the end. Particularly with colonialism, it was done by individuals that had little regard for maintaining culture and were more fixated on injecting their own cultural ideas causing an identity crisis in the region.
Very interesting! I think we forget the lasting negative impact colonialism still has on societies today. I never thought about how it can destroy culture in coming generations.