Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony, and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by colonizers from the metropole. Colonialism is a set of unequal relationships between the metropole and the colony and between the colonists and the indigenous population.

The ''colonial period'' was the era from the 1550s to, arguably, the 1990s when several European powers (Spain, Portugal, Britain, and France especially) established colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. At first the countries followed mercantilist policies designed to strengthen the home economy at the expense of rivals, so the colonies were usually allowed to trade only with the mother country. By the mid-19th century, however, the powerful British Empire gave up mercantilism and trade restrictions and introduced the principle of free trade, with few restrictions or tariffs.

Definitions

''Collins English Dictionary'' defines colonialism as "the policy and practice of a power in extending control over weaker peoples or areas." The ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' offers four definitions, including "something characteristic of a colony" and "control by one power over a dependent area or people."

The 2006 ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' "uses the term 'colonialism' to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia." It discusses the distinction between colonialism and imperialism and states that "given the difficulty of consistently distinguishing between the two terms, this entry will use colonialism as a broad concept that refers to the project of European political domination from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries that ended with the national liberation movements of the 1960s."

In his preface to Jürgen Osterhammel's ''Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview'', Roger Tignor says, "For Osterhammel, the essence of colonialism is the existence of colonies, which are by definition governed differently from other territories such as protectorates or informal spheres of influence." In the book, Osterhammel asks, "How can 'colonialism' be defined independently from 'colony?'" He settles on a three-sentence definition:

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Types of colonialism

Historians often distinguish between two non-mutually-exclusive forms of colonialism:

Settler colonialism involves large-scale immigration, often motivated by religious, political, or economic reasons.

Exploitation colonialism involves fewer colonists and focuses on access to resources for export, typically to the metropole. This category includes trading posts as well as larger colonies where colonists would constitute much of the political and economic administration, but would rely on indigenous resources for labour and material. Prior to the end of the slave trade and widespread abolition, when indigenous labour was unavailable, slaves were often imported to the Americas, first by the Spanish Empire, and later by the Dutch, French and British.

Plantation colonies would be considered exploitation colonialism; but colonizing powers would utilize either type for different territories depending on various social and economic factors as well as climate and geographic conditions.

Surrogate colonialism involves a settlement project supported by colonial power, in which most of the settlers do not come from the mainstream of the ruling power.

Internal colonialism is a notion of uneven structural power between areas of a nation state. The source of exploitation comes from within the state.

Colonialism often played out in pre-populated areas. This gave rise to culturally and ethnically mixed populations such as the mestizos of the Americas, as well as racially divided populations as found in French Algeria or Southern Rhodesia.

History

Activity that could be called colonialism has a long history. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans all built colonies in antiquity. The word "metropole" comes from the Greek ''metropolis'' [Greek: "μητρόπολις"]—"mother city". The word "colony" comes from the Latin ''colonia''—"a place for agriculture". Between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Vietnamese established military colonies south of their original territory and absorbed the territory, in a process known as nam tiến.

Modern colonialism started with the Age of Discovery. Portugal and Spain discovered new lands across the oceans and built trading posts. For some people, it is this building of colonies across oceans that differentiates colonialism from other types of expansionism. These new lands were divided between the Portuguese Empire and Spanish Empire, first by the papal bull Inter caetera and then by the Treaty of Tordesillas and the Treaty of Zaragoza (1529).

This period is also associated with the Commercial Revolution. The late Middle Ages saw reforms in accountancy and banking in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean. These ideas were adopted and adapted in western Europe to the high risks and rewards associated with colonial ventures.

The 17th century saw the creation of the French colonial empire and the Dutch Empire, as well as the English colonial empire, which later became the British Empire. It also saw the establishment of some Swedish overseas colonies and a Danish colonial empire.

The spread of colonial empires was reduced in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by the American Revolutionary War and the Latin American wars of independence. However, many new colonies were established after this time, including the German colonial empire and Belgian colonial empire. In the late 19th century, many European powers were involved in the Scramble for Africa.

The Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire and Austrian Empire existed at the same time as the above empires, but did not expand over oceans. Rather, these empires expanded through the more traditional route of conquest of neighbouring territories. There was, though, some Russian colonization of the Americas across the Bering Strait. The Empire of Japan modelled itself on European colonial empires. The United States of America gained overseas territories after the Spanish-American War for which the term "American Empire" was coined.

After the First World War, the victorious allies divided up the German colonial empire and much of the Ottoman Empire between themselves as League of Nations mandates. These territories were divided into three classes according to how quickly it was deemed that they would be ready for independence. However, decolonisation outside the Americas lagged until after the Second World War. In 1962 the United Nations set up a Special Committee on Decolonization, often called the Committee of 24, to encourage this process.

Further, dozens of independence movements and global political solidarity projects such as the Non-Aligned Movement were instrumental in the decolonization efforts of former colonies.

European colonies in 1914

The major European empires consisted of the following colonies at the start of World War I (former colonies of the Spanish Empire became independent before 1914 and are not listed; former colonies of other European empires that previously became independent, such as the former French colony Haiti, are not listed):

British colonies:

Aden

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Ascension Island

Australia

Bahamas

Basutoland

Bechuanaland

British East Africa

British Guiana

British Honduras

British Somaliland

Burma

Canada

Ceylon

Egypt

Ellice Island

Falkland Islands

Fiji Island

Gambia

Gold Coast

India

Ireland

Malaya

New Zealand

Nigeria

Northern Rhodesia

Oman

Papua

Sarawak

Sierra Leone

South Rhodesia

St. Helena

Swaziland

Trinidad and Tobago

Uganda

Union of South Africa

Dutch colonies:

Dutch East Indies

Dutch Guiana

French colonies:

Algeria

French Guiana

French Equatorial Africa

French Indochina

French Somaliland

French West Africa

Guadeloupe

La Réunion

Madagascar

Martinique

Morocco

New Caledonia

Tunisia

German Empire colonies:

Cameroon

Caroline Islands

Eritrea

German New Guinea

German East Africa

German South West Africa

Gilbert Islands

Mariana Islands

Marshall Islands

Togo

Portuguese colonies:

Angola

Portuguese India

Mozambique

Portuguese Guinea

Portuguese Timor

Numbers of European settlers in the colonies (1500-1914)

By 1914, Europeans had migrated to the colonies in the millions. Some intended to remain in the colonies as temporary settlers, mainly as military personnel or on business. Others went to the colonies as immigrants. British citizens were by far the most numerous population to migrate to the colonies: 2.5 million settled in Canada; 1.5 million in Australia; 750,000 in New Zealand; 450,000 in the Union of South Africa; and 200,000 in India. French citizens also migrated in large numbers, mainly to the colonies in the north African Maghreb region: 1.3 million settled in Algeria; 200,000 in Morocco; 100,000 in Tunisia; while only 20,000 migrated to French Indochina. Dutch and German colonies saw relatively scarce European migration, since Dutch and German colonial expansion focused upon commercial goals rather than settlement. Portugal sent 150,000 settlers to Angola, 80,000 to Mozambique, and 20,000 to Goa. During the Spanish Empire, approximately 550,000 Spanish settlers migrated to Latin America.

