Albert Memmi, Earthscan� 12.95
First published in 1957, The Colonizer and the Colonized was was bor born n out out of Albe Albert rt Me Memm mmii�s direct experiences in North Africa. At the time Algeria was in flames and the French Empire was disint disintegra egrating ting.. Circulated Circulated in French French colonia coloniall prisons, prisons, Memmi Memmi�s work offers offers a psychological rather than an economic study of the effects of colonialism. In his 1965 preface, Memmi affirms that the �economic aspect of colonisation is fund fundam amen enta tall�, yet yet thi thiss is is hardly touched on. Instead he provides a portrait of the coloniser and the colonised, the relationships and dynamics between these two groups, and the psychological impact upon the protagonists. This is a world in which the coloniser enjoys privilege while the colonised live in subhuman conditions and are viewed as a mass. They do not exist as individuals but become objects. They are nothing. nothing. As Cecil Rhodes Rhodes once said, said, �I prefer prefer land to niggers. niggers.� Not surprisin surprisingly, gly, racism became central to the system and not an incidental detail. Memmi poetically describes how the stranglehold of colonisation leads to the loss of the coloni colonised sed�s histor history, y, memo memory ry and and langu language age.. The colo colonis nised ed�s native native tongue tongue become becomess rusted rusted and is neither written nor read. All institutions of power use the language of the coloniser, and so the coloni colonised sed�s institut institutions ions become become dead dead or petrifie petrified. d. All progres progress, s, including including technological advances, becomes associated with the coloniser. As a result the movement against colonisation makes the colonised assert their differences to the coloniser. This results in a return to religion, traditional institutions and culture. There is not much to disagree with here, and it is in the chapters relating to the colonised that Memmi is strongest. It is in the earlier sections of the book relating to the coloniser that Memmi Memmi�s analysis analysis is weak. weak. This is is already already indicated indicated via via the new introduct introduction ion by Nadine Nadine Gordimer. It is highly unusual to have an introduction that is so critical. In these chapters Memmi is scathing of those Europeans who live in the colonies but who do not agree with it. Ultimately he believes that they will either return to Europe or become colonisers themselves. themselves. There is no middle middle ground: ground: �All Europeans Europeans in the colonies are de facto colonis colonisers. ers.� While it it is true that that European Europeanss in the colonie coloniess had privileg privilege, e, this does does not equate to all of them supporting and upholding the system. In fact there was a minority in many colonial outposts which did not accept the rule of the mother country and supported the colonised colonised in their efforts to liberate liberate themselves. themselves. But Memmi Memmi goes further: �Europeans of Europe are potentially colonisers... By their whole weight, intentionally or not, they contribute contribute to the the perpet perpetuatio uation n of colonial colonial oppre oppressio ssion. n.� This is that age-old argument that all of those living in the west, from the industrialist to the worker, benefit from and support the oppression of those in poorer nations. This is simply wrong. Later Memmi contradicts his previous statements, and argues that European nationals who do not originate originate from the colonising colonising country country are �neither neither colonisers colonisers nor colonised colonised�. In In fact he asserts asserts that that there is a sliding sliding scale of of acceptabili acceptability ty dependi depending ng on a white white person person�s country of origin and the way in which they interact with the colonised. For example, Italians do not mainta maintain in a great distan distance ce between between themsel themselves ves and the the colonised colonised..� I doubt �Italians the Ethiopian Ethiopianss would would agree! agree! As Gordimer Gordimer states, states, this �didn�t apply apply in in any any of the African African countries I know. In these, if you were white you were welcomed by the colonial government and colonisers to shore up the white population.� This underli underlines nes a significa significant nt problem problem with with Memmi Memmi�s analysis. analysis. Quite Quite rightly rightly he uses uses his own own experiences in North Africa, but he tries to extrapolate these to the colonial situation across the world. At times this works, but more often his generalisations are crude. For example he
states that �the colonialist never seriously promoted the religious conversion of the colonised�. Really? Why then are the churches of London packed with the descendants of the colonised? Christianity was rammed down their throats - hence the largest number of Christian followers are in South America and Africa, not Europe. There are numerous other examples where Memmi �s analysis does not stack up with historical events. This is disappointing, and as a result he sheds too little light on the heart of darkness, which was the brutal, colonial empires of Europe
