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235th out of 311 books
—
288 voters
The Colonizer and the Colonized
by
Albert Memmi
First published in English in 1965, this timeless classic explores the psychological effects of colonialism on colonized and colonizers alike.
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
July 8th 1991
by Beacon Press
(first published June 13th 1971)
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Memmi is a contemporary of Frantz Fanon and similarly explores the psychological and social consequences of the colonial relationship on both the colonizer and the colonized.
I think the second part of the first chapter, "The colonizer who refuses," would make good reading for financially comfortable folks in the U.S. today (especially whites who consider themselves moderate or liberal types, but don't yet perceive the need for their own involvement in dealing with issues of class or race).
I think the second part of the first chapter, "The colonizer who refuses," would make good reading for financially comfortable folks in the U.S. today (especially whites who consider themselves moderate or liberal types, but don't yet perceive the need for their own involvement in dealing with issues of class or race).
Albert Memmi was a well-educated Tunisian Jew whose seminal work on the relationship between colonizer and colonized is a projection of his inner turmoil, his own life story. The strength of this short book lies in Memmi's insights into the dependence of the colonizer on his subjects. He may oppress and exploit, but he ultimately needs the colonized in order to sustain colonialism, yet such a relationship is not sustainable. The oppression and exploitation leads to revolt. History has vindicated...more
This is one of those rare books that I found myself putting down the highlighter because it was pointless to highlight multiple pages at a time. Almost every second page has a fold to bookmark it, and some pages were folded at the top and bottom corners to bookmark the bookmarks!
Although he wrote it in 1957, Albert Memmi didn't realize that at the time he was writing about an age-old relationship between the powerful and the powerless. Although I had many thoughts pass in my mind as I went thro...more
Although he wrote it in 1957, Albert Memmi didn't realize that at the time he was writing about an age-old relationship between the powerful and the powerless. Although I had many thoughts pass in my mind as I went thro...more
The subject of colonialism has rarely been treated more lucidly and devastatingly than in this book. Albert Memmi's characterology of master and servant has a personal as well as a social dimension. The pecking order he describes has its accurate analogues in the lives of all South Africans and many middle-class Americans. I can't speak for others.
A friend of mine recommended this book. It was written by Memmi (a Tunisian Jew) in 1957 in the middle of colonial independence. It was probably a revelation at the time but it has all been said before and now seems totally obvious and rather irrelevant. The only interesting point for me was his reference to the return to religion by some the "colonised" freedom fighters and how, in his opinion, this rejection of all things western is a natural result of being treated as inferior. At the time of...more
Written when North Africa was shaking free of France in the late 1950s, this little tome accurately plots the emotional and psychological matrix of imperial power from both sides of the gun. It's mainly valuable for the way it applies the concepts of individual psychology to political groups, but at this point most of its insights are too carefully even-handed or too well understood to make much of an impression. In other words, it's interesting as a historical document but disappointing at this...more
Okay. It's a little naive. And it's hardly the most um...data-driven book. But it's got a solid philosophical premise--colonization makes the colonizer and the colonized alike into twisted monsters of themselves. Interesting idea.
The book is characterology of the colonizer and the colonized within a colonial situation. The langauge of the book is simple, and I like the content.
I really wish I'd read this years ago. It would have changed the way I read so many books. This book? Worth reading. Definitely worth reading.
Aug 05, 2007
Naeem
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorite-books-of-a-lifetime
Two chapters: one from the point of view of the colonizer, the other from the colonized. Totally compelling and beautifully written.
It demonstrates the human capacity to regard the life of the slave AND the life of the master. (Consider my favorite line from the film Bladerunner: "If only you had seen what I have seen with your eyes.") Memmi sees with all eyes and spares us no acid in our wounds. And yet precisely because he is so even tempered, so evenhanded, the small judgments he does make ar...more
It demonstrates the human capacity to regard the life of the slave AND the life of the master. (Consider my favorite line from the film Bladerunner: "If only you had seen what I have seen with your eyes.") Memmi sees with all eyes and spares us no acid in our wounds. And yet precisely because he is so even tempered, so evenhanded, the small judgments he does make ar...more
Look, it's not that it was bad, it's a very interesting topic. It's just that I had to read it for a class and I'm not one for socio-polical non-fiction.