Neocolonialism

The term neocolonialism has been used to refer to a variety of contexts since decolonization that took place after World War II. Generally it does not refer to a type of direct colonization, rather, colonialism by other means. Specifically, neocolonialism refers to the theory that former or existing economic relationships, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the Central American Free Trade Agreement, created by former colonial powers were or are used to maintain control of their former colonies and dependencies after the colonial independence movements of the post–World War II period.

Colonialism and the history of thought

Universalism

The conquest of vast territories brings multitudes of diverse cultures under the central control of the imperial authorities. From the time of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, this fact has been addressed by empires adopting the concept of universalism, and applying it to their imperial policies towards their subjects far from the imperial capitol. The capitol, the metropole, was the source of ostensibly enlightened policies imposed throughout the distant colonies.

The empire that grew from Athenian conquest spurred the spread of Greek language, religion, science and philosophy throughout the colonies. The Athenians considered their own culture superior to all others. They referred to people speaking foreign languages as barbarians, dismissing foreign languages as inferior mutterings that sounded to Greek ears like "bar-bar".

Romans found efficiency in imposing a universalist policy towards their colonies in many matters. Roman law was imposed on Roman citizens, as well as colonial subjects, throughout the empire. Latin spread as the common language of government and trade, the lingua franca, throughout the Empire. Romans also imposed peace between their diverse foreign subjects, which they described in beneficial terms as the Pax Romana. The use of universal regulation by the Romans marks the emergence of a European concept of universalism and internationalism. Tolerance of other cultures and beliefs has always been secondary to the aims of empires, however. The Roman Empire was tolerant of diverse cultures and religious practises, so long as these did not threaten Roman authority. Napoleon's foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, once remarked: "Empire is the art of putting men in their place".

Colonialism and geography

Settlers acted as the link between the natives and the imperial hegemony, bridging the geographical, ideological and commercial gap between the colonisers and colonised. Advanced technology made possible the expansion of European states. With tools such as cartography, shipbuilding, navigation, mining and agricultural productivity colonisers had an upper hand. Their awareness of the Earth's surface and abundance of practical skills provided colonisers with a knowledge that, in turn, created power.

Painter and Jeffrey argue that geography as a discipline was not and is not an objective science, rather it is based on assumptions about the physical world. Whereas it may have given “The West” an advantage when it came to exploration, it also created zones of racial inferiority. Geographical beliefs such as environmental determinism, the view that some parts of the world are underdeveloped, legitimised colonialism and created notions of skewed evolution. These are now seen as elementary concepts. Political geographers maintain that colonial behavior was reinforced by the physical mapping of the world, visually separating “them” and “us”. Geographers are primarily focused on the spaces of colonialism and imperialism, more specifically, the material and symbolic appropriation of space enabling colonialism.

Colonialism and imperialism

A colony is part of an empire and so colonialism is closely related to imperialism. Assumptions are that colonialism and imperialism are interchangeable, however Robert Young suggests that imperialism is the concept while colonialism is the practice. Colonialism is based on an imperial outlook, thereby creating a consequential relationship. Through an empire, colonialism is established and capitalism is expanded, on the other hand a capitalist economy naturally enforces an empire. In the next section Marxists make a case for this mutually reinforcing relationship.

Marxist view of colonialism

Marxism views colonialism as a form of capitalism, enforcing exploitation and social change. Marx thought that working within the global capitalist system, colonialism is closely associated with uneven development. It is an “instrument of wholesale destruction, dependency and systematic exploitation producing distorted economies, socio-psychological disorientation, massive poverty and neocolonial dependency.” According to some Marxist historians, in all of the colonial countries ruled by Western European countries “the natives were robbed of more than half their natural span of life by undernourishment”. Colonies are constructed into modes of production. The search for raw materials and the current search for new investment opportunities is a result of inter-capitalist rivalry for capital accumulation. Lenin regarded colonialism as the root cause of imperialism, as imperialism was distinguished by monopoly capitalism via colonialism and as Lyal S. Sunga explains: "Vladimir Lenin advocated forcefully the principle of self-determination of peoples in his "Theses on the Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination" as an integral plank in the programme of socialist internationalism" and he quotes Lenin who contended that "The right of nations to self-determination implies exclusively the right to independence in the political sense, the right to free political separation from the oppressor nation. Specifically, this demand for political democracy implies complete freedom to agitate for secession and for a referendum on secession by the seceding nation."

Liberalism, capitalism and colonialism

Classical liberals generally opposed colonialism (as opposed to colonization) and imperialism, including Adam Smith, Frédéric Bastiat, Richard Cobden, John Bright, Henry Richard, Herbert Spencer, H. R. Fox Bourne, Edward Morel, Josephine Butler, W. J. Fox and William Ewart Gladstone. Moreover, American revolution was the first anti-colonial rebellion, inspiring others.

Adam Smith wrote in ''Wealth of Nations'' that Britain should liberate all of its colonies and also noted that it would be economically beneficial for British people in the average, although the merchants having mercantilist privileges would lose out.

Post-colonialism

Post-colonialism (or post-colonial theory) can refer to a set of theories in philosophy and literature that grapple with the legacy of colonial rule. In this sense, postcolonial literature may be considered a branch of postmodern literature concerned with the political and cultural independence of peoples formerly subjugated in colonial empires. Many practitioners take Edward Saïd's book ''Orientalism'' (1978) as the theory's founding work (although French theorists such as Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon made similar claims decades before Said).

Saïd analysed the works of Balzac, Baudelaire and Lautréamont, exploring how they both absorbed and helped to shape a societal fantasy of European racial superiority. Writers of post-colonial fiction interact with the traditional colonial discourse, but modify or subvert it; for instance by retelling a familiar story from the perspective of an oppressed minor character in the story. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's ''Can the Subaltern Speak?'' (1998) gave its name to Subaltern Studies.

In ''A Critique of Postcolonial Reason'' (1999), Spivak explored how major works of European metaphysics (such as those of Kant and Hegel) not only tend to exclude the subaltern from their discussions, but actively prevent non-Europeans from occupying positions as fully human subjects. Hegel's ''Phenomenology of Spirit'' (1807), famous for its explicit ethnocentrism, considers Western civilization as the most accomplished of all, while Kant also allowed some traces of racialism to enter his work.

Impact of colonialism and colonization

The impacts of colonization are immense and pervasive. Various effects, both immediate and protracted, include the spread of virulent diseases, the establishment of unequal social relations, exploitation, enslavement, medical advances, the creation of new institutions, and technological progress. Colonial practices also spur the spread of languages, literature and cultural institutions. The native cultures of the colonized peoples can also have a powerful influence on the imperial country.

