Modern Colonial Modernity Colonialism and modernity, two sides of the same coin. For five centuries, colonialism and modernity have profoundly formed the cultures of the world that have been classified under European standards. The rise of European dominance since the 16th century has a deep attachment with modernity that helped shaping this rise. Consequently the construction of modernity and its enlargement during the colonial periods has impacted the rapid industrialization, urbanization, and capitalist expansion that characterize the colonized countries today. Thus both colonialism and modernity fundamentally have changed not only the lives of the colonized people, but their cultures. They have been exploited under European profits. Even
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Taking for example education, it is obvious in this contemporary time to witness the impact of modern colonialism in educational institutions. Algeria for example; the official language in their higher education is French, that is because of the French colonization (1830–1962). Even though the colonization has ended, but the impact of it is clearly seen, and believed as the higher standard of the best living structure. Anibal Quijano says in his article Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality “These inter-subjective construction, product of Eurocentered colonial domination were even assumed to be ‘objective, ‘scientific’, categories then of a historical significance” (Quijano, page 22) Westerns played it smart, the more you shape the education of the people you are colonizing the more you are benefiting. Westerns set their standards, and made people worship it, thus in the eyes of the colonized it is not colonization, but more advanced rationality, or even gaps in advanced sciences. Thus, without this type of this modern understanding that is imposed on the colonized people, coloniality would never …show more content…
In the modern time, celebrity culture is shaping people’s lives. One would assume that celebrity culture is not as effective as it is assumed to be one of the ways to colonize people. But as stated previously, colonization has a lot of forms and ways to gain power. Celebrity culture is apparently a strong way of colonization. Quijano says “The colonizers also imposed a mystified image of their own patterns of producing knowledge and meaning… then European culture was made seductive; it gave access to power” (Quijano, page 23) You colonize people by force, but you want to create the perfect image of yourself in order to justify your acts, nothing can help but creating celebrity culture. When you create an image for the colonized about how beautiful, organized, and civilized you are you well get their support. Because when one creates an image of perfection, other people would do the best they can to reach to this perfection. So you first distract them by whatever image you create, they start to believe it, then they forget their fundamental colonial problems. Modern institutions like media play a major role in how people see perfection, and since modern media is controlled by Westerns (because the powerful), media is exploited to suit westerns
Taking for example education, it is obvious in this contemporary time to witness the impact of modern colonialism in educational institutions. Algeria for example; the official language in their higher education is French, that is because of the French colonization (1830–1962). Even though the colonization has ended, but the impact of it is clearly seen, and believed as the higher standard of the best living structure. Anibal Quijano says in his article Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality “These inter-subjective construction, product of Eurocentered colonial domination were even assumed to be ‘objective, ‘scientific’, categories then of a historical significance” (Quijano, page 22) Westerns played it smart, the more you shape the education of the people you are colonizing the more you are benefiting. Westerns set their standards, and made people worship it, thus in the eyes of the colonized it is not colonization, but more advanced rationality, or even gaps in advanced sciences. Thus, without this type of this modern understanding that is imposed on the colonized people, coloniality would never …show more content…
In the modern time, celebrity culture is shaping people’s lives. One would assume that celebrity culture is not as effective as it is assumed to be one of the ways to colonize people. But as stated previously, colonization has a lot of forms and ways to gain power. Celebrity culture is apparently a strong way of colonization. Quijano says “The colonizers also imposed a mystified image of their own patterns of producing knowledge and meaning… then European culture was made seductive; it gave access to power” (Quijano, page 23) You colonize people by force, but you want to create the perfect image of yourself in order to justify your acts, nothing can help but creating celebrity culture. When you create an image for the colonized about how beautiful, organized, and civilized you are you well get their support. Because when one creates an image of perfection, other people would do the best they can to reach to this perfection. So you first distract them by whatever image you create, they start to believe it, then they forget their fundamental colonial problems. Modern institutions like media play a major role in how people see perfection, and since modern media is controlled by Westerns (because the powerful), media is exploited to suit westerns