优秀欧洲文学赏析“Discourse on Colonialism” by Aimé Césai

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“Discourse on Colonialism” by Aimé Césair

The French Colonial Empire (1534-1980) had lived for centuries and only proliferated greatly over time. In similar fashion as its European neighbors, it had taken up its own trade on slavery and colonization. In similar fashion, too, it had committed countless racial atrocities. As an African living in the heart of France, Aimé Césaire sought to make a profound response on the intentions and justifications of the French Colonial Empire on its discrimination and slavery of blacks. He wrote the “Discourse on Colonialism,” an essay that tackles the machinations of the Empire, turning it on its head in many regards, from political justifications to its apparent “destiny” as liberators of the uncivilized. “Discourse” was first published in 1955 by Editions Presence Africaine, in the heat of slavery at the height of postwar anti-colonial literature.

One of Césaire’s primary key points in the “Discourse” is his elucidation of what “colonization” and “civilization” mean. The French Colonial Empire justifies its own actions of colonizing other nations and cities as a means of eliminating barbarism. Anything that is not within the paradigm of the Empire, anything that is without their reach or supervision, is considered “barbaric” and “uncivilized.” Césaire attacks this point by inferring that “civilization” for the French means themselves. The profound, wealthy history and culture of civilizations outside the French – including even those that precede it – are discounted because they are not French.

Thus, the Empire seeks within itself a “destiny” to liberate the uncivilized. The French, and other constituents of the “white man,” envisaged their mission of bringing up those who are not “as advanced as they are.” What comes to mind here – and which Césaire mentioned accordingly – is Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden”: the white man is destined to save the people of color, for they are inherently inferior whereas the white man is superior in every way. The French has its own take, even, of that burden, by justifying this apparent racial hierarchy. Blacks, Indians, yellow people, and other slaves live on a “dependency complex” that compels them to rely on something superior to them, for without that element they are aimless in their lives. Any religious beliefs that they have, were appropriated to put the white man at the highest spiritual level. Even geography had been seriously corrupted in the white man’s favor: tropical races – the Blacks and other slaves – do not have the biological and physiological features which provide them with benefits as the nontropical races, the collective white man does. Any and all discoveries and innovations of the non-white man are discounted as they are only footnotes to the white man’s own advancements; this, even though there were many advancements by the non-white man prior to the white man’s conquest for colonization.

The elimination of barbarism was the desired goal, yet Césaire – and this is his boldest, most striking claim–opposed this mission by pointing out one fatal flaw of the whole project: the whole methodology of colonization is inherently destructive, both to the colonized and the colonizers themselves . To “colonize” is to gain control and to maintain that control. This, the colonizers do by eliminating any and all that the colonized may have or use against them that may stand in the way of colonization. There is no more efficient method for the colonizers to achieve that goal than by violent subjugation. Yet in so doing, they treat the colonized like animals; they themselves become animals. They reduce the colonized, once civilized, to their barbaric state–the very same state that they swore to eliminate; they themselves become barbaric. Ultimately, this reduces everyone to barbarism. For Césaire, colonization is not what propagates civilization. It is the conduit of its destruction.

  • […] colonial enterprise is to the modern world what Roman imperialism was to the ancient world: the prelude to Disaster and the forerunner of Catastrophe. […] The truth is that this policy cannot but bring about the ruin of Europe itself, and that Europe, if it is not careful, will perish from the void it has created around itself.
  • The avid reader of the “Discourse” may find a type of humor in Césaire’s work that is a great deal mix of sarcasm and exaggeration. It is a recurring theme throughout the work–and an apt one at that. One of Césaire’s main goals is to expose the sensationalism behind the Empire’s actions and the underlying beliefs that they propagated. Just as the Empire used sensationalism as a weapon, so too does Césaire use it, as a means of harassment at best. Césaire’s facetious tone in much of his discussion is less that of an angry activist, more of a subversive genius that truly aims to turn the dominant system on its head. This, coupled with his unrelenting tenacity and eloquence in voiding the schematic of the Empire, signifies his dominance in both substance and form in his essay.

    The “Discourse on Colonialism” is a significant work in Negritude literature and in anti-slavery literature as a whole. Armed to the teeth is it, not in mere conjectures or sarcasm for its on sake, but in founded inferences and rebuttals to apologists of the Empire, of which Césaire addressed many. If one cannot fully appreciate this essay due to its relentlessness and harshness in tone, it should be appreciated for its depth and cohesiveness of its argumentation. By itself, “Discourse” is an essay that is highly appreciable as a prime example of how an essay should be written. But in order to fully appreciate it, the reader must do so in respect to the tenacity and zeal of Césaire to turn the Empire on its head, for the sake of not only the colonized but also of the colonizers; for the whole of human civilization is at stake.

    Ultimately, “Discourse” empowers not only those who were, and still are, discriminated by racism and instills them with a tenacious awareness of the power structures that perpetuate it. When it was first published, it inspired and fueled African slaves who faced fatal discrimination at the hands of slave-owners. Years later, when it later translated to English, African Americans used Césaire’s work in their own fight against racism in the West. This demonstrates the power of words and intellect to move toward a collective ideal for a better world.

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