Expansion of trade

Imperial expansion has been accompanied by economic expansion since ancient times. Greek trade networks spread throughout the Mediterranean region, while Roman trade expanded with the main goal of directing tribute from the colonized areas towards the Roman metropole. With the development of trade routes under the Ottoman Empire, }}

Aztec civilization developed into a large empire that, much like the Roman Empire, had the goal of exacting tribute from the conquered colonial areas. For the Aztecs, the most important tribute was the acquisition of sacrificial victims for their religious rituals.

Slaves and indentured servants

European nations entered their imperial projects with the goal of enriching the European metropole. Exploitation of non-Europeans and other Europeans to support imperial goals was acceptable to the colonizers. Two outgrowths of this imperial agenda were slavery and indentured servitude. In the 17th century, nearly two-thirds of English settlers came to North America as indentured servants.

African slavery had existed long before Europeans discovered it as an exploitable means of creating an inexpensive labour force for the colonies. Europeans brought transportation technology to the practise, bringing large numbers of African slaves to the Americas by sail. Spain and Portugal had brought African slaves to work at African colonies such as Cape Verde and the Azores, and then Latin America, by the 16th century. The British, French and Dutch joined in the slave trade in subsequent centuries. Ultimately, around 11 million Africans were taken to the Caribbean and North and South America as slaves by European colonizers.

European empire !! Colonial destination !! Number of slaves imported
Portuguese Empire	Brazil	3,646,800
British Empire	British Caribbean
French Empire	French Caribbean
Spanish Empire	Latin America
Dutch Empire	Dutch Caribbean
British Empire	British North America

Abolitionists in Europe and America protested the inhumane treatment of African slaves, which led to the elimination of the slave trade by the late 19th century. The labour shortage that resulted inspired European colonizers to develop a new source of labour, using a system of indentured servitude. Indentured servants consented to a contract with the European colonizers. Under their contract, the servant would work for an employer for a term of at least a year, while the employer agreed to pay for the servant's voyage to the colony, possibly pay for the return to the country of origin, and pay the employee a wage as well. The employee was "indentured" to the employer because they owed a debt back to the employer for their travel expense to the colony, which they were expected to pay through their wages. In practice, indentured servants were exploited through terrible working conditions and burdensome debts created by the employers, with whom the servants had no means of negotiating the debt once they arrived in the colony.

India and China were the largest source of indentured servants during the colonial era. Indentured servants from India travelled to British colonies in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and also to French and Portuguese colonies, while Chinese servants travelled to British and Dutch colonies. Between 1830 and 1930, around 30 million indentured servants migrated from India, and 24 million returned to India. China sent more indentured servants to European colonies, and around the same proportion returned to China.

Military innovation

Imperial expansion follows military conquest in most instances. Imperial armies therefore have a long history of military innovation in order to gain an advantage over the armies of the people they aim to conquer. Greeks developed the phalanx system, which enabled their military units to present themselves to their enemies as a wall, with foot soldiers using shields to cover one another during their advance on the battlefield. Under Philip II of Macedon, they were able to organize thousands of soldiers into a formidable battle force, bringing together carefully trained infantry and cavalry regiments. Alexander the Great exploited this military foundation further during his conquests.

The Spanish Empire held a major advantage over Mesoamerican warriors through the use of weapons made of stronger metal, predominantly iron, which was able to shatter the blades of axes used by the Aztec civilization and others. The European development of firearms using gunpowder cemented their military advantage over the peoples they sought to subjugate in the Americas and elsewhere.

The end of empire

The populations of some colonial territories, such as Canada, enjoyed relative peace and prosperity as part of a European power, at least among the majority; however, minority populations such as First Nations peoples and French-Canadians experienced marginalization and resented colonial practises. Francophone residents of Quebec, for example, were vocal in opposing conscription into the armed services to fight on behalf of Britain during World War I, resulting in the Conscription crisis of 1917. Other European colonies had much more pronounced conflict between European settlers and the local population. Rebellions broke out in the later decades of the imperial era, such as India's Sepoy Rebellion.

The territorial boundaries imposed by European colonizers, notably in central Africa and south Asia, defied the existing boundaries of native populations that had previously interacted little with one another. European colonizers disregarded native political and cultural animosities, imposing peace upon people under their military control. Native populations were relocated at the will of the colonial administrators. Once independence from European control was achieved, civil war erupted in some former colonies, as native populations fought to capture territory for their own ethnic, cultural or political group. The Partition of India, a 1947 civil war that came in the aftermath of India's independence from Britain, became a conflict with 500,000 killed. Fighting erupted between Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities as they fought for territorial dominance. Muslims fought for an independent country to be partitioned where they would not be a religious minority, resulting in the creation of Pakistan.

Post-independence population movement

In a reversal of the migration patterns experienced during the modern colonial era, post-independence era migration followed a route back towards the imperial country. In some cases, this was a movement of settlers of European origin returning to the land of their birth, or to an ancestral birthplace. 900,000 French colonists resettled in France following Algeria's independence in 1962. A significant number of these migrants were also of Algerian descent. 800,000 people of Portuguese origin migrated to Portugal after the independence of former colonies in Africa between 1974 and 1979; 300,000 settlers of Dutch origin migrated to the Netherlands from the Dutch West Indies after Dutch military control of the colony ended.

After WWII 300,000 Dutchmen from the Dutch East Indies, of which the majority were people of Eurasian descent called Indo Europeans, repatriated to the Netherlands. A significant number later migrated to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Global travel and migration in general developed at an increasingly brisk pace throughout the era of European colonial expansion. Citizens of the former colonies of European countries may have a privileged status in some respects with regard to immigration rights when settling in the former European imperial nation. For example, rights to dual citizenship may be generous, or larger immigrant quotas may be extended to former colonies.

In some cases, the former European imperial nations continue to foster close political and economic ties with former colonies. The Commonwealth of Nations is an organization that promotes cooperation between and among Britain and its former colonies, the Commonwealth members. A similar organization exists for former colonies of France, the Francophonie; the Community of Portuguese Language Countries plays a similar role for former Portuguese colonies, and the Dutch Language Union is the equivalent for former colonies of the Netherlands.

Migration from former colonies has proven to be problematic for European countries, where the majority population may express hostility to ethnic minorities who have immigrated from former colonies. Cultural and religious conflict have often erupted in France in recent decades, between immigrants from the Maghreb countries of north Africa and the majority population of France. Nonetheless, immigration has changed the ethnic composition of France; by the 1980s, 25% of the total population of "inner Paris" and 14% of the metropolitan region were of foreign origin, mainly Algerian.

Impact on health

Encounters between explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced new diseases, which sometimes caused local epidemics of extraordinary virulence. For example, smallpox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, and others were unknown in pre-Columbian America.

Disease killed the entire native (Guanches) population of the Canary Islands in the 16th century. Half the native population of Hispaniola in 1518 was killed by smallpox. Smallpox also ravaged Mexico in the 1520s, killing 150,000 in Tenochtitlan alone, including the emperor, and Peru in the 1530s, aiding the European conquerors. Measles killed a further two million Mexican natives in the 17th century. In 1618–1619, smallpox wiped out 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans. Smallpox epidemics in 1780–1782 and 1837–1838 brought devastation and drastic depopulation among the Plains Indians. Some believe that the death of up to 95% of the Native American population of the New World was caused by Old World diseases. Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of immunity to these diseases, while the indigenous peoples had no time to build such immunity.

