Q Lots of questions to choose from, but remember you only need to respond to two. For this discussion, I recommend watching the following video which provides an excellent introduction to what colonial rule actually looked like "on the ground" as well as some of its bitter legacies. I will say that some of the images in the film, a segment from a documentary on conflict in current-day Uganda, are of a disturbing nature, so this is recommended, but not required. It does, however, give an excellent introduction to the topic in a very concise manner. Here is the clip:Colonialism in 10 Minutes: The Scramble For Africa (Links to an external site.) 1) On the sixth slide of the Imperialism ppts, you see a quote from infamous imperialist (and founder of the Rhodes Scholarship) Cecil Rhodes. According to him, why is it necessary for Britain to pursue imperialism? What does he fear will happen if it does not? 2) The seventh slide provides you with an ad for Pear’s Soap, published in a middle-class magazine. Look at the imagery and text and try to absorb the details. What argument is the ad making? 3) Why is the ad invoking imperialist imagery? What is to be gained by linking the company’s soap to imperialism? 4) Slides 10-17 provide you with excerpts from “An ABC for Baby Patriots”, which in addition to teaching young Britons the alphabet, also provides lessons on what it means to be British in the context of imperialism. What are some of the lessons children are meant to take away from this book? 5) Three of the justifications used to aid and abet imperialism were pseudo-sciences (like phrenology), social Darwinism, and the civilizing mission (see slides 20-25). How do Social Darwinism and the Civilizing Mission (aka “The White Man’s Burden” as the poem by Rudyard Kipling is entitled) differ in their outlook? 6) Given the atrocities committed by all imperialist powers, do the benign intentions behind the Civilizing Mission mitigate some of those actions? Does this represent a moral “grey area”? (Note: there is not a right or wrong answer, but it is very important to ask these questions.) 7) Do you see examples of these justifications being used today in terms of U.S. relations with other countries? 8) Watch the clip linked above on imperialism. How does the “divide and conquer” strategy work? What harmful legacies has this created for the post-colonial era? The next set of questions is based on the two assigned primary sources dealing with imperialism. The first, "The White Man's Burden", is a poem by Rudyard Kipling (if that name sounds familiar, he wrote The Jungle Book, which was an actual book before it was turned into a gajillion different movie adaptations). The second document, "French Local Rule", comes from the French Imperial Administration archives, and offers a very revealing glimpse of how European states were able to control the colonies they began carving out in the late 19th century. 9) Why did Kipling write this poem? (Do some research online) 10) How does Kipling describe the indigenous (native) populations? What characteristics does he assign to them? 11) What is the meaning of the second stanza (a stanza is a group lines in a poem, separated from the following group of lines by a space)? 12) Why does Kipling write “Watch sloth and heathen Folly/Bring all your hopes to naught”? 13) Looking a the fourth stanza, do you get the sense that engaging in the “White Man’s Burden” will be glamorous? Why or why not? 14) How will the indigenous (native) populations respond to the efforts of colonizers? 15) What is the potential cost of imperialism? 16) Will colonizers be praised for their deeds when they return to their countries? 17) Do you think at the end of the day that Kipling supports or opposes the “Civilizing Mission”? What advice is he giving to the United States? 18) Looking at the document “French Local Rule”, how are the French intervening in a local conflict between two rival African ethnic groups? What is their proposed solution? 19) Why are the French doing this? What do they stand to gain? 20) What lasting consequences might result from such an action? 21) How did the British strategy for controlling India prior to the Indian Rebellion (aka Sepoy Mutiny) resemble the "divide and conquer" strategy used in Africa? 22) The Indian Rebellion was the result of long-simmering tensions between the British and Indians, but undoubtedly the catalyst was the decision by the British to drill Indian recruits in the use of new rifle cartridges sealed with animal fat. What does this decision say about what the British knew about the various religious communities in India, or the respect shown to them? 23) In the document "On Hindu-Muslim Unity", from which religious community do you think the author is from, and why? Who is his intended audience? 24) According to the author, why should Hindus and Muslims, two religious communities that have often clashed, work together against the British? 25) What are the British allegedly trying to do in India? Why? 26) Do you think there is any merit to the accusation that the British are including the dust from ground animal bones in the flour used to bake the bread provided to prisoners? If not, why do you think this allegation was widely believed? Why do you think the author includes it here? 27) How would you describe the tone of Lin Zexu’s letter to Queen Victoria? Is there anything noteworthy about how he addresses her or describes the British? 28) What does this tone suggest about the way the Chinese saw themselves relative to Western powers? 29) Tone aside, do you think that Zexu’s request is a legitimate one? 30) Why was achieving meaningful reform so difficult for the Chinese during this period? 31) Imagine you were a traditional Chinese peasant at the time of the Taipei Rebellion. Why might you have joined the side of the rebels? Why might you have chosen to side with the government? 32) Comparing India to China, did they face similar problems, or are the two cases dissimilar? 33) What was the Ottoman Empire referred to as the “Sick Man of Europe”? What were some of the problems plaguing it? 34) Why did nationalism present a particular problem for the Ottoman Empire? 35) How would you compare the Ottoman Empire’s attempts at reform to that of China’s? 36) Why did the Ulama and the Jannissary Corps feel threatened by the reforms of Selim III? 37) In what ways was Sultan Abd-al Hamid II a traditionalist, and in what ways was he more of a modernist? 38) Looking at the Tanzimat, this document ushers in a host of reforms. One of them deals with taxes. Why was establishing a modern taxation bureaucracy important for the Ottoman Empire? 39) Do any aspects of this reform sound familiar to you? What ideas or documents may have served as an inspiration or model? 40) What is the biggest reform made by the Tanzimat decree? Why was this such an important change? (Hint: It has to do with the way the Empire conceived of itself)