Colonialism replaced Enlightenment universalism with an imperialist superiority complex

Evidence

By the nineteenth century, however, this Enlightenment universalism was rapidly being replaced by an emphasis on differences between people and civilizations. Europe developed what Etienne Balibar calls an “imperialist superiority complex.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 119 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The problem is that this argument seems to provide an alibi for the surreptitious return by the back door of the old liberal universalism. However, as Laclau notes, “European imperialist expansion had to be presented in terms of a universalizing civilizing function, modernization and so forth. The resistances of other cultures were … presented not as struggles between particular identities and cultures, but as part of an all-embracing and epochal struggle between universality and particularisms” (Laclau 1996). In short Western particularism was rewritten as a global universalism. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 372 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonialism replaced Enlightenment universalism with ideologies of inherent racial inferiority — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 130; Colonialism replaced Enlightenment universalism with a racialized superiority complex toward Muslims.; Colonial administrators framed imperialism as enlightened cosmopolitanism — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 364 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Nineteenth-century Europe traded Enlightenment universalism for imperialist superiority #corroborates (0.98) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 119
• Western imperial particularism was disguised as universal civilization #corroborates (0.95) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 372