Smallpox decimated the native population of Australia, killing around 50% of indigenous Australians in the early years of British colonisation. It also killed many New Zealand Māori. As late as 1848–49, as many as 40,000 out of 150,000 Hawaiians are estimated to have died of measles, whooping cough and influenza. Introduced diseases, notably smallpox, nearly wiped out the native population of Easter Island. In 1875, measles killed over 40,000 Fijians, approximately one-third of the population. The Ainu population decreased drastically in the 19th century, due in large part to infectious diseases brought by Japanese settlers pouring into Hokkaido.

Conversely, researchers concluded that syphilis was carried from the New World to Europe after Columbus's voyages. The findings suggested Europeans could have carried the nonvenereal tropical bacteria home, where the organisms may have mutated into a more deadly form in the different conditions of Europe. The disease was more frequently fatal than it is today; syphilis was a major killer in Europe during the Renaissance. The first cholera pandemic began in Bengal, then spread across India by 1820. Ten thousand British troops and countless Indians died during this pandemic. Between 1736 and 1834 only some 10% of East India Company's officers survived to take the final voyage home. Waldemar Haffkine, who mainly worked in India, who developed and used vaccines against cholera and bubonic plague in the 1890s, is considered the first microbiologist.

Countering disease

As early as 1803, the Spanish Crown organised a mission (the Balmis expedition) to transport the smallpox vaccine to the Spanish colonies, and establish mass vaccination programs there. By 1832, the federal government of the United States established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans. Under the direction of Mountstuart Elphinstone a program was launched to propagate smallpox vaccination in India. From the beginning of the 20th century onwards, the elimination or control of disease in tropical countries became a driving force for all colonial powers. The sleeping sickness epidemic in Africa was arrested due to mobile teams systematically screening millions of people at risk. In the 20th century, the world saw the biggest increase in its population in human history due to lessening of the mortality rate in many countries due to medical advances. The world population has grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 7 billion today.

See also

List of empires

Related topics

African independence movements

Age of discovery

American Empire

Anticolonialism

Chartered companies

Christianity and colonialism

Civilising mission

Cold War

Colonial cinema

Colonial Empire

Colonial wars

Colonies in antiquity

Colonial India

Colonization

Colony

Concession (territory)

Empire of Liberty

European colonization of the Americas

Exploration

German eastward expansion

Global Empire

Historical migration

Historiography of the British Empire

Impact and evaluation of colonialism and colonization

Imperialism in Asia

Imperialism

Indochina

Manifest Destiny

Mongol invasions

Muslim conquests

Ottoman wars in Europe

Postcolonialism

Protectorate

Right to exist

Settler colonialism

Sino-African relations

Soviet Empire

Soviet occupations

Special Committee on Decolonization

Stranger King (Concept)

Transmigration program

Tropical geography

Turkic migration

United Nations list of non-self-governing territories

French colonial flags

List of French possessions and colonies

List of Muslim empires and dynasties

Notes

References

Cooper, Frederick. ''Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History'' (2005)

Getz, Trevor R. and Heather Streets-Salter, eds. ''Modern Imperialism and Colonialism: A Global Perspective'' (2010)

Stuchtey, Benedikt: ''Colonialism and Imperialism, 1450-1950'', European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2011, retrieved: July 13, 2011.

Primary sources

Conrad, Joseph, ''Heart of Darkness'', 1899

Fanon, Frantz, ''The Wretched of the Earth'', Pref. by Jean-Paul Sartre. Translated by Constance Farrington. London : Penguin Book, 2001

Kipling, Rudyard, ''The White Man's Burden'', 1899

Las Casas, Bartolomé de, ''A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies'' (1542, published in 1552)

LeCour Grandmaison, Olivier, ''Coloniser, Exterminer - Sur la guerre et l'Etat colonial'', Fayard, 2005, ISBN 2-213-62316-3

Lindqvist, Sven, ''Exterminate All The Brutes'', 1992, New Press; Reprint edition (June 1997), ISBN 978-1-56584-359-2

Maria Petringa, ''Brazza, A life for Africa'' (2006), ISBN 978-1-4259-1198-0

Jürgen Osterhammel, ''Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview'', Princeton, NJ: M. Wiener, 1997.

Said, Edward, ''Orientalism'', 1978; 25th-anniversary edition 2003 ISBN 978-0-394-74067-6

External links

Liberal opposition to colonialism, imperialism and empire (pdf) - by professor Daniel Klein

''Globalization (and the metaphysics of control in a free market world)'' - an online video on globalization, colonialism, and control.

Category:Articles with inconsistent citation formats Category:Cultural geography Category:International relations theory *

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Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti
Alias	Fela Anikulapo KutiFela Ransome-Kuti
Birth date	October 15, 1938
Birth place	Abeokuta, Nigeria
Death date	August 02, 1997
Instrument	Saxophone, vocals, keyboards, trumpet, guitar, drums
Genre	Afrobeat, Highlife
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, activist
Years active	1958–1997
Label	Barclay/PolyGram, MCA/Universal, Celluloid, EMI Nigeria, JVC, Wrasse, Shanachie, Knitting Factory
Associated acts	Africa '70, Egypt '80, Koola Lobitos, Nigeria '70, Hugh Masekela, Ginger Baker, Tony Allen, Femi Kuti, Seun Kuti, Roy Ayers, Lester Bowie
Website
Past members	}}

Fela Anikulapo Kuti (15 October 1938 — 2 August 1997), or simply Fela (), was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.

Biography

Early life and career

Fela was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria into a middle-class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement and his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister and school principal, was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. His brothers, Beko Ransome-Kuti and Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, both medical doctors, are well known in Nigeria. Fela was a first cousin to the Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, the first African to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Fela was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine but decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music. While there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a fusion of jazz and highlife. In 1960, Fela married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor, with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni, and Sola). In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. He played for some time with Victor Olaiya and his All Stars.

In 1967, he went to Ghana to think up a new musical direction. That was when Kuti first called his music Afrobeat. In 1969, Fela took the band to the United States. While there, Fela discovered the Black Power movement through Sandra Smith (now Izsadore)—a partisan of the Black Panther Party — which would heavily influence his music and political views and renamed the band Nigeria '70. Soon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the U.S. without work permits. The band then performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles that would later be released as ''The '69 Los Angeles Sessions''.

1970's

After Fela and his band returned to Nigeria, the band was renamed The Africa '70, as lyrical themes changed from love to social issues. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio, and a home for many connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he performed regularly. Fela also changed his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name. The recordings continued, and the music became more politically motivated.

Fela's music became very popular among the Nigerian public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in Pidgin English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. As popular as Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on the Kalakuta Republic were frequent. During 1972, Ginger Baker recorded ''Stratavarious'' with Fela appearing alongside Bobby Gass. Around this time, Kuti was becoming more involved in Yoruba religion.

