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Age of Empire

Housekeeping:

• Collect DIA ticket stubs.
• Extra Credit (this Friday)
• Syllabus (attendance)

Agenda: 

Context: 

Nineteenth-Century Colonialism could be defined with THREE C's: Commerce, Civilization, Christianity 

• British Colonialism (the colonialism that defined the 19th-century world) was based on COMMERCE (trade/mercantilism).
• Along with trade, British Imperialists articulated a desire to spread their world views: civilization and Christianity.

DISCLAIMER: The "Christianity" espoused by British colonialism is certainly NOT representative of that religion. In fact, it may be argued that by attempting to IDEALIZE the mercantile (and exploitative) activities of colonialism by linking them to religion, the system fell under scrutiny.  

Close Reading:

• "An Outpost of Progress" 1895 Cosmopolitan (magazine)  

• What happens?

• WHO are the main characters?

• What do each of these characters symbolize or represent? 

• What other symbols are significant in this text?   

• http://www.randafricanart.com/Bakongo_Nkondi_figure.html (images of authentic African fetishes).

• Fetish:

•  a. Originally: any of the objects used by the indigenous peoples of the Guinea coast and the neighbouring regions as amulets or means of enchantment, or regarded by them with superstitious dread.

   b. By writers on anthropology (following C. de Brosses, Le Culte des Dieux Fétiches, 1760) used in wider sense: an inanimate object worshipped by preliterate peoples on account of its supposed inherent magical powers, or as being animated by a spirit. 

• http://www.oed.com/   

• By contrast, an idol is an object that represents or is connected to a divinity; an idol does not have inherent magical powers (for example, the Greek goddess Athena was not supposed to indwell her image in the Greek Parthenon; she only inhabited it occasionally when she wanted to make contact with the people of Athens).  

• What is "the fetish" in "An Outpost of Progress"? Who calls it "the fetish"? What does this character mean by the label? What does CONRAD suggest with this label?

• WHO fetishizes objects in this story? How is this ironic? What is CONRAD'S MESSAGE about commerce (and civilization)?  

• How does this story make explicit and symbolic connections between daily life in Great Britain, commerce, and actions in the colonial empire?

• How does Conrad "bring colonialism home" to his domestic British reader?

Ivory Tusks 

Ivory Piano Keys (1922)

Ivory Triptych of Madonna (Mary Queen of Heaven) and Child 

• Do these images create (or imply) a series of connections between the ideas of "fetish" and "commerce"?

• How do these connections relate to the connections and stereotypes of the characters in the story?

• How do these connections resemble the connections that Conrad implies for his audience? 

Wednesday 

Creating a Paper:

How would you create a paper for Conrad's texts based on the readings we did today?

• What are some possible theses?

• How would you move from these theses to outlining body paragraphs?

• What sort of "moves" would you make?

• Where would you look for more sources?