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Major Proposal, December 1, 2004

Note: I have not made any changes to the draft I presented in 2004, so some of my ideas (specifically about my senior project and web portfolio) have changed.

Description

My major will study repercussions of the historical interactions between indigenous people and colonizing powers.  I will focus on India and Senegal through topical courses and study abroad programs.  Because I am studying colonial relationships, I am interested in learning from both the perspective of the colonizer and the colonized.  I will strive to learn the impact on the colonized through historical examples to better understand contemporary post-colonial societies.  This major will explore the population divides within indigenous communities that colonial powers found and reinforced; how those divisions worked to the advantage of the colonizer, and what the implications have been since colonization in those nations.  In order to grasp an extensive understanding of the components involved in colonialism and its post-colonial implications, this major will also deal with racism, cultural adaptation, social inequality, nationalism, industrialization, and globalization.  The major will incorporate courses from Sociology/Anthropology, History, French, and English departments, as well as two semester-length study-abroad experiences in Senegal and India.

Rationale

In the global perspective that St Olaf strives to instill in its students, we must not forget the colonized nations whose labor built the Western Empires.  In today’s global market, we hear about the winners and the losers, the industrialized and the developing nations.  There is no question that some regions of the world have developed more successfully than others, creating an increasingly volatile global scene.  In order to understand this inequality, it is imperative to understand the building blocks of our present societies. As Colonialism has played an enormous role in the development of both the wealthy and impoverished nations, it involves understanding the truths that have created this world we live in. Studying the interactions between colonizing and colonized peoples enforces a consciousness of justice that St Olaf hopes to instill in its students.

Within many of the standard disciplines in the humanities, one finds traces of colonial studies, yet no program enables students to delve into the specific matters of colonization.  The Eurocentric curriculum still prevalent in our educational system provides no paved path in this field of study.  Though the disciplines at St Olaf offer opportunities to explore different realities of peoples throughout the world, modern Western ideas compose their core curricula.

As a college student I have the incredible opportunities to read, write, talk, and travel in an attempt to heighten my consciousness of the different realities composing our world.  At St Olaf there are a multitude of professors who have spent years contemplating the questions I raise in my major, teaching classes that integrate the separate ideas into grander themes. As I leave the St Olaf and American bubble in the study abroad experiences in Senegal and India, the societal dimension of post-colonial societies introduces the complexity that only the personal experience of living in another culture can evoke.

Embarking on a liberal arts education implies a questioning of our reality in order to unmask truths for our world.  The liberal arts strive to strip the blinders covering our eyes from more global truths.  Rather than accepting the Western-influenced histories of our world which have led us to our present Eurocentric ideas of a world centered on the accomplishments of Europe and the US, this major allows a voice for the narratives of the “other.”  Yet the major will not exclude the implications of empire on the colonizers themselves.

Borrowing from English, French, History, and Sociology/Anthropology creates a broad approach to discovering the ambiguities of the Colonial relationship. Rather than taking one approach to describing the histories of how our reality emerged from colonial rule, the combination of the humanities lend to a conversation to emerge between the two spheres.  Gaining perspectives from both the colonizers and the colonized by studying literature in the French and English departments enables a more honest and reliable approach to studying the experience of colonialism.  Studying the historical contexts of both the peoples through the history department ensures that one story is not forgotten.  I do not want to simply gain rhetoric to support the indigenous peoples without learning about the entire situation. Approaching colonialism from a single narrative silences the many other voices that underline the complexity of the situation and diminishes the respect they all deserve. The sociology/anthropology department offers the tools and cultural setting to combine all of these aspects in significant terms.  The melding of these departments, and the mixture of classes within each, promises a clearer lens through which to study the interaction between the colonizers and colonized.

Studying the complexities of Colonialism will instill in me aspirations to constantly question the reality I live in, distinguishing questions I will continue to address at the root of contemporary global inequality.  Through the academic and abroad experiences composing this major, I undoubtedly will gain a global perspective that St Olaf strives to develop in each of its students as my education becomes closely entwined with colonial experiences.  The questions and tools that I learn now will influence the life of service that I will embark on upon departure of St Olaf.  The knowledge I gain in my studies only incites more questions and a greater thirst for learning.  As I continue my exploration of colonial empires and their implications on indigenous people and societies throughout the world, I will develop a conceptual foundation for my investment in working towards social justice.

Background Statement

When I first decided to create a major I intended to study racism, while also craving a global experience. Growing up in the inner-city of one of the most segregated cities of the US stirred in me emotions of inequality and injustice.  However, I could not articulate those feelings because I did not fully comprehend the existence of the social structures at the base of the inequality. Colonialism provides a context of understanding the destruction and reconstruction of identities that serve to divide and unite communities.

On my first lengthy abroad experience to Senegal, I left with ideas of understanding colonialism from the perspective of the exploited.  In one of my first conversations with an uncle in my host family I squeaked out a question in broken French about his views on the Senegal that emerged from French colonization.  He shattered my expectations, responding that he appreciated Senegal’s involvement in the world community that resulted from French colonialism, working as a guide for French tourists.  The rest of my time in Senegal I realized the injustice I imposed on the colonized by reducing them to victims of the colonial systems.  It becomes so easy to blame an empire for all the injustices of the world, though accomplishing nothing. Understanding the processes that expanded empires as well as the resistance to colonial rule demands the respect for the multiple faces in colonialism vital for demanding justice.

Courses

Case studies introducing specific regions of the world impacted by colonial rule, both as the colonizer and the colonized (click on the links to see coursework):

*Soc/An 236 The Arab World

*History 277 History of South Africa

*History 226 Modern France

*French 271 Maghreb

*Independent Study of Colonial India

*CIEE Senegal

*ACM India

Introductions to theoretical analysis, studying the interactions between the colonizers and colonized:

*Soc/An 241 Global Interdependence

Tools for implementing research methods in order to find answers to questions surrounding the social impact of colonialism:

*Soc/An 371 Quantitative Research Methods

*Soc/An 373 Ethnographic Research Methods

*ACM Research Project in India

Click here to read my rationale for including these courses in my major.

Senior Project

Studying history without asking the how and why questions, does not allow a student to apply the lessons of yesterday to our modern context. After focusing on the emotions and identities formed through colonial rule, in my senior project I want to delve into the British system of governance and social reconstruction in India. In my senior project I will continue my research project from India in conversation with my experience in Senegal, comparing British and French Colonialism.

Web Portfolio

I draw a new perspective on the colonial situation and its present implications through the work in each of the classes composing this major. When I synthesize the individual ideas that compose each paper, they all come together to form a whole. In this web portfolio I will post the papers that shape my curiosity of colonialism, displaying the path leading to questions that seize my conscious.

àNote at the end of senior year: In my course list, I categorized one group as the classes that would help me find the answers to the impact of colonialism. I was in dreamland if I thought that I could find the answers to anything in less than 4 years of thinking about Colonialism. I did learn how to ask questions that can help me along the way. December 1, 2004

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