A good summary thanks. I’m almost finished the book but it can be tough going, especially if one chooses to review his plethoric references along the way. The debate over ‘western cultural superiority’ will remain deeply polarised as people are generally entrenched in their views, so Biggar’s balanced work won’t change much. I’m firmly on the ‘net good’ side as the evidence of Christian charity (a key element of colonisation) & technological advance shows obvious net gains in social & moral realms, as well as improved life quality & expectancy.
Or looking at it in simpler terms, those western colonising countries & those most effectively colonised by them just so happen to be the countries today that most people wish to live in.
Navel gazing and hand wringing come to mind. Colonialism is surely multi-hued, from benign to sadistic and oppressive. Think Taranaki Maori in Rekohu, Begians in the Congo contrasted with The Clapham Sect and the ToW in NZ.
Also read Biggar's book with similar conclusions...except for keeping in mind eating the cabin boy was only outlawwd in Britain circa 1870 and that U.K. Supreme Court 2012 made it legal for Big Pharma to utilise aborted foetuses in products. Colonial attitudes to weak or those seen as less worthy of human rights...prevail. As for S..E. her contempt for conservation pracrices is interestingly arrogant...a coloniser of whenua by kine.
A good summary thanks. I’m almost finished the book but it can be tough going, especially if one chooses to review his plethoric references along the way. The debate over ‘western cultural superiority’ will remain deeply polarised as people are generally entrenched in their views, so Biggar’s balanced work won’t change much. I’m firmly on the ‘net good’ side as the evidence of Christian charity (a key element of colonisation) & technological advance shows obvious net gains in social & moral realms, as well as improved life quality & expectancy.
Or looking at it in simpler terms, those western colonising countries & those most effectively colonised by them just so happen to be the countries today that most people wish to live in.
Navel gazing and hand wringing come to mind. Colonialism is surely multi-hued, from benign to sadistic and oppressive. Think Taranaki Maori in Rekohu, Begians in the Congo contrasted with The Clapham Sect and the ToW in NZ.
Also read Biggar's book with similar conclusions...except for keeping in mind eating the cabin boy was only outlawwd in Britain circa 1870 and that U.K. Supreme Court 2012 made it legal for Big Pharma to utilise aborted foetuses in products. Colonial attitudes to weak or those seen as less worthy of human rights...prevail. As for S..E. her contempt for conservation pracrices is interestingly arrogant...a coloniser of whenua by kine.
The Judge referred to was Susan Glazebrook