For my blog post, I'll be touching base around the imperialist mentality that Heart of Darkness explores in this quote:
"America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration. At that time there were many blank spaces on the O ne earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map (but they all look that) I would put my finger on it and say, 'When I grow up I will go there.'…But there was one yet - the biggest, the most blank, so to speak - that I had a hankering after."
I recall back in World History in high school when we played a game during the imperialism unit. The purpose and goal for the game was to role play as the imperialist nation and we would have to give presentations and take quizzes on the nation's history. Our teacher would score us on how well we did every week. The top group would have the chance to pick first where on the map we'd want to colonize. This game was incredibly competitive as the history teachers hyped up which class/small group would formulate the best colonized map of the world. The irony was we were given the British Empire aka "the empire where the sun never sets".Fueling my competitive mentality, my group got to pick first three weeks in a row, choosing:
Egypt - Crucial point on the way to India, especially with the construction of the canal
Australia - Crucial point in the South Pacific with plenty of Aboriginal/native labor supply
Philippines - Crucial point in the Pacific whether it is to reach Japan or Indochina for trade; also had a lot of raw goods
With these countries taken over first (we also later grabbed Panama), the history teachers deemed my small group the winners. One thing I took away was how competitive other people during the game and the colonial mentality we all had to have in order to win the game. I thought like an imperialist, figuring out which parts of the world made sense to take over. I was adamant doing my research regarding which potential colonies would be strategic points of war and which ones could economically be exploited support my main country. Looking back, it is crazy how the teachers had us play this game, how deep I was into it, and how we don't really learn the history of Africa and the other colonized nations.Now with my current research, there actually is an old Windows 95 strategy game called Imperialism. This game has many features for an outdated game having diplomacy options and stocking up raw materials. Once again, a history of exploitation, rape, and violence has made into simulation where is a declared "winner". It goes to show how profits can be made off this history.
Bringing it back to Heart of Darkness, some maybe dispute that the imperialists were playing a game trying to split up Africa. One thing is for sure that the people of these colonized nations did not reap the supposed rewards they were producing. The estranged labor on top of the exploitation and violence proves that the space is anything but blank, but more stained with the blood of the violence that occurs during the scramble.
Here is the link for Imperialism game (it's free but I had to download the Windows converter on the Windows site to run it): http://www.freegameempire.com/games/Imperialism
Thank you for reading!
It seems to me that the desire to competitively conquer more than one's competitors is an intrinsically human phenomenon. It is disturbing, but not surprising, that "The Scramble for Africa" occurred so quickly and with such fervor. The theory behind this game your teacher organized reminds me of Lenin's perspective on imperialism, that major world powers strive for... "the conquest of territory, not so much directly for themselves, as to weaken the adversary and undermine his hegemony," just as children in school might strive to be the victors in a game to receive bragging rights on the playground.
ReplyDeleteHey Tem,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this interesting find about the Imperialism video game and about your desire to conquer the "blank spaces" of the world in your history class too. I think that in your teacher having your class be the imperialists is an interesting stance on learning about imperialism. Did you ever learn about the negative effects of imperialism during that lesson or did you just focus on conquering new territories? I'm just curious since I think that it would be a bit one sided if your class only focused on taking the perspective of the conquerors but now that I think about it, we do that all the time. For example, we are taking this class specifically designed to critique imperialist actions in a colonial and post colonial literature/world whereas if we had not signed up for the class, I'm sure I would not have recalled all of the horrors that happened to the indigenous peoples of Africa, Asian and other countries in which colonial powers conquered because the atrocities that happen against people from the "third world". Thanks for your insightful posting!
Your title reminded me of Taylor Swift - Blank Space, which is essentially about becoming this ideal person in order to capture your victims and explode them for all they have. The way that imperialist leaders fool their prey into believing that assimilation is something they want and not forced to do, when simultaneously robbing them of the materials their country produced, as well as, making them slaves.
ReplyDeleteTem, I loved your article. I think it reminds us that our culture and education system sometimes perpetuates our views of imperialism as a fair conquest of blank space. I'm sure there were two sides to what this activity taught you, but I think your provide great commentary and analysis on the reality of imperialism :)
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for the insightful comments!
ReplyDeleteRaquela, yes! This definitely reminds of the Lenin's ideals towards imperialism. There was a lot of competition and bragging rights towards the end, especially when we got to eat freshly-baked cookies (our imperialist prize) in front of them.
Meagan, I recall us learning about Ethiopia as the only nation that was able to resist the Italian conquest but there was never a perspective given from the colonized side. It was formed so that Italy failed at colonization rather than the Ethiopia resisted colonization.
Diana, that was what I was going for and I'm glad you elaborated in your comment my sentiments! Well done.
Steven, I'm only realizing the other side of the activity through this class. As a high school imperialist power conquering for victory...my group wanted all the territory by all means...*evil laughter