In 1977, Fela and the Afrika '70 released the album ''Zombie'', a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash hit and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela claimed that he would have been killed had it not been for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the Dodan Barracks in Lagos, General Olusegun Obasanjo's residence, and to write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier", referencing the official inquiry that claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.

Fela and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978, Fela married twenty-seven women, many of whom were his dancers, composers, and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only twelve simultaneous wives. The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riots broke out during the song "Zombie", which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at the Berlin Jazz Festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumors that Fela was planning to use the entire proceeds to fund his presidential campaign.

Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own political party, which he called Movement of the People. In 1979, he put himself forward for President in Nigeria's first elections for more than a decade, but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called Egypt '80 and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT vice-president Moshood Abiola and then General Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling 25-minute political screed titled "I.T.T. (International Thief-Thief)".

1980's and beyond

In 1984, Muhammadu Buhari's government, of which Kuti was a vocal opponent, jailed him on a charge of currency smuggling which Amnesty International and others denounced as politically motivated. His case was taken up by several human-rights groups, and after 20 months, he was released from prison by General Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his twelve remaining wives, saying that "marriage brings jealousy and selfishness".

Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt '80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. In 1986, Fela performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of the Amnesty International A Conspiracy of Hope concert, sharing the bill with Bono, Carlos Santana, and The Neville Brothers. In 1989, Fela and Egypt '80 released the anti-apartheid ''Beasts of No Nation'' album that depicts on its cover U.S. President Ronald Reagan, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and South African Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha.

His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. In 1993, he and four members of the Afrika '70 organization were arrested for murder. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumors were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment.

Death

On 3 August 1997, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma which was brought on by AIDS. More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound. A new Africa Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi Kuti.

Music

The musical style performed by Fela Kuti is called Afrobeat, which is a complex fusion of Jazz, Funk, Ghanaian/Nigerian High-life, psychedelic rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native "tinker pan" African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with Hugh Masekela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz. The importance of the input of Tony Allen (Fela's drummer of twenty years) in the creation of Afrobeat cannot be overstated. Fela once famously stated that "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat".

Afrobeat is characterized by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals, and a musical structure featuring jazzy, funky horn sections. The "endless groove" is used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted West African-style guitar, and melodic bass guitar riffs are repeated throughout the song. Commonly, interlocking melodic riffs and rhythms are introduced one by one, building the groove bit-by-bit and layer-by-layer to an astonishing melodic and polyrhythmic complexity. The horn section then becomes prominent, introducing other riffs and main melodic themes.

Fela's band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones, whereas most groups were using only one of this instrument. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in funk and hip hop. Fela's bands at times even performed with two bassists at the same time both playing interlocking melodies and rhythms. There were always two or more guitarists. The electric West African style guitar in Afrobeat bands are paramount, but are used to give basic structure, playing a repeating chordal/melodic statement, riff, or groove.

Some elements often present in Fela's music are the call-and-response within the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela's songs were also very long, at least 10–15 minutes in length, and many reaching the 20 or even 30 minutes, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside Africa. His LP records frequently had one 30-minute track per side. Typically there is an instrumental "introduction" jam part of the song, perhaps 10-15 minutes long, before Fela starts singing the "main" part.

His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin, although he also performed a few songs in the Yoruba language. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards, but he also played the trumpet, electric guitar, and took the occasional drum solo. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa.

Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. He referred to his stage act as the Underground Spiritual Game. Fela attempted making a movie but lost all the materials to the fire that was set to his house by the military government in power. Kuti thought that art, and thus his own music, should have political meaning.

Political views

As a supporter of traditional religions and lifestyles, Kuti thought that the most important thing for Africans to fight is European cultural imperialism. The American Black Power movement also influenced Fela's political views; he was a supporter of Pan-Africanism and socialism, and called for a united, democratic African republic. He was a candid supporter of human rights, and many of his songs are direct attacks against dictatorships, specifically the militaristic governments of Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also a social commentator, and he criticized his fellow Africans (especially the upper class) for betraying traditional African culture. The African culture he believed in also included having many wives (polygyny) and the Kalakuta Republic was formed in part as a polygamist colony. He defended his stance on polygyny with the words: "A man goes for many women in the first place. Like in Europe, when a man is married, when the wife is sleeping, he goes out and fucks around. He should bring the women in the house, man, to live with him, and stop running around the streets!" His views towards women are characterized by some as misogynist, with songs like "Mattress" typically cited as evidence In a more complex example, he mocks the aspiration of African women to European standards of ladyhood while extolling the values of the market woman in his song "Lady".

Bypassing editorial censorship in Nigeria's predominantly state controlled media, Kuti began in the 1970s buying advertising space in daily and weekly newspapers such as ''The Daily Times'' and ''The Punch'' in order to run outspoken political columns. Published throughout the 1970s and early 1980s under the title ''Chief Priest Say'', these columns were essentially extensions of Kuti's famous Yabi Sessions—consciousness-raising word-sound rituals, with himself as chief priest, conducted at his Lagos nightclub. Organized around a militantly Afrocentric rendering of history and the essence of black beauty, ''Chief Priest Say'' focused on the role of cultural hegemony in the continuing subjugation of Africans. Kuti addressed a number of topics, from explosive denunciations of the Nigerian Government's criminal behavior; Islam and Christianity's exploitative nature, and evil multinational corporations; to deconstructions of Western medicine, Black Muslims, sex, pollution, and poverty. ''Chief Priest Say'' was cancelled, first by ''Daily Times'' then by ''Punch'', ostensibly due to non-payment, but many commentators have speculated that the paper's respective editors were placed under increasingly violent pressure to stop publication.

The Fela revival

In recent years there has been a revitalization of Fela's influence on music and popular culture, culminating in another re-release of his catalog controlled by Universal Music, off- and on-Broadway biopic shows, and new bands, such as Antibalas, who carry the Afrobeat banner to a new generation of listeners.

In 1999, Universal Music France, under the aegis of Francis Kertekian, remastered the 45 albums that it controlled and released them on twenty-six compact discs. These titles were licensed to other territories of the world with the exception of Nigeria and Japan, where Fela's music was controlled by other companies. In 2005, Universal Music USA licensed all of its world-music titles to the UK-based label Wrasse Records, which repackaged the same twenty-six CDs for distribution in the USA (replacing the MCA-issued titles there) and the UK. In 2009, Universal created a new deal for the USA with Knitting Factory Records and for Europe with PIAS, which included the release of the ''Fela!'' Broadway cast album.

Thomas McCarthy's 2008 film ''The Visitor'' depicted a disconnected professor (Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins) who wanted to play the djembe. He learns from a young Syrian (Haaz Sleiman) who tells the professor he will never truly understand African music unless he listens to Fela. The film features clips of Fela's "Open and Close" and "Je'nwi Temi (Don't Gag Me)".

