The Beginning of Change
What would life be like without western dominance exerted around the world? Throughout history, western influence has been present, most commonly seen in the Americas. Generations of indigenous people have been brainwashed into thinking they are different. Colonialism has fueled the western push for a world with western views. Merriam-Webster’s definition of Colonialism is, Colonialism is control by one power over a dependent area or people1. Colonialism was not conceived one day when a nation decided to invade another, there was a source of the dominance that they exert over others. The source of their views is epistemic racism, Ramón Grosfoguel said that epistemic racism is “inferiority of “non-Western” people as …show more content…
In another writing Red Medicine by Patrisia Gonzales, she discussed early colonizers and how they saw indigenous people. In one section of her book she said “Early colonizers believed that Indians did not have souls, and hence these constructions were informed by the ideology of the devil.”(Gonzales, 76). These accusations by early colonizers is one example of how epistemic racism fuels colonization, with this mindset, colonizers will have the idea that they are better than indigenous people, and in turn try to assert dominance over them. To further protect their society, some European women were killed for being witches just based off of the fact that they may be able to control men. Europeans went to the extreme when colonizing, they persuaded indigenous people to follow them, their “medical knowledge and communication with the natural world became supernatural and demonic.”(Gonzales, 78). Poka Laenui discussed the first main phase of colonization for both the indigenous people and colonizers which is “Denial and Withdrawal”(Laenui). During this phase, “the colonizers denied the very existence of a culture. . . and they continue to denigrate or to make fun of or deny their culture.”(Laenui). What Laenui discusses throughout the steps is how colonizers eventually strip all native peoples of …show more content…
One goal of western ideas, is to cloud what people are told, and what form of history they hear. In order for people to make progress in regaining their identity they need to first demystify colonialism. Colonialism has many layers of complication, but once broken down it is a very simple conquest of the world with fictional support. The European conquest is nothing more than an invasion of other lands with authority given to them by the Christian version of God. There is only one goal to colonialism, and that is to infect an area of land with your ideology, and ruin thousands of lives for your financial, and cultural gain. The aspects that build Colonialism are simplistic in every way, epistemic racism is a condescending way of treating other nationalities, based off of the assumption that they are a lesser being, a sinner in the eyes of your God, someone who needs to be changed to deserve to live. While epistemic privilege is a simple way of seeing yourself as a man of the Lord, that God gave you the rights to take lands, rights, and life away from indigenous people. Which brings me to my next key point, religion. wherever there is Christianity or western religion, there is suffering, and assertion of dominance. Dating back to the Crusades, Europe started to invade distant lands trying to prove that their religion is superior. Most conflicts
What would life be like without western dominance exerted around the world? Throughout history, western influence has been present, most commonly seen in the Americas. Generations of indigenous people have been brainwashed into thinking they are different. Colonialism has fueled the western push for a world with western views. Merriam-Webster’s definition of Colonialism is, Colonialism is control by one power over a dependent area or people1. Colonialism was not conceived one day when a nation decided to invade another, there was a source of the dominance that they exert over others. The source of their views is epistemic racism, Ramón Grosfoguel said that epistemic racism is “inferiority of “non-Western” people as …show more content…
In another writing Red Medicine by Patrisia Gonzales, she discussed early colonizers and how they saw indigenous people. In one section of her book she said “Early colonizers believed that Indians did not have souls, and hence these constructions were informed by the ideology of the devil.”(Gonzales, 76). These accusations by early colonizers is one example of how epistemic racism fuels colonization, with this mindset, colonizers will have the idea that they are better than indigenous people, and in turn try to assert dominance over them. To further protect their society, some European women were killed for being witches just based off of the fact that they may be able to control men. Europeans went to the extreme when colonizing, they persuaded indigenous people to follow them, their “medical knowledge and communication with the natural world became supernatural and demonic.”(Gonzales, 78). Poka Laenui discussed the first main phase of colonization for both the indigenous people and colonizers which is “Denial and Withdrawal”(Laenui). During this phase, “the colonizers denied the very existence of a culture. . . and they continue to denigrate or to make fun of or deny their culture.”(Laenui). What Laenui discusses throughout the steps is how colonizers eventually strip all native peoples of …show more content…
One goal of western ideas, is to cloud what people are told, and what form of history they hear. In order for people to make progress in regaining their identity they need to first demystify colonialism. Colonialism has many layers of complication, but once broken down it is a very simple conquest of the world with fictional support. The European conquest is nothing more than an invasion of other lands with authority given to them by the Christian version of God. There is only one goal to colonialism, and that is to infect an area of land with your ideology, and ruin thousands of lives for your financial, and cultural gain. The aspects that build Colonialism are simplistic in every way, epistemic racism is a condescending way of treating other nationalities, based off of the assumption that they are a lesser being, a sinner in the eyes of your God, someone who needs to be changed to deserve to live. While epistemic privilege is a simple way of seeing yourself as a man of the Lord, that God gave you the rights to take lands, rights, and life away from indigenous people. Which brings me to my next key point, religion. wherever there is Christianity or western religion, there is suffering, and assertion of dominance. Dating back to the Crusades, Europe started to invade distant lands trying to prove that their religion is superior. Most conflicts