Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: March 17, 2021 at 9:57:26 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Asia]: Levine on Manjapra, 'Colonialism in Global > Perspective' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Kris Manjapra. Colonialism in Global Perspective. Cambridge > Cambridge University Press, 2020. 290 pp. $24.99 (paper), ISBN > 978-1-108-44136-0. > > Reviewed by Philippa Levine (University of Texas) > Published on H-Asia (March, 2021) > Commissioned by Sumit Guha > > Colonialism in Global Perspective > > Kris Manjapra's engaging study of what he dubs 'racial capitalism' > ranges widely across the globe, encompassing imperial expansion and > activity from Vietnam to Uganda, from Australia to Canada. For > Manjapra, the critical association of race and capitalism is the > driving force of modern European colonialism, distinguishing it from > other types of imperial expansion far more distinctively--and more > politically oriented--than the maritime/territorial divide that has > often been used to mark it out. Those who continue to understand > decolonization as a 'transfer of power' will find the book an > uncomfortable read; they are, however, exactly the readers Manjapra's > book desperately needs to reach. > > Like his earlier _Age of Entanglement_ (2014), _Colonialism in Global > Perspective_ is fearless in its reach, bringing together themes and > issues hitherto seldom linked in its insistence on understanding a > racialized colonial universe as insinuating itself into every aspect > of human engagement and quotidian life. Thus we learn of the > importance of port cities and of prisons, of the dazzling varieties > of property ownership that encompassed not just land but bodies, too. > Science and schooling, settlement and slavery are all discussed and > melded together as part of a troubling, violent, and greedy entity > that consumes and destroys in its quest for profit and power. > > Manjapra's diligence in giving the work of indigenous scholars its > rightful due is one of the highlights of this book. Too often such > voices are forgotten but here they are paramount. Equally welcome is > the insistence throughout the book on understanding the United States > as a colonial power, both within its own territorial borders > (themselves the product of colonial expansion) and beyond. The > statement in his introduction that colonizer societies engage > actively, even compulsively, in forgetting and in disavowal of their > own violent pasts takes direct aim at the still-strong belief that > the United States is, by definition, an anticolonial entity. > > Manjapra is at his best when explaining some of the more complex > legal and fiscal instruments whereby the tentacles of colonial power > dug deep. His explanation of the evolution of land and property law, > and of the creative uses of debt to further capitalist ends are > amongst the clearest and most succinct such accounts I have read. > These are complex issues which often befuddle scholars as well as > readers, and Manjapra is to be congratulated on the clarity he brings > to these sections of the work. > > Inevitably there are a few omissions that took me by surprise, and I > do not fault Manjapra for them; they doubtless reflect on my own > preoccupations more than on his choices. Nonetheless, I wondered why > the experiment of federation so popular in twentieth-century colonial > politics did not feature in the chapter on space, given his emphasis > on the remaking of space engendered by colonial rule. In the chapter > on bodies, medical missions are wholly absent and a discussion of > them would, perhaps, have nuanced his claims about health care > practices and accessibility in the colonies. Indeed, this was one of > the few moments in the book where I might question Manjapra's > analysis. His claims about healthcare for colonial subjects does not > fully reflect the reality. At many colonial sites, the provision of > medical care was predicated predominantly and often solely on there > being a threat to resident white populations; where there was > indigenous health care it was frequently the province of medical > missionaries who were also often quite selective in the health care > they provided. In short, access to healthcare for local people was > not as widespread as the text perhaps implies. > > My only real disappointment lay in the epilogue, which seemed to me > to move away from the sweeping global promise of the book as a whole > with its surprisingly America-centric optic. Having established so > cogently that modern colonialism has always been global in its intent > and its reach, the reversion to a US-focused conclusion took me by > surprise. There are nods in the direction of resistance beyond > America but the bulk of the chapter remains resolutely, and to my > mind needlessly, focused on the US, largely ignoring the long-term > effects and consequences of, for example, French and British colonial > rule. This seems a missed opportunity, not least because so many of > the tenaciously troubled political hot spots of the contemporary > world owe their origin to the interference of these two imperial > giants of the nineteenth century. > > A few minor errors mar the text and should have been caught during > copyediting; I expect better from as reputable a press as Cambridge. > To identify the Mau Mau rebellions as Ugandan (p. 187) and to render > the historian Daniel Immerwahr as David (p. 189) but then to get his > name right in the endnotes may be small details but they are exactly > the minutiae that copyediting is designed to catch. > > This is a text that is accessible and clear, and will be of > tremendous use in a classroom. It will make a fine text for courses > on histories of imperialism and colonialism as well as histories of > race. Although experienced historians of colonialism will not find > much here that is new to them, they will find things brought together > in a refreshing way that makes a persuasive case for the abiding > relationship between capitalism, modern forms of colonialism, and > race. Manjapra has produced a work that spells out the horrors and > injustices of colonial politics in no uncertain terms, and leaves us > in no doubt as to its continuing resonances in our allegedly > postcolonial times. > > Citation: Philippa Levine. Review of Manjapra, Kris, _Colonialism in > Global Perspective_. H-Asia, H-Net Reviews. March, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56084 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#7357): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/7357 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/81420820/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
