Sunday, May 11, 2014

Fanon - Decolonized Values

David expressed in his presentation that the decolonized take on the values of the past colonizers. However, Fanon, in his chapter "On Violence," writes that because the supremacy of these white values were imposed on the colonized with such violence, the decolonized individuals responded to these "rock-solid values" with ridicule and rebelled against them. I'm just wondering how to reconcile this.

This latter point is also interesting, though, in that one will see when examining decolonized nations that they have kept intact the church, though this, too, is a belief system imposed on them by the colonizers.


  1. I think they keep the church or belief system because it elevates the status of many people who where on the bottom of the social triangle. For example in "Things Fall Apart" before colonization there were some Igbo people who were considered garbage. After colonization those people had better treatment in the colonized society. Besides its very hard to get rid of something you've been used to doing.

  2. I believe that there will probably always be residual influence from a past colonizer in the post-colonial country. Colonization can bring positive things into a society such as technology. The colonized can use the technology to revolt and de-colonize themselves. The remained aspects of the previous colonizers will still exist through technology or as you mentioned religion. I agree when David says its hard to get rid of something you've been used to, because often what you've been used to is not negative and can actually contribute to the post-colonial society.