In 2008, an off-Broadway production of Fela Kuti's life titled ''Fela!'' began with a collaborative workshop between the Afrobeat band Antibalas and Tony award-winner Bill T. Jones. The show was a massive success, selling out shows during its run, and garnering much critical acclaim. On November 22, 2009, ''Fela!'' began a run on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. Jim Lewis helped co-write the play (along with Bill T. Jones), and obtained producer backing from Jay-Z and Will Smith, among others. On May 4, 2010, ''Fela!'' was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical for Bill T. Jones, Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Sahr Ngaujah, and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Lillias White.

On August 18, 2009, award-winning DJ J.Period released a free mixtape to the general public via his website that was a collaboration with Somali-born hip-hop artist K'naan paying tribute to Fela, Bob Marley and Bob Dylan, entitled ''The Messengers''.

In October 2009, Knitting Factory Records began the process of re-releasing the 45 titles that Universal Music controls, starting with yet another re-release of the compilation ''The Best of the Black President'' in the USA. The rest is expected to be released in 2010.

In addition, a movie by Focus Features, directed by Steve McQueen and written by Biyi Bandele about the life of Fela Kuti went into production in 2010. It was announced in 2010 that Chiwetel Ejiofor would play the lead role.

Discography

Filmography

''Fela in Concert'', 1981, (VIEW)

''Music is the Weapon'', 1982, Stéphane Tchal-Gadjieff and Jean Jacques Flori (Universal Music)

''Fela Live! Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and the Egypt ’80 Band'', 1984, Recorded Live At Glastonbury, England (Yazoo)

''Femi Kuti—Live at the Shrine'', 2005, recorded Live At Lagos, Nigeria (Palm Pictures)

Notes

References

[authorized biography]

External links

'He was in a godlike state' - ''Guardian'' feature by Alex Hannaford, 25 July 2007.

The Shrine Unofficial website for Fela Kuti and Afrobeat Music with news, bio's, tour dates, gig reviews, interviews, and lyrics.

Fela Kuti article from the New Official Ginger Baker Archive and Drummers forum launched by the Baker family September 2010

Fela Kuti biography at World Music Central, includes biography, discography and bibliography

Category:1938 births Category:1997 deaths Category:Nigerian musicians Category:Nigerian songwriters Category:Nigerian saxophonists Category:Bandleaders Category:Pan-Africanism Category:People from Abeokuta Category:AIDS-related deaths in Nigeria Category:Polygamy Category:Yoruba musicians Category:World music musicians Category:Trinity College of Music alumni Category:MCA Records artists

de:Fela Kuti et:Fela Kuti es:Fela Kuti eo:Fela Kuti eu:Fela Kuti fr:Fela Kuti it:Fela Kuti he:פלה קוטי sw:Fela Kuti nl:Fela Kuti ja:フェラ・クティ no:Fela Kuti nn:Fela Kuti pl:Fela Kuti pt:Fela Kuti simple:Fela Kuti fi:Fela Kuti sv:Fela Kuti tr:Fela Kuti yo:Fela Kuti

name	Russell Means
birth name	Russell Charles Means
birth date	November 10, 1939
birth place	Wanblee, South Dakota, United States
occupation	Activist, politician, actor, writer, musician
yearsactive	1968 – present
spouse	Gloria Grant Means (three previous marriages) A total of 10 children, two with Gloria }}

Russell Charles Means (born November 10, 1939) is an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage. The organization split in 1993, in part over the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Aquash, the leading woman activist in AIM.

Means has been active in international issues of indigenous peoples, including working with groups in Central and South America, and with the United Nations for recognition of their rights. He has been active in politics at his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and at the state and national level.

Since 1992, he has acted in numerous films and released his own music CD. He published his autobiography ''Where White Men Fear to Tread'' in 1997.

Early life

Means was born in Wanblee, South Dakota, a community located in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, to Theodora Feather and Harold "Hank" Means. He was baptized ''Oyate Wacinyapin'', which means "works for the people" in the Lakota language. His Oglala Sioux parents met as students at an Indian boarding school.

In 1942, when Russell was three, the Means family resettled in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeking to escape the poverty and problems of the reservation. His father worked at the shipyard. Means grew up in the Bay area, graduating in 1958 from San Leandro High School in San Leandro, California. In his 1995 autobiography, Means recounted a harsh childhood; his father was alcoholic and he himself fell into years of "truancy, crime and drugs" before finding purpose in the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis.

His father died in 1967, and in his 20's, Means lived in several Indian reservations throughout the United States while searching for work. While at the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, he developed severe vertigo. Physicians at the reservation clinic believed that he had been brought in inebriated. After they refused to examine him for several days, Means was finally diagnosed with a concussion due to a presumed fist fight in a saloon. A visiting specialist later discovered that the reservation doctors had overlooked a common ear infection, which cost Means the hearing in one ear.

After recovering from the infection, Means worked for a year in the Office of Economic Opportunity, where he came to know several legal activists who were managing legal action on behalf of the Lakota people. After a dispute with his supervisor, Means left Rosebud for Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, he worked with Native American community leaders against the backdrop of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Involvement with AIM

Means participated - together with his father - in the 1964 Alcatraz occupation. In 1968 at age 29, Means joined the American Indian Movement, where he rose to become a prominent leader. In 1970, Means was appointed AIM's first national director, and the organization began a period of increasing protests and activism. On Thanksgiving Day 1970, Means and other AIM activists staged their first protest in Boston: they seized the ''Mayflower II'', a replica ship of the Mayflower, to protest the Puritans' and United States' mistreatment of Native Americans. Later that year, Means was one of the leaders of AIM's takeover of Mount Rushmore, a federal monument. In 1972, he participated in AIM's occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) headquarters in Washington, D.C. Many confidential records were taken or destroyed, and more than $2 million in damages was done to the building.

In 1973, Dennis Banks and Charles Camp led AIM's occupation of Wounded Knee, which became the group's most well-known action. Means appeared as a spokesman and prominent leader as well. The armed standoff of more than 300 Lakota and AIM activists with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state law enforcement lasted for 71 days. A visiting Cherokee from North Carolina and an Oglala Lakota activist from Pine Ridge Reservation were killed in April 1973. Earlier an FBI agent was shot and became paralyzed from his wounds.

In 1974, Means resigned from AIM to run for the presidency of his native Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) against the incumbent Richard Wilson. The official vote count showed Wilson winning by more than 200 votes. Residents complained of intimidation by Wilson's private militia. The report of a government investigation confirmed problems in the election, but in a related court challenge to the results of the election, a federal court upheld the results.

In the late 1970s, Means turned to an international forum on issues of rights for indigenous peoples. He worked with the United Nations to establish the offices of the International Indian Treaty Council in 1977. At the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, he assisted in the organization of community institutions, such as the KILI radio station and the Porcupine Health Clinic in Porcupine, South Dakota.