Memmi has some beautiful insights into his own experience and the generalized experience of those in the relationship of Colonizer and Colonized. The way he describes this relationship is at times technical; otherwise emotional.
Opened my eyes a bit to the duality and dependence inherent in a dysfunctional relationship. Can be expanded to fit many different relationships. Wrote a paper on how it relates to the situation of a customer service representative.
Opened my eyes a bit to the duality and dependence inherent in a dysfunctional relationship. Can be expanded to fit many different relationships. Wrote a paper on how it relates to the situation of a customer service representative.
Sep 17, 2012
Brandi Sellers
added it
I just... I can't review this. I hated it, but I didn't read it by choice. Confusing and a waste of my time.
Very well written! Memmi's descriptions were clear and insightful.
Must read for anyone concerned about power differences and politics, colonization,issues of race, etc. While the context is dated, the examination of the roles people fill in society and how that effects their lives and outlook is very relevant.
Only one the best damned books ever written! I find myself thinking about this book when I am at work, downtown, or anywhere. It just seems to pop into my head. It is one of those books that gets memorized with the first read. The Powerbroker is still the book I think about the most, but this one is up there.
Memmi gives general observations on what characterizes the colonized and the colonizer. I thought the first part on the colonizer was a bit repetitive and harder to get thru--but the second section on the colonized is excellent.
The characterizations are still highly relevant today.
The characterizations are still highly relevant today.
I recommend reading this book alongside Camus. Camus could never come to grips with the fact that the French who settled in Algeria were in fact settlers. Memmi stared that legacy in the face even when it meant dealing with uncomfortable truths.
Classic, written in an easy to read narrative style, about the relationship between colonized peoples and the people who colonize them. Memmi is an Algerian Jew, so he has a unique perspective on Africans being colonized by Europeans
it's a great introductory read for anyone including those who reject or accept their inherent role as colonizers.
short & cogently clear piece about the complex cycle of oppression.
rec by Paulo Freire and/or Myles Horton in We Make the Road by Walking
Still amazing after all these years.
A classic text on colonialism.
Great book
May 20, 2013
Yaz
marked it as to-read
May 20, 2013
Amir mogy
marked it as to-read
May 20, 2013
Ahmed
marked it as to-read
May 19, 2013
Shahriar
marked it as to-read
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Tunisian Jewish writer and essayist who migrated to France.
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“The colonialist's existence is so closely aligned with that of the colonized that he will never be able to overcome the argument which states that misfortune is good for something. With all his power he must disown the colonized while their existence is indispensable to his own. Having chosen to maintain the colonial system, he must contribute more vigor to its defense than would have been needed to dissolve it completely. Having become aware of the unjust relationship which ties him to the colonized, he must continually attempt to absolve himself. He never forgets to make a public show of his own virtues, and will argue with vehemence to appear heroic and great. At the same time his privileges arise just as much from his glory as from degrading the colonized.”
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“Conquest occurred through violence, and over-expolitation and oppression necessitate continued violence, so the army is present. There would be no contradiction in that, if terror reigned everywhere in the world, but the colonizer enjoys, in the mother country, democratic rights that the colonialist system refuses to the colonized native. In fact, the colonialist system favors population growth to reduce the cost of labor, and it forbids assimilation of the natives, whose numerical superiority, if they had voting rights, would shatter the system. Colonialism denies human rights to human beings whom it has subdued by violence, and keeps them by force in a state of misery and ignorance that Marx would rightly call a subhuman condition. Racism is ingrained in actions, institutions, and in the nature of the colonialist methods of production and exchange. Political and social regulations reinforce one another. Since the native is subhuman, the Declaration of Human Rights does not apply to him; inversely, since he has no rights, he is abandoned without protection to inhuman forces - brought in with the colonialist praxis, engendered every moment by the colonialist apparatus, and sustained by relations of production that define two sorts of individuals - one for whom privilege and humanity are one, who becomes a human being through exercising his rights; and the other, for whom a denial of rights sanctions misery, chronic hunger, ignorance, or, in general, 'subhumanity.”
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1 person liked it
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Nov 24, 2012 05:28pm