The Colonizer and the Colonized
Pithy. Candid. A manifesto for post-colonial thinking. These are just a few of the words that come to mind after reading this book. Albert Memmi wrote The Colonizer and the Colonized during a time when North African liberation movements were gaining traction. Both Jewish and Arab, he describes himself “as a sort of half-breed of colonization, understanding everyone because I belonged completely to know one.”
This book is distinctive because of its attempts at cutting through the material and moral planes characterizing the colonizer and colonized personality. The colonizer is inundated with the circumstances of his situation that he is left with two options: vehemently oppose colonization and receive colonial status devoid of economic motives or accept all benefits of the colonial relationship and undergo a colonialist transformation.
Thus, all colonizers begin with the same problem, usurping land and the supply of economic and social privileges at the native’s expense. Their responses are what color the colonizer personality.
The low becoming of a colonialist is seen through him disavowing his conscience, rewriting history, and adopting a scornful tone towards the colonized. But what of the colonizer who refuses to be a part of the problem? He is no saving grace, for as long as he stays, he is politically ineffective.
“If this newly arrived colonizer cannot rise above this intolerable moralism which prevents him from living, if he believes in it so fervently, then let him begin by going away.”
A colonial who refuses is not completely in line with the colonized. Although he recognizes the injustice of colonialism, theocratic sentiments within a group may push him to loose his footing. His shaky views make him politically ineffective.
On the other hand, the colonized ascends through a series of stages. He lives a complex internal reality where he both admires and resents the colonizer. The first step is an acknowledgement of self, albeit “as something negative”. This becomes an essential part of the revolutionary struggle. These traits are then borne into perfectly positive traits. The final stage is when he ceases to define himself in terms of the colonizer and becomes a free man, away from the rigid polarization of the colonial relationship.
Memmi’s theory is instrumental to post-colonial thought. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in gleaning information on how unequal power dynamics work and witnessing the fragility (and eventual demise) of the colonial foundation.
Rating: 4/5