Colonial powers eviscerated indigenous central domains and their internal dynamics

Evidence

In other words, arrange it so that the white man, and particularly the Belgian, and even more particularly Albert or Leopold, takes his place at the head of the hierarchy of Bantu life forces, and you have done the trick. You will have brought this miracle to pass: the Bantu god will take responsibility for the Belgian colonialist order, and any Bantu who dares to raise his hand against it will be guilty of sacrilege. — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 147 (#complicates, via linked claim)

In Africa, Mamdani explains, the subject races were many. The list extends to the Asians of East Africa, the Indians and “Coloured” of South Africa, the Arabs of Zanzibar, and, of course, to the Tutsi of Rwanda and Burundi (28). The terrible history of the political divisions that, naturalized by colonial rule, sedimented as cultural distinctions that were later to lead to what has been called “ethnic violence” in Rwanda, is what Mamdani describes and, more importantly, explains and interrogates. Colonial rule produced political identities, identities that it proceeded to naturalize. — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 45 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonialism systematically dispossesses the colonized of resources under a justifying discourse of hierarchy — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 246; Historical colonialism had four structural components that define its form — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 64; Colonial development rhetoric masked systematic resource extraction from native lands. — Tavengwa Gwekwerere, Davie E. Mutasa, and Kudakwashe Chitofiri, Settlers, Rhodesians, and Supremacists:…, 78 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Co-opting indigenous cosmology makes colonial rule sacred and rebellion sacrilegious #complicates (0.73) — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 147
• Colonial rule manufactured political identities that it then naturalized as culture #complicates (0.72) — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 45