Imperialism And Colonialism In The Invention Of Africa

The structure of the world we live in today is barely 400 years old. Massive changes have occurred in these past centuries to shape the ‘modern world’. One of the most important factors in the formation of the modern world is colonialism. This form of cultural, social and physical domination developed with the expansion of Europe and then the United States of America. Colonialism which Said defines as the “implanting of settlements on distant territory” was not a novel concept to the western powers of the past few centuries. The concept dates back maybe thousands of years. However, in the more modern perspective it carries on a more imposing imperialist element.
Edward Said argues that imperialism means the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory and also suggests that colonialism is typically a consequence of imperialism. In the Invention of Africa, Mudimbe suggests that there are three complementary hypotheses about colonial organization. The domination of physical space, the reformation of natives’ minds, and the integration of local economic histories into the Western perspective. The complementary projects constitute …show more content…
Ngugi wa Thiongo’s novel The River Between serves as a critique of British colonization of the Kenyan people. The text chronicles the gradual encroachment of colonial structures into the countryside and the struggles that develop as a result. These struggles are highlighted in the text as the Kenyan peoples’ resistance to the colonialist goals of apparent civilization, Christianization and commercialization. Hence, this paper will use the more personal story of the two sisters in the novel to depict how this resistance towards the colonialist goals shaped life in the Kenyan