Making Sense of Colonial Ideology and its Legacies

Module Description

Colonization might have been a thing of the past. But for many of us who grew up in formerly colonized regions—e.g. India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore, Hong Kong, parts of China—the impact of European colonization may to different extents still be very much alive. Different people experience the legacy of colonial rule in different ways, though. While some may find reasons to be celebratory, others are less comfortable.

Indeed, the rule of Britain, France and the Netherlands in the 18th-20th centuries have left behind a conflicting legacy in different parts of Asia. On the one hand, they eradicated—even if only partially—the cultural traditions as well as socio-economic infrastructure of their colonies. On the other, they established political, economic, social and cultural institutions that former colonies have to different degrees benefitted from till this day. In this module, we will examine how this conflicting legacy came about, so that we will be more analytically equipped in making sense of it.

The module outcomes are as follows. By the end of the semester, students should be able to explain:

  • the major economic reasons why European empires expanded to East and South Asia in the 18-19th centuries, and some of the long-term impact on former colonies
  • how racial classification and division came about and impacted racial relations in ex-colonies like Singapore
  • how language education served as a cultural apparatus to civilize colonial subjects and stabilize colonial rule in East and South Asia in the 18-19th centuries
  • the relation between meritocracy and multiracialism in post-colonial Singapore
  • what has been the role of heterosexual and gender norms in colonial and post-colonial Singapore
  • how contemporary philosophers, cultural theorists and linguists counter theories about cultural imperialism

The term “ideology” in this syllabus will be used in the most traditional sense, denoting a system of ideas and beliefs which forms the basis of an economic or political system or theory.

Schedule

Section I Colonialism as Economic Globalization

 

Week 1 Class 1 Introduction

Week 1 Class 2 Classical Marxian Accounts of Colonial Expansion

  • Hobson, “Imperialism,” pp.14-20
  • Luxemberg, “Capitalism Depends on the Non-Capitalist World,” pp.29-36
  • Lenin, “Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism,” pp.36-43

Week 2 Class 1 “Extractive Institutions”

  • Acemoğlu & Robinson, “Reversing Development,” pp.245-73.

Week 2 Class 2 Responses to Extractive View

  • Booth, ‘Night watchman, extractive, or developmental states,”pp. 241-66 

Week 3 Class 1 CNY holiday; class cancelled

Week 3 Class 2 Similarities between Colonialism and Economic Globalization

  • Even the Rain (film)

Section II Ideological Justification: Orientalism & Racial Classification

Week 4 Class 1 Racial Classification and Orientalism

  • Said, Orientalism, pp.1-9.
  • Linné, A General System of Nature (Vol. 1), p.9 only.

Week 4 Class 2 Archival materials: writings about the region

  • Marsden, The History of Sumatra (pages TBD)
  • Wallace, Malay Archipelago (pages TBD)

Week 5 Class 1 Racial Classification and Hierarchy

  • Kant, “On the Different Human Races,” 3-22

    Week 5 Class 2 The social constructionist account of race

    • Omi & Winant, “The Theory of Racial Formation,” 105-36

        Week 6 Class 1 Formation of Racial Division in Colonial Malaya

        • Hirschman, “The Making of Race in Colonial Malaya,” pp.333-339, 341-357 only

        Week 6 Class 2 Racial relation in Colonial India

        • A Passage to India (film and relevant passages from original novel)

        Recess

        Section III Language Policy as Ideological State Apparatus

        Week 7 Class 1 Ideological State Apparatuses and Linguistic imperialism

        • Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State,” pp.50-57
        • Phillipson, Linguistic Imperialism, pp.1-6

        Week 7 Class 2 Language Education in Colonial India and Malaya

        • Pennycook, “Anglicism, Orientalism and Colonial Language Policy,” pp.67-94

        Week 8 Class 1 Language Education in Colonial Malaya

        • Pennycook, “English and Colonialism: Origins of a Discourse,” pp.80-106 only

        Week 8 Class 2 The English Language, Globalization and the New Woman

        • English Vinglish (film)

        Week 9 Class 1 English and the Chinese Dialects in Singapore

        • I not stupid (film) 

        Week 9 Class 2 Responses to Phillipson: World Englishes 

        • Jenkins, J. “Teaching Pronunciation for English as a Lingua Franca: A Sociopolitical Perspective,” pp.141-54

          Section IV Multiculturalism and Meritocracy

          Week 10 Class 1 Contemporary Critique: multiculturalism

          • Chua, “Multiculturalism in Singapore: an instrument of social control,” 58-77

          Week 10 Class 2 Contemporary Critique: meritocracy and inequality

          • Moore, “Multiracialism and Meritocracy: Singapore's Approach to Race and Inequality,” 339-360

            Section V Colonial Rule, Heteronormativity and Gendered Expectations

            Week 11 Class 1 Colonial rule and heteronormativity

            • Oswin, “Queer time in global city Singapore: Neoliberal futures and the ‘freedom to love,’” pp.412-433

            Week 11 Class 2 Gendered Expectations

            • Wong, “Mergers & Accusations,” pp.17-105 (play)

            Concluding Section Cultural Belongings and Cosmopolitanism

            Week 12 Class 1 Culture and cultural Identity

            • Ang & Stratton, “Singapore’s Way of Multiculturalism,” pp.65-89

            Week 12 Class 2 Meaning of Home

            • Sa’at’s “Homesick,” pp.157-235 (play)

            Week 13 Class 1  one-on-one meetings

            Week 13 Class 2  one-on-one meetings

            Assessment

            1. Research Paper (30%): Students have to write one argumentative paper (of about 1500 words) on one or one set of sources they have read in Sections I and II.  Some additional research is required. This assignment will be due in Week 7.
            2. Reading Responses (10%): for one of the class sessions, students need to come up with a reading response (no more than 400 words). 
            3. Letter (10%): students will write a letter (of about 1000 words) in which they explain the concepts and issues covered in Sections III and IV. Students are welcome to either write a personal letter to themselves, a letter to the editor in newspapers or journal, a letter to an institution or a policy body, or a letter to the general public. This assignment will be due in Week 14.
            4. Facilitation of Class Discussion (25%): Students will work in small groups and facilitate a class discussion on a film or a play. They will meet with the instructor in advance to plan the class. 
            5. Blog Post (10%): students will find an artefact (outside of the syllabus) which can be interpreted as attempts in negotiating and making sense of colonial legacy, and write a commentary (of about 1000 words) about it.   Examples you can write on include, but are not limited to: an advertisement, a mural, a sculpture, a TV programme, a comic strip, a video, an exhibit, a building, an online discussion or a newspaper article, a policy and a movement. 
            6. Class Participation (15%): Assessed by classroom contributions.
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