Colonial Continuities in Science & Culture:
2 examples
Traces of colonialism in modern-day life.
by A. J. Marsden & A. Winkelmann
As explained in previous articles of this project, colonialism describes the control of one country over a dependent land and its people. At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the world had been colonized by a European country. The main justification for colonialism was the spread of western civilisation and Christian religion. Colonial powers did build infrastructure, spread medical and technological knowledge and build churches [1], but the negative impacts of their rule were often extreme: genocide, other violations of human rights, environmental degradation and destruction, resource exploitation, spread of disease, economic instability, coercion and forced cultural assimilation to name a few. [2,3]
Today, there are only 17 Territories left on the UN`s list of Non-Self-Governing territories, most former colonies gained their independence from their colonizing countries in decolonization processes in the 19th and 20th centuries. [4]
Decolonization (the end of direct rule over territories by colonizing countries) didn’t solve all the problems brought about by colonialism. Newly independent countries faced challenges, such as establishing new governmental structures and laws, defining new language policies, (re)building national and cultural identities and building economic institutions, to name a few. [5] Even today, there are countless cultural, social, geopolitical, and environmental issues connected directly or indirectly to colonialism [6] (as specified further in other articles on this website).
While these impacts are still felt in formerly colonized nations (oftentimes unfairly benefiting former colonial powers), many traces of colonialism still shape modern-day western life as well, be it in form of stolen artefacts
displayed in museums, colonialist imagery and ideologies in literature and art (e.g. stereotypical portrayals of indigenous peoples), naming species or locations after colonialists, or examples of cultural appropriation among others.
The problematic aspect of some of these colonial continuities is that they can perpetuate power imbalance between former colonizers and their former dependent nations by benefiting the former and not acknowledging or addressing the inequality and possible trauma experienced by the latter.
In this article we will delve into two examples: colonial continuities in the field of Botany and culture (in form of Cultural Appropriation).
1
Botany
A History
As previously outlined, Europe shaped the past and present of a great part of the world. Many African, South-East Asian, and South American countries suffer from cultural influences as well as scientific inhibition as a shadow cast by their former colonial rulers. The following provides a summary of how botany shaped and continues to burden previously colonised countries.
European colonial expansion centred itself around three (botanically relevant) purposes. Firstly economic, the gathering of plants that may be easily and at a large scale cultivated, secondly strategic, finding remedies for expansively inhibitive maladies and lastly scientific, filling European botanic gardens with previously unknown species [7]. One may trace the origin of this botanical journey to the third of these purposes.
Scientific
As part of the many worldwide voyages of European countries, vast quantities of unknown species were shipped back to European gardens. Originally a royal hobby (George III Britain prided himself in his botanical collection at Kew, for which he sent out the likes of Joseph Banks and Thomas Cook to fill its beds. ),
1841 saw the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew created into a state institution tasked with “aiding the Mother Country in everything that is useful in the vegetable kingdom” [8] - i.e. find strategic and economic value in their specimens. So early on, the central British botanic garden side-lined its scientific interest in the plants for a more colonially “useful” one.
Kew Gardens in 1800s, recoloure
Economic
Early crop exchanges as part of the so called “Columbian exchange” [9] provided Europeans with Mesoamerican foods such as corn, pumpkin, beans, chillies, potatoes, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. This exchange also saw European products as wheat, grapes, olives, lettuce, apples but also mangoes and bananas transported to central and south America. Alongside fruit and vegetables, many medicinal plants were also part of these discoveries. Most of
these were established in colonially enforced plantations before botanic gardens had any role. The introduction of many of these foods provided Europe with a nutritional backbone, without which it may not have thrived as it did [10].
The Columbian Exchange (C.Hwa on Flickr)
One of the first instances of a Botanical Gardens aid, was the start of South American coffee. Here the Amsterdam Botanical garden provided coffee seeds from its Javan specimen that quickly spread through South American plantations [11]. Another example is the British tea obsession which saw plantations erected in northern India with tea plants taken from China after its loss in the Opium War [12]. Later the Botanic Gardens hybridised the local “assam” variant for further use in the same foothills. This model (Trained botanists ready to remove from “weaker” nations desirable plants for use in colonial plantations [13]) allowed Britain to build plantations which buttressed the subjugation beyond Africa's coasts
Strategic
Before Britain's discovery of cinchona its hold on India and advancement through Africa was controlled by (among other diseases) malaria. After Botanists from Kew Gardens “collected” seeds from varied South American forests (who previously had a monopoly on cinchona), Britain was able to establish plantations to produce masses of Cinchona in India and Sri Lanka. With this plant and its extract (Quinine, most notably in Tonic Water), the country quickly combated their medical throttle and expanded greatly [14] throughout Africa and South-East Asia.
