![]() The British colonies became independent seriatim. The logic of colonialism worked itself out as the motives for occupation disappeared and the costs of continued rule escalated. Violence-both civil and military-was sometimes apparent, most especially in the Portuguese empire and where white settlers (classical colonists) were entrenched. Most colonies obtained a negotiated independence peacefully. The arrival of internal democracy in the colonial states themselves challenged the undemocratic politics of the colonies the battle against Nazism virtually destroyed the legitimacy of a racial hierarchy both the Soviet Union and the USA, linked by the bipolar confrontation of the Cold War, yet representing quite different ideologies, shared an antipathy to overt colonial empires the financial and military costs of retaining overseas possessions became politically prohibitive in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. This reflected a number of seismic shifts in the context of international affairs. Throughout the modern colonial period some individuals and groups campaigned for independence, most notably in India, but the real pressure to end colonial rule came immediately after 1945. Hodder-Williams, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001 3.2 Anticolonialism In articulating an especially rigorous, energetic, and durable brand of dissident intellectual work, Du Bois not only provided solid foundations for the scholarly study of racism, he enabled his many successors to challenge white supremacy in the world of ideas, and provided important conceptual and historical resources for anticolonial movements worldwide. He transformed understanding of African-American history and society while supplying the intellectual cornerstones for new varieties of critical and oppositional consciousness that could move beyond the task of defending America's black communities as they emerged from the twilight of slavery. All of this work was characterized by a double achievement to match the double consciousness from which it grew-a sense of black intellectuals caught, or as he put it ‘imprisoned,’ within the folds of European civilization developing interests of their own distinct from those of the black poor. His exceptional scholarly insights were articulated in a prolific output that continued throughout his long life. In making that unpalatable argument in potent language which was both scholarly and poetic, Du Bois created a black intelligentsia which understood itself and its historical and sociological predicament in terms he had specified. Close to the aftermath of slavery and against the expectations of those who had judged ‘Negroes’ to be incapable of higher learning, his extraordinary work boldly redefined America's racial hierarchy as intrinsic to the incomplete workings of American democracy. The breadth of his intellectual interests and the skill with which he turned them into a host of compelling written material in several distinct disciplines and styles made him the dominant African-American thinker of the twentieth century. In addition to his accomplishments as a distinguished social scientist Du Bois is still remembered as an essayist, editor, novelist, historian, and political leader. Gilroy, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001 2 The Contemporary Influence Explicit colonial racial policy and the treatment of non-whites in Europe are understood to implicate the ideology and political economy of European colonial rule. Much of the historical study of European racial policy takes place as part of the study of European colonialism (Appiah 1993, Bhabha 1994, Gilroy 1991). Comparative scholars analyze the difference and similarities of South African apartheid and American Jim Crow laws (Ford 1999, Goldberg 1994). Scholars of South Africa study the emergence, transformation, and eventual dismantling of racial apartheid, a policy that codified a belief in black inferiority as explicit policy and required segregation of the races in virtually every aspect of political and social life (Goldberg 1994, McClintock and Nixon 1991). Historians of the USA study the institution of racial hierarchy through chattel slavery (Tushnet 1981) and the post-emancipation development of ‘Jim Crow’ laws, which required racial segregation in public institutions and accommodations such as school rest rooms, drinking fountains, eating facilities, railroad coaches, and theater or stadium seating (Woodward 1989). Legal historians have detailed the legal mechanisms that historically have enforced and perpetuated racial hierarchy. Ford, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001 2.3.1 De jure racial subordination ![]()
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