Decolonization.pdf

Foundations Of Indian Heritage Dr Rajeswara Rao Asst. Professor, Amr̥tadarśanam (ICSS) Decolonization Removing Colonization is Decolonization What is the definition of Colonisation is a practice Colonialism? that most countries in the...

Foundations Of Indian Heritage Dr Rajeswara Rao Asst. Professor, Amr̥tadarśanam (ICSS) Decolonization Removing Colonization is Decolonization What is the definition of Colonisation is a practice Colonialism? that most countries in the world have experienced at some point in time.  Colonialism: The Exceptions like practice or policy of control by one Ethiopia, Nepal, people or power over other people or Japan, Afghanistan, areas, often by Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, establishing colonies and generally with Liberia, Tonga, the aim of economic Iran, China, dominance. and Thailand Colonialism  In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their religion, language, economics, and other cultural practices. Belgium United Kingdom, France,  The foreign administrators rule the territory in pursuit of their Germany, Italy interests, seeking to benefit from Japan, Netherlands, the colonised region’s people and resources. Denmark  The major Colonizers are: Portugal, Spain The Colonisers https://www.britannica.com/biographies/history/colonialism  The coloniser does not only distort the history of the colonised, slaughter their knowledge systems and empty their heads of self-confidence and their hearts of the emotional stamina to live without colonial domination. But he goes ahead to manufacture accusations and labels against the colonised. Decolonization  Decolonization is about “cultural, psychological, and economic freedom for Indigenous people with the goal of achieving Indigenous sovereignty — the right and ability of Indigenous people to practice self- determination over their land, cultures, and political and economic systems. Many countries got Decolonized by two ways Negotiated Independence – India, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Niger, Ghana, Armed resistance – Algeria, Vietnam, Egypt etc. 75 countries got decolonized between 1940 – 1965 Decolonization studies explain colonization in Detail 1. Political and Economic Control, with Violence 2. Transfer of population of the coloniser 3. Contempt for the Native 4. Process of Culture Change 5. Distortion of History 6. Distortion of Knowledge Systems 7. Being Categorised (as primitive, underdeveloped etc.) This exactly is at the core of the definition of colonialism.Colonisation is the hijacking of our collective identity, bymanipulating our past, history, culture, and philosophy, to servethe purposes of the coloniser. Decolonising, hence, is the processof coming back to our true identity Even though many of the colonies are politically independent and under self-rule. But they are yet to free themselves from mental subjugation. Many colonised societies are yet to identify the effect of colonial rule on their psyche and rather focus on resolving the issues in their societies based on the colonial descriptions. This phenomenon is termed as Colonial Consciousness.  British in INDIA  There were only 31,000 Britons in India in 1805 (of whom 22,000 were in the army and 2,000 in civil government).  As of 1890, 6,000 British officials ruled 250 million Indians, with some 70,000 European soldiers and a larger number of Indians in uniform.  In 1911, there were 164,000 Britons living in India (of whom 66,000 were in the army and police and just 4,000 in civil government).  By 1931, this had gone up to just 168,000 (including 60,000 in the army and police and still only 4,000 in civil government) to run a country approaching 300 million people. What we Lost?  Wealth  Educational System  Self Identity  Samskrit Language connectivity  Customs  IKS (Indian Knowledge system) The Lost Educational System  Before British period, India had a very well spread System of Education and that system was targeted by the British. Each village had a school and the children of all HOW communities attended these schools. BRITISHERS By the time the students came out of the schools they DESTROYED had acquired valuable skills and had proper insight into THE INDIAN their own culture. EDUCATION By 1820, the British had destroyed the financial resources that supported the Indian educational system. SYSTEM? In England, only the children of the nobles were given education and only after the British came to India, they adopted the system for educating all the children.  In his speech to British Parliament in 1835, Thomas Macaulay said: “We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect”. Thomas Babington Macaulay 1. Language 2. Dress 3. Aesthetics - Ornaments, art, etc. 4. Architecture 5. Food (medicine, ecosystem) 6. Divine and the Sacred Inability to Access Indian Knowledge Systems How do you define the following words? Maya, Atma, Ishwara, Asura, Shakti, or Manas Padam Namaste Dharma  1. A sceptical attitude towards Indian cultural creations and institutions. Unless approved or recognised by the west, nothing in India is good enough.  2. A worshipping attitude towards western cultural creations and institutions, justified in the name of “progress”. Unless deemed inadequate in a western evaluation, nothing from the west is to be rejected.  3. An intellectual tendency to compare India of the past with the west of the present, rather than a contemporaneous comparison.  4. A general tendency to judge the west based on its ideals as it were from time to time, as against the tendency to judge Indian society and culture based only on what prevails at the present, without regard to the millenia of foreign invasions.  5. A tendency to assess and judge Indian culture, society, and spirituality using Western intellectual frameworks, while disregarding the insights and tools of analysis offered by Indian philosophical traditions, which are often dismissed as unscientific or irrelevant when applied to Western culture.