Colonizers only value the colonized when they conform to the master norm
Evidence
For Aboriginal and other colonised peoples, the dilemma of difference in racist society appears in the choice between the alien and the assimilated. The coloniser can recognise the other only as a form of self, valuing only those aspects of the colonised which reflect the master model. The coloniser erases unassimilated difference as terra nullius, creating alternatives of treating the unassimilated other as alien or subhuman versus incorporating the other via difference-denying assimilation. Incorporation in the empire promises ‘human’ treatment on condition of abandonment of any political assertion of cultural difference. In both cases the other is valued only in terms of its conformity to the master norm, in terms of sameness. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 605
Categorization
- XREF: The terra nullius erasure and assimilation-or-alien dilemma directly supports the settler-colonial critique thread across all four courses. — connects to: Colonized and colonizer can never value the same thing together; Power asymmetry between colonizer and colonized shapes what the colonizer sees. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 587; No common ground exists between colonized and colonizer in any colonial situation (+2 more)
- recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
Broader Connections
- Cultural valuation of the colonized follows the colonizer’s endorsement
#corroborates(0.85) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 114 - Colonized and colonizer can never value the same thing together
#expands(0.80) - No common ground exists between colonized and colonizer in any colonial situation
#expands(0.80) - Mastery of the colonizer’s language confers honorary whiteness on the colonized
#exemplifies(0.80) - Power asymmetry between colonizer and colonized shapes what the colonizer sees.
#qualifies(0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 587