In the 1980s, AIM divided into several competing factions. The division was in part over differences among members regarding support for the indigenous peoples in Nicaragua, a nation then led by a socialist government. Means announced his support for the Miskito group MISURASATA (later known as YATAMA), which was allied with the Contras. He traveled to the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua in 1985 and 1986 on fact-finding tours. Some members of AIM supported the Sandinistas of the national government, although they had forced removal of thousands of Miskito from their traditional territory. At that time, the Grand Governing Council of AIM, based in Minnesota, asked Means to cease representing himself as a leader of AIM. Other chapters of AIM continued to support Means.

On January 8, 1988, Means held a press conference to announce his retirement from AIM (for the sixth time), saying it had achieved its goals. That January, the AIM Grand Governing Council, headed by the Bellecourt brothers, released a press release noting this was the sixth resignation by Means since 1974, and asking the press to "never again report either that he is a founder of the American Indian Movement, or [that] he is a leader of the American Indian Movement". The AIM General Governing Council noted there were many open issues and legislation regarding Native Americans for which they were continuing to work.

In 1993, the organization divided officially into two main factions: AIM Grand Governing Council, based in Minnesota, which has the legal right to use the name; and American Indian Movement of Colorado, based in Colorado and allied with Means.

On 3 November 1999, Means and Robert Pictou-Branscombe, a maternal cousin of Aquash from Canada, held a press conference in Denver at the Federal Building to discuss the slow progress of the government's investigation into Aquash's murder. It had been under investigation both by the Denver police, as Aquash had been kidnapped from there, and by the FBI, as she had been taken across state lines and killed on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Both Branscombe and Means accused Vernon Bellecourt, a high-ranking leader of AIM, of having ordered the execution of Aquash. Means said that Clyde Bellecourt, a founder of AIM, had ensured that it was carried out at the Pine Ridge Reservation. Means said that an AIM tribunal had banned the Bellecourt brothers but tried to keep the reason for the dissension internal to protect AIM.

The Associated Press (AP) reporter Robert Weller noted that this was the first time that an AIM leader active at the time of Aquash's death had publicly implicated AIM in her murder. There had long been rumors. Means and Branscombe accused three indigenous people: Arlo Looking Cloud, Theda Nelson Clark and John Graham, of having been directly involved in the kidnapping and murder of Aquash. The two men were indicted in 2003 and convicted in separate trials in 2004 and 2010, respectively. By then in a nursing home, Clark was not indicted.

As of 2004, Means' website states that he was a board member of the Colorado AIM chapter, which is affiliated with AIM-Autonomous Chapters.

Other political involvement

Since the late 1970s, Means has often supported libertarian political causes, in contrast with several of the other leaders of AIM. In 1987, Means ran for nomination of President of the United States under the Libertarian Party, and attracted considerable support within the party (finishing 2nd with 31.41%). He lost the nomination to Congressman Ron Paul.

In 2001, Means began an independent candidacy for Governor of New Mexico. His campaign failed to satisfy procedural requirements and he was not selected for the ballot. In the 2004 and 2008 Presidential Elections, Means supported independent Ralph Nader.

Nearly thirty years after his first candidacy, Means ran for president of the Oglala Sioux in 2004 with the help of Twila Lebeaux, losing to Cecilia Fire Thunder, the first woman elected president of the tribe. She also defeated the incumbent John Yellow Bird Steele.

Since the late 20th century, there has been a debate in the United States over the appropriate term for the indigenous peoples of North America. Some want to be called Native American; others prefer American Indian. Means says that he prefers "American Indian", arguing that it derives not from explorers' confusion of the people with those of India, but from the Italian expression ''in Dio'', meaning "in God". In addition, Means notes that since treaties and other legal documents in relation to the United States government use "Indian", continuing use of the term can help today's American Indian people forestall any attempts by others to use legal loopholes in the struggle over land and treaty rights.

Following the non-binding United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007, a group of American Indian activists presented a letter to the U.S. State Department, indicating they were withdrawing from all treaties with the U.S. Government. In December, they began contacting foreign governments to solicit support for energy projects on the territory.

On December 20, 2007, Means announced the withdrawal by a small group of Lakota Sioux from all treaties with the United States government. Means and a delegation of activists declared the Republic of Lakotah a sovereign nation, with property rights over thousands of square miles in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. Means said that his group does not "represent collaborators, the Vichy Indians and those tribal governments set up by the United States of America".

On January 8, 2008 the elected leaders President Rodney Bordeaux of the 25,000-member Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and Chairman Joseph Brings Plenty of the 8,500-member Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said that Means did not speak for their members or for any elected Lakota tribal governments. While acknowledging problems with the federal government's implementation of treaties, they opposed his plan to renounce treaties with the United States. They said the issue instead was to enforce existing treaties.

In January 2012, he announced his endorsement of Ron Paul in his bid for President.

Other activities

Acting

Since 1992, Means has appeared as an actor in numerous films and TV movies: first as the chief Chingachgook in ''The Last of the Mohicans''. He appeared as Arrowhead in the made-for-TV movie ''The Pathfinder'' (1996), his second appearance in a movie adapted from a novel by James Fenimore Cooper. He appeared in ''Natural Born Killers'' (1994), as Jim Thorpe in ''Windrunner: A Spirited Journey'', as Sitting Bull in ''Buffalo Girls'' (1995), and had a cameo in the miniseries ''Into the West'' (2005).

He was a voice actor in the animated film ''Pocahontas'' (1995) and its sequel ''Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World'' (1998), playing the title character's father, Chief Powhatan. Means appeared as Billy Twofeathers in ''Thomas & the Magic Railroad'' (2000).

Means starred in ''Pathfinder'', a 2007 movie about Vikings' battling Native Americans in the New World. Recently Means co-starred in ''Rez Bomb'' from director Steven Lewis Simpson, the first feature filmed on his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He stars with Tamara Feldman and Trent Ford and Chris Robinson.

He also appears as a character in the Access Adventure Game ''Under a Killing Moon''. In 2004 Means made a guest appearance on the HBO program ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''. Means played Wandering Bear, an American Indian with skills in landscaping and herbal medicine.

Writing

In 1995, Means published an autobiography, ''Where White Men Fear to Tread'', written with Marvin J. Wolf. He recounted his own family's problems: his alcoholic father, and his own "fall into truancy, crime and drugs" before he found the American Indian Movement. Writing in the ''New York Times Book Review'', the author Brent Staples said of Means:

"His repeated assertion that Native American culture is cosmologically superior to Europe’s seems patronizing, even coming from an Indian. The first law of the universe, after all, is that evil and stupidity are randomly distributed. Had the Lakota and others been the seers Mr. Means seems to think they were, they would have avoided at least some of the disasters that befell them."

In 1998 Vernon Bellecourt, a longtime leader of AIM, criticized Marvin Wolf for failure to consult with other AIM leaders about events that Means recounted. He said, "Not one of the people in the movement was asked by Means' co-author, Marvin J. Wolf, to confirm Means' version of events. It's a very reckless book. It puts out a lot of inaccuracies and petty attacks on people that are seen as very divisive."

The journalist Malcolm Brenner, who had covered Native American issues for newspapers from the Shiprock, New Mexico area, wrote in his review: "Over and over again, Means makes blanket condemnations of all 'White People' that he would assuredly bust my chops for if I made them about Indians... Readers should understand that this book is Russell Means' version of reality, and it does not necessarily bear any relationship to the truth...Ultimately, this book is a chronicle of Means' bottomless rage..." which Brenner notes may have been justified by "the circumstances of his life in particular or American Indian lives in general," but he thought Means' stance was overdone.

Patricia Holt, book editor for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' wrote of the book, "It's American history -- warts, wounds and all." Mari Wadsworth of the ''Tucson Weekly'' wrote, "Critical readers do well to remain skeptical of any individual, however charismatic, who claims to be the voice of authority and authenticity for any population, let alone one as diverse as the native tribes of the Americas."

Music

Russell Means recorded a CD entitled ''Electric Warrior'' under indie label SOAR. Songs include ''"Une Gente Indio"'', "Hey You, Hey Indian", "Wounded Knee Set Us Free", and "Indian Cars Go Far".

Representation in other media

The American pop artist Andy Warhol painted 18 individual portraits of Russell Means in his 1976 ''American Indian Series''. The Dayton Art Institute holds one of the Warhol portraits of Means in its collection.

Personal life

Means has been married four times; his first three marriages ended in divorce. He has a total of ten children.

Means is married to Gloria (Grant) Means, a ''Dine'' educator and former rodeo rider. They have two sons: Tatunka Means, who is an actor, and Nataani Nez Means. Means is also the stepfather of Gloria's son Scott from her previous marriage.

On December 29, 1997, Means was arrested for assault and battery of his 80-year-old father-in-law Leon Grant, a member of the Dine (Navajo) Nation. AIM Governing General Council issued a press release to reiterate its separation from Means.

In August 2011, Means was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. In late September, Means reported that through tomotherapy, the tumor had diminished greatly. At the start of November 2011, he said that his tumor was "95% gone." On December 5, Means stated that he "beat cancer," that he beat "the death penalty."

References

External links

Russell Means official website

Russell Means Freedom

Republic of Lakotah Official Web Site

American Indian Movement on Russell Means

Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:American Indian Movement Category:American autobiographers Category:COINTELPRO targets Category:Indigenous activists Category:Lakota people Category:Native American activists Category:Native American actors Category:Native American writers Category:New Mexico Libertarians Category:People from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:United States presidential candidates, 1988

ca:Russell Means de:Russell Means et:Russell Means fr:Russell Means gl:Russell Means nl:Russell Means ja:ラッセル・ミーンズ no:Russell Means pl:Russell Means ru:Минс, Рассел fi:Russell Means sv:Russell Means tr:Russell Means

Dr. Farish Ahmad Noor (born 15 May 1967 in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia) is a Malaysian political scientist and historian and is presently a Senior Fellow at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. At the NTU he is part of the research cluster on the contemporary development of trans-national religio-political networks across South and Southeast Asia, where he is studying the phenomenon of Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist religio-political mobilisation in the public domain.

He was formerly attached to Zentrum Moderner Orient (Centre for Modern Oriental Studies) in Berlin, Germany, Sciences-Po Paris, the Institute for the Study of Muslim Society (IISMM, Ecole des haute études en sciences sociale, EHESS), Paris and the International Institute for the Study of the Muslim World (ISIM), Leiden, Netherlands. Dr. Noor's teaching credits include the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya, the Institute for Islamic Studies, Free University Berlin, Sunan Kalijaga Islamic University (Jogjakarta), Muhamadiyah University Surakarta and Nanyang Technological University presently.

At NTU/RSIS he teaches two courses: (1) History, Society and Politics of Malaysia and (2) Introduction to Discourse Analysis. The first is part of the RSIS area studies curricula (which also covers Indonesia) while the second is a foundational course in Philosophy of Language, Linguistics and Semiotics with a heavy emphasis on Critical Theory as developed by the Essex School of Discourse Analysis.

He received his BA in Philosophy & Literature from the University of Sussex in 1989, before studying for an MA in Philosophy at the same University in 1990, an MA in South-East Asian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, before completing his PhD at the University of Essex in 1997 in the field of governance and politics.

Dr Noor also runs a research site www.othermalaysia.org along with Dr Yusseri Yusoff, which looks at the history of Malaysia from an alternative, deconstructive angle and which attempts to demonstrate the constructiveness and contingency behind historical development, particularly of nation-states from the pre-colonial to post-colonial era.

Over the past ten years he has also been researching the phenomenon of transnational and translocal religio-political movements, including missionary movements such as the Tablighi Jama'at and its networks from South to Southeast Asia; as well as the development of religio-politics in South and Southeast Asia, looking at the rise of Muslim, Christian and Hindu political-religious revivalism in particular (see "Islam" in Richter & Mar, 2004).

His other interests include antiques and material history, and he has written about the plastic arts of Southeast Asia, focusing on things such as the Indonesian-Malaysian keris to the development of woodcarving and architecture.

Farish has also appeared in the semi-documentary film The Big Durian (film), directed by Amir Muhammad.

Publications

From Indrapura to Darul Makmur: A Deconstructive History of Pahang. (Silverfish Books, Kuala Lumpur, 2010.)

What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You (The Annexe Lectures, Vol. 1) (Matahari Books, Petaling Jaya, 2009)

Quran and Cricket: Travels Through the Madrasahs of Asia and Other Stories. (Silverfish Books, Kuala Lumpur, 2009)

Di Balik Malaysia Dari Majapahit Ke Putrajaya (ZI Publications, KL, 2008)

Islam Embedded: The Historical Development of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 1951-2003 (MSRI, Kuala Lumpur, 2004)

The Madrasah in Asia: Political Activism and Transnational Linkages (University of Amsterdam press, 2008)

Writings on the War on Terror, Global Media Publications, New Delhi, 2006.

Crosscurrents: Alternative Voices in Our Changing Times. Marshall Cavendish-Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 2006.

From Majapahit to Putrajaya: Searching For Another Malaysia. Silverfish Books, Kuala Lumpur, 2005.

Islam Progresif: Peluang, Tentangan dan Masa Depannya di Asia Tenggara. SAMHA, Jogjakarta, 2005.

Farish A. Noor: "Islam", in: Frank-Jürgen Richter, Pamela Mar: ''Asia’s New Crisis'', John Wiley & Sons, Singapore, 2004 (see Amazon)

Di San Zhi Yan Kan Ma Lai Xi Ya (Chinese edition of The Other Malaysia). Sin Chew Jit Poh Press, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, 2004.

The Other Malaysia: Writings on Malaysia's Subaltern History, Silverfish Books, Kuala Lumpur, 2002

Terrorising the Truth, The Shaping of Contemporary Images of Islam and Muslims in Media, Politics and Culture (JUST world press, Kuala Lumpur, 1998)

External links

A brief profile of Farish Noor at BBC

The Other Malaysia website

Farish A. Noor author page at Amazon.com

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Category:Malaysian writers Category:Malaysian academics Category:Malaysian people stubs Category:English-language writers Category:1967 births Category:Living people