Another plant of great strategic influence was the rubber tree. Initially, again, natural to South America, Botanists of the Kew Botanic Garden smuggled thousands of seeds out of Brazil, grew them in Kew and sent them to Sri Lanka where they were distributed to the plantations of the region [15]. Eventually millions, these trees supplied rubber for the colonial machine.
Of course, many other plants can be attributed with sustaining the colonial expanse, but for a short summary these are most interesting.
Cinchona officinalis, the plant that allowed British expansion throughout Africa and Asia.
Remnants of Colonialism
This massive conquest left a trail, whose clearing and reappraisal is the duty of our generation. For this one must examine what remains. Within botany the two major remnants are the Herbaria (the collections, one uses to identify collected species) and the given names in botanical Latin, whose origin often traces (c)overtly to their colonialist/racist past.
Herbaria
Europe's expansion through Africa brought with it the urge to classify all existing plants. Botanists were tasked with creating so-called “Floras”, works describing all plant species the colony had to offer. Along with describing, they collected species, which were transported to European plant collections (so-called “Herbaria”) where they were dried, pressed and still mainly remain today. This impedes formerly colonised countries' botanical foundation for independent research. Thus, if a local researcher wants to identify a rare species by comparing it to an herbarium type, they must travel to Europe or North America to do so. [16] Through this, the creation of floras and description of new species is still mainly conducted by external parties.
Typical Herbarium, in this example Nepenthes, a carnivorous plant from Borneo, being held in the Natural History Museum Paris.
(Photographer: François MEY Herbarium: Muséum national d'histoire naturelle Département de Systématique et Évolution)
Naming
In their privilege of describing new species, botanists could also give them new (Latin) names. These names are usually descriptive, giving the defining properties of the species - but often they are used to honour people. Furthermore, the descriptions often show traces of the historically racist thought. For example, the west-African Berlinia hollandii which of course has no known presence in Germany or the Netherlands. The practice of honouring people, led to many plants being named after colonial figures, or including racial slurs (Enneapogon nigricans, Talinum caffrum) [17].
As many of these problems are quite complex, there are often no simple solutions. Seemingly straightforward means such as repatriation or renaming are beset by bureaucratic chokes. Nevertheless, modern ideas exist for slowly improving botany's bloody history.
Solutions
Repatriation of Herbaria
Europe’s often chosen solution for African herbaria, is to simply digitalise these. This may alleviate some of the problems, but in the long term cannot support local botanists. Many African countries do not have large-scale access to the internet, so this will mostly benefit the needs of European researchers. It must be the goal, to repatriate herbaria, or at least supply the duplicates of which there often are many. The repatriation is (sadly) rarely discussed, as this leaves the future of European institutions in jeopardy [16].
Naming practices
Oftentimes when a new species is named, indigenous communities have known and used it for a much longer time - sadly this is rarely reflected in the nomenclature. For this many projects exist, integrating and honouring local knowledge into the botanic naming practice. New Zealand has, for example, been using Te Reo names for newly described local flora - a template which may be applied to so many countries around the world. [18]
New Zealand is leading efforts to give their flora indigenous names. Here most plants are known by the Maori Te Reo. This tree is called tī kōuka.
(On Flickr, Kahuroa 2010)
Photo by Maxime Bhm on Unsplash, Holi-style colours at a non-Indian music festival
2
Cultural appropriation
Colonial power structures have also left their mark on the ways we see, use and produce culture, as has been highlighted in discussions on Cultural Appropriation (CA).[19]
In its broadest sense the term describes the use of a cultural element by a different culture. Usually, it is used when there is a strong power imbalance (oftentimes as a direct result of colonial power structures): a dominant culture uses an element of a marginalized culture either without permission or even against the wishes of its members, while taking the element out of its original context.[24] While doing so the dominant culture oftentimes doesn’t give credit to its source, reinforces negative stