Psychological Aspects of Colonization
Colonization had an effect to the lives of those who were colonized as they felt as inferior and they become demoralized. Despite their effort of technological support and even their ability to even created hierarchies.
All these had no effect in the improvement of their psychology but instead many of the colonies lagged behind in terms of development. The author describes various happenings which had an effect to the colony. Their drive to become the masters over the others which was driven by the world view which had believes in the superiority of various humans over the non human and even the subhuman. This had even effect over differences between masculine and feminine, child and grown up, traditional over modern and even child over the adults. The scientific research also had a large effect on reducing major civilization of the colonies over the modern world. The human greed over the colonization led to corrupt technologies, genocides, ethnocide and eco-disaster which all had an effect to the psychological wellbeing of the colonies.
The authors tries to argue that despite the majority suffering, few suffered more as the theory of progress gave confidence to the few who looked at the universalism which the critiques were offered and instead took an advantage of the situation for their own benefit. The above problems had consequences to the modern world as it keeps on haunting them making many countries to suffer physiological blow which has made them to look for technological superiority, leading to spontaneous research on science as country tried to outdo each other. This made the world a hierarchy’s world defined by various modern secular and non secular, modern and even traditional cultures and a feel of possessions of some countries which consider themselves as developed over the others. At first the colonizers went to the colonies as sympathizers who wanted to help the so called underdeveloped countries. They included the hardworking missionaries, modernists and even believers in science whose main mission was to liberate the underdeveloped countries from extreme poverty only to turn as the bandits. The author described their vices such as killing robbing and even maiming the civilians of the colonies as they forcefully wanted to satisfy their interest.
The author emphasized that this was not just body colonization but also mind colonization which had an effect on the colonized societies who opted to alter their cultural priorities. This colonization therefore made them dominate their homeland and even outside which turned the colonization from geographical colonization to the psychological colonization of the people. Such colonization has made the non west to have psychological hatred over the west which has made them to try to turn west into a manageable vector in the traditional world views. This was firstly to construct a west which would ensure that it makes sense to all especially the non wests through making thm realize the non west’s sufferings and even painful experiences which has been infringed in them. This psychological haunt has made some of them to be hard hearted and instead of just accepting the consequences of colonization which happened long time ago they become more determined to look for the evidence for prosecuting their foes.
Nandy is also convinced that the colonized are not gullible or hopeless victim of colonization but a person who is determined to fight for his survival. The work further analyzes further various physiological cultures which supported or resisted colonialism. He also analyses the implications of the post colonial consciousness of the people which helps in understand the effect of colonization to the people. This was done through focusing on India which was a British colony. He uses the essay to discuss on responses of India to colonization as they looked forward towards searching the identity within the western and colonized worlds after the colonization era which was defined by exchange of various ideas and collision of different cultures.
The Indians therefore broke their tradition of the western culture to protect their vision of a better and alternative future rather than one that they were previously subjected to by the British. There was also the misuse of various concepts that were borrowed from modern physiology and even sociology. The main aim of the misuse was to ensure that the Indians experiences fitted in the existing physiological and social theories. This was a move towards the cultural realism or even a more upgraded cross cultural psychology. The Britons unconsciously helped the Indians in revitalizing their mind towards cultural and even economical growth. The colonization did this through enabling the Indians to create their own alternative language of disclose and believe that we can also make ours.
Their continuity in the personality and even culture saw them through various political and even ethnical challenges. This is a clear indication that colonialism had a psychological effect on the minds of the Indians who tried to live in harmony in order to defeat a common enemy i.e. the Britons. They therefore reinterpreted the tradition to create a new tradition of togetherness.
His essay also focused on the differences between the living conditions of the pure high status people and the hybrid of the low brow on the other side. This helped in identifying different psychological effect on these two social classes that lived in India. According to him all these had the same effect to all people irrespective of their social classes i.e. they were parts of the larger repertoire in India who were used in battle minds in post colonial India. Through various learning from Indian scholars such as psychiatrists who had learned on various dimensions of Indian mind, Nandy was convinced that this knowledge was part of the Indian image.
&nbssp; In the second essay he argues that colonialism is not just the need to have more and more recognition as a result of attaining many colonies but a colonial consciousness that include different wishes some of which include making the wishes to gain political and economic profits while at the same time attaining other elements too. Even after long time colonization of India the colonizers ideologies still remained in the minds of Indians. These included cultural baggage and code that ensured that they alter the original cultural priorities in an effort of uniting both cultures to try to come up with one strong culture that would ensure that they forge ahead in terms of development. This explains why colonialism never ends even when there is formal freedom that is put down in paper. It is deeply inserted in both the minds of the citizen and even the leaders making both of these have long living scars that make them lame for a long period of time.
He emphasized on the so called small things that are assumed by many only to have psychological effects on their lives such as secondary psychological gains and losses from various sufferings that is infringed by the colonialism. Such have an effect as it creates a culture where the ruled try to always fight their rulers as a result of the psychological limits set by the colonizers.. The oppressions of the Indians by the Britons also saw a period of hatred which made many of the Indians to have a one mind objective of outdoing the Britons as a way of revenging their anger on them. Morris on the other hand in his writing of the heavens command describes how the universalism gave way to a phase that was characterized by tolerance of the Indian cultures as there was different fears of another mutiny. This therefore showed that there was no change in the relationship between the colonized people.
This indicates the psychological effect that made the people become very sensitive in any issue that could lead them to a second colonization. Cultural integration with the Britons came to be glued in the minds of Indians. This resulted to the years that the Britons and Indians interacted during the time of colonization. Colonization also brought about crippled morals to the Indians. This had an effect on the ruling of the country as it was impossible for the rulers to rule a country where majority of the citizen’s thought that they were morally handicapped. They therefore had a mandate of building bulwarks against the guilt that was haunting them and have to have the cultural identity.
They had to accept the major ideology of system of becoming either as players or counter players this was the only way those they could ensure that they install the self esteem in such unavoidable injustice. This was a challenge in redeeming their masculinity over the colonizers by becoming the counter players.
