Introduction
Today we are going to study the effects of European colonization on Africa, specifically in South Africa.
Schedule:
1. Languages in Africa
2. Apartheid PowerPoint
3. Case Study in groups
Task
You will be reading a couple of case studies and answering questions on them. You may work as group to read the case study and then answer the questions. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper with all of your names on it. Once you're done, turn in your paper to Mr. Karn.
Here are the questions you need to answer for each case study:
1. What was the African country that was affected?
2. Who was the European power that established control?
3. Did any particular group face oppression? If so, who was the group of people and how were they oppressed?
4. What was the cultural affect on the native people according to the case study?
Process
Case Study #1:
French Rule and North African Response
The French conquest of Algeria proved to be a prelude to the “scramble for Africa” by European powers at the end of the 19th century. To protect L’Algérie Française [French Algeria], France eventually invaded Tunisia in 1881 and Morocco in 1912, forcibly incorporating these states into the global French Empire. However, the forms that French imperialism assumed in Tunisia and Morocco differed from Algeria, which was made an administrative part of France. In contrast, Morocco and Tunisia were Protectorates, which meant that the appearance of limited sovereignty was maintained and local ruling families remained on the throne. Nevertheless, France controlled finances; public works; education; armed forces and security; and agriculture. In addition, the legal system and courts were under colonial supervision. Both countries experienced substantial in-migration by Europeans who took land and property away from the Tunisians and Moroccans. Nevertheless, the Sunni Muslim Arab majority and Jewish communities were allowed to retain religious courts with jurisdiction over matters relating to civil status or family affairs, such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. The Berber Muslims were a different matter, since French colonial authorities directly interfered with their systems of traditional law, which often had an impact upon Berber women.
The most important change that France introduced was a system of modern education, although severe restrictions were placed upon educational opportunities for colonized children. Even as late as the inter-war period, it was quite rare for children from modest or poor Muslim or Jewish families to receive any formal instruction. Nevertheless, the nationalist movements in all three countries arose among young men—and to a lesser extent, young women—who had attended French colonial schools. With modern secular education came demands from graduates of colonial schools for legal, political, and social rights.
In Algeria, colonial officials and the European settlers manipulated the stereotype of the sensuous Arab or Muslim woman to oppose granting even limited political representation to French-educated Algerian men. The argument was that: “Algerian women are confined to harems and depraved, thus their men can not exercise the right to vote intelligently.” So politics, the manipulation of women for imperial ends, and negative visual representations of native women worked hand in hand.
North African responses to foreign control varied immensely. Militant anti-colonial resistance represented only one of several collective solutions to the disruptions of military occupation and dispossession. All of the European empires in the Middle East and North Africa pursued virtually identical policies, choosing consciously to collaborate generally with the most retrograde indigenous political or social groups to divide and rule, and block modernity—and eventually, democracy. The legacy of these policies is still very much in evidence today. Movements for women’s emancipation arose in those North African or Middle Eastern countries that were the least disrupted by imperialism and violence. In other words, the more that male honor and masculinity were defined by waging warfare and by a cult of violence and militarism, the more precarious women’s rights were and would remain—the classic example of this being present-day Algeria.
Case Study #2:
A STRUGGLE FROM THE GROUND UP: THE ANTI-APARTHEID MOVEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
Vision and Motivation
Since the Dutch began to colonize South Africa in the 17th century, they pushed aside the native population to consolidate power in the hands of whites, whom they believed to be superior. But in 1948, the victory of the Nationalist Party in all-white elections opened an even more oppressive chapter in the history of South Africa. As a party leader declared, "Our motto is to maintain white supremacy for all time to come…by force if necessary." [1]
The new apartheid ("apartness" in Afrikaans) laws would maintain white supremacy by forcing all South Africans to identify as European, Indian, colored (mixed-race), or African, and segregating these “races” from each other as much as possible.[2] Non-whites were forcibly relocated to isolated, poverty-stricken areas, made to obtain permission to travel, blocked from voting and participation in government, not allowed to marry whites, and were largely barred from owning land.[3]
Non-whites in South Africa had resisted discrimination for decades, but they were unable to bring about real change, and in incidents such as the 1960 Sharpeville massacre and the 1976 Soweto uprising, the state cracked down harshly on protestors, arresting leaders like Nelson Mandela and killing others like Steve Biko.
In the late 1970s, grassroots civic associations sprang up in black townships to begin a new approach to activism that focused not on political action but on community development.[4] Popo Molefe declared that the movement needed to work on local issues in order to give people "the confidence that through their united mass action, they can intervene and change their lives, on no matter how small a scale."[5]
Activists began mobilizing local communities around issues like rent increases, fees for basic services like water, and forced relocations. By putting pressure on authorities through demonstrations, refusal to pay rent, picketing, and boycotts, activists made small, tangible gains.[6] However, they knew that they had to maintain a larger vision: "We must see the increasing rents, bus fares and electricity charges as being only the smoke. Our work must be geared to extinguishing the fire which causes the smoke – the system of apartheid."[7]
Case Study #3:
The Maji Maji Rebellion, German East Africa
Captured Maji Maji rebels
The Maji Maji rebellion of 1905-1907 was an explosion of African hatred of colonial rule. It was one of the most organised and explicit rebellions in colonial history, and took place very early in the colonial period, largely as a consequence of African hatred for their land alienation and the ways in which plantation workers treated them. However, it was aimed at the colonial government and its subsidiaries, rather than plantation owners, in a break from the conventions of rebellion during this period.
Maji Maji’s origins were largely spiritual, beginning among the Matubi people, who had experienced colonial rule in much the same way as others in German East Africa, but hated it especially strongly given that they had resisted control from Arabs and other Bantu peoples for a considerable number of years.
The rebellion was incited by Prophet Kinjikitile Ngwale, who claimed to be possessed by Hongo, a snake-spirit of their native religion. This afforded him the power to make real change. He demanded that the people think about their situation and whether they wished to continue paying taxes to the Europeans: the response was almost universally “no”. He then distributed “maji”, which translates as “water” – a medicine of the Gods which would allegedly protect the people from European bullets: sources suggest that they believed the bullets would simply bounce off them. Through this, Ngwale created a secret mass movement to which most of the Matubi were committed by mid-1905 when rebellion broke out.
The rebellion began on July 30, 1905 and by August 4, the Germans had captured and hanged Ngwale. However, ideas of “maji” were spread to other tribes by “spiritual ambassadors” who also took the name hongo (uncapitalised). These ideas were then adapted to different belief systems in order to make them culturally acceptable. The belief in the power of maji is made clear a statement by the Chief of the Ngarambe people to his soldiers: “this is not war. We shall not die. We shall only kill.” However the meaning of maji was adapted to different cultures, the fundamental principles of the rebellion and of its use for protection remained firm.
The Germans steadily began to realise the extent of the movement they were facing, and and reinforcements were arrived in October 1905. However, the German Commander Wagenheim (could his name be more German?!) realised that military force would not crush the Maji Maji rebels because of the strength of their convictions and their absolute willingness to keep fighting:
“Only hunger and want can bring about final submission. Military actions alone will be more or less a drop in the ocean.”
The Germans therefore began seizing food and destroying crops as their major tactic from the end of 1905 and in to 1906. By early 1906, the rank and file were willing to submit to their hunger and actively avoided the Germans rather than fighting. But, the hardcore of hongo and the military leaders, for whom surrender meant death were unwilling to let go so readily, and could only be captured through extensive patrolling and pressure to speak placed on the civilian population.
The rebellion increasingly took the form of guerilla warfare, and as such there are few sources examining the motivations and thoughts of the rebels: guerilla warfare is hard enough to find sources on before the illiteracy and linguistic diversity of the population is taken in to account.
Gradually, however, hunger and exhaustion compelled people to surrender. This happened regionally from late October 1905, with the final ‘real’ rebel leader being captured on January 16, 1907 - although there are some reports suggesting that some rebels remained in the forests and continued to evade the Germans until well in to 1908.
Total death-tolls are unknown, but estimates place Tanganyikan deaths at approximately 30% of the population; between 250,000 and 300,000 people. European deaths were considerably less, because of their mechanised warfare and tactical approach: 15 European settlers died; 316 German troops and 73 askaris (Africans working for the Europeans) were also killed. In certain tribes, entire generations were wiped out completely, or the chiefly line was so badly affected as to be no longer existent.
The rebellion taught the indigenous populations to fear the power and strength of German colonisation, and helped to prevent further rebellion. While it by no means meant that the people accepted colonialism, it taught them caution.
Evaluation
Turn in your answers to Mr. Karn for grading.
Conclusion
Many African nations struggled to deal with the oppression they faced from European powers that colonized their land in the 1880's. Some nations still are struggling. When a foreign nation takes control of your resources and freedom, it takes a very long time to recover.