Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Empire of Good Intentions

Can imperialism and good intentions co-exist? This was my first question of the film, and I have trouble believing it to be true. The humble narrator explains that Britain planned to teach its colonies self-reliance and then leave, yet the film showed little evidence of this goal. Instead we saw the classic sign of imperialism gone wrong: marginalization of Indian/Irish culture. The British seemed to view their adventures into India as a great experiment, and every British leader simply wanted to make a name for himself or get his share of the Indian riches. I don't doubt that many in the empire truly wanted to help these third world countries build themselves up with the help of Britain's industries and wealth, but these were not the people who controlled the government and military policies.

As this class progresses and our knowledge of this material expands, I expect to find great hostility toward the old British empire from authors of former British colonies. I expect the famines of India and Ireland to remain in these writer's minds, and I believe this is evidence that Britain's good intentions left no good feelings.

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