Cultural Heritage II

Liberal Reforms and the New Imperialism

Liberal Democratic Reforms, 1850-1920

Expanded Suffrage:

Women’s Suffrage Movement:

Public Education:

Public Libraries and Museums:

Free Press:

Unions:

Radical Socialists (and Moderate Fabians):

Anarchists (e.g., Emma Goldman):

Jewish Zionism and Emigration:

The New Imperialism

When, where, why, and how?

Economics:

Politics:

Geography:

Religion:

Philosophy:

Science/Technology:

Medicine:

Literature/Art (Consider the opposite examples of Kipling and Conrad):

American Imperialism:

English Imperialism:

French Imperialism:

The Dutch, Germans, Russians, Italians, and Belgians:

Racial Aspects of Colonial Occupation:

Divide and Rule in British India:

Use of Cultural Imperialism:

“The White Man’s Burden” (see Kipling’s poem):

Genocide/Concentration Camps/Atrocities (esp. notable is King Leopold’s Belgian Congo—see Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness):

Resistance to Imperialism (Nietzsche vs. Kant—the critical weakness/strength in Western Civilization; or, how imperialism is hamstrung by liberal democratic values)

Violent Resistance (e.g., Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 in India):

Passive Resistance (20^th-century: Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King)

Which is more effective under what circumstances?

Role of the media in both (heroism or hypocrisy)?

End of Colonial Era and Emergence of “Developing World” (Did colonialism ever really end, or did it change forms?)

Discussion?: Is the United States an imperial power? In what sense: military, economic, cultural? How is this role complicated by the conflict between Nietzschian and Kantian values? What is the role of the media in the negotiation of these tensions?