Week 2 Journal

Seite 1

Week 2 Journal

This week’s predominant focus was

centered on colonialism and its relationship with how Western powers view

development. Colonialism being defined as “when a dominant nation or power

takes over a country and exploits it for their own gain” (McMichael, 27). This

is distinct from imperialism, which is the policy of having rule over foreign

nations; colonialism infected the secondary countries social, political,

cultural and economic spheres with the divisive ideals of white racial

superiority. These ideas of certain nations having supremacy over others based

on an increased amount of wealth and infrastructure have effected how we

approach international aid and categorize countries as “developed” and

“underdeveloped”. Class discussion caused me to consider the consequences of

the labelling system that has been superimposed on nations; these labels are

strongly based on valuing wealth and Western views of conventional

infrastructure, education and health care. The readings focused on the variety

of theories, strategies and ideologies on development that are presented in

Development Studies. When considering development theories some look at

specifically economic standings of countries, for example the core-periphery

model and Modernization Theory (Potter, 67). Others take a more holistic

approach to considering countries such as the Dependency Theory or bottom-up

development, thusly considering more than measurable economic wealth of a

country (Potter, 69).

I

found these concepts and ideas about development and colonialism to directly relate

to the current state of South Africa, which was a British Colony up until 1931

(Independence from the United Kingdom, map in notes). South Africa is plentiful

in natural resources (known for its gold and diamond mines), this was of course

perfect for British colonizers who were driven by a search for resources and

new materials to take back to the homeland (Holler). British colonization also

had the devastating effects of handicapping local societies from being

self-sufficient by making the colony into single-product economies that created

British commodities, and selling back to the inhabitants products that they

rely on but would previously supply for themselves. This age also ushered in

changes in social dynamics and gender roles, women’s status in society was

lowered because they were forced out of their traditional role in food

production and their customary land-user rights were taken away (McMichael, 29).

This is still quite visible in modern South Africa where spousal abuse rates

and amounts of reported rape and sexual assault of women are drastically high.

This social climate of hyper-masculinity is reflective of the change in

attitude towards females and their worth in society that was imposed on the

country during colonial times. I am anticipating learning more about different

ideas on how “First World” countries such as Canada can still be involved in

bettering countries that have been so negatively effected by colonialism

without having the “white-mans burden” complex.

Works Cited

Holler, Barbra. “Framing the Global: A History of

Development”. Global Development

100.

Queen’s University.Hailsham, 16 September 2014.

Potter, Robert B. "Theories,

Strategies and Ideologies of Development". The Companion

to Development Studies. Ed.

Vandana Desai and Robert B. Potter. 2 ed. London: Hodder Arnold Group, 2008. 67-71. Print.

McMichael, Phillip. “Instituting the Development

Project”. Development and Social Change:

a Global Perspective. ed. SAGE Publications (2012): 26-54. Print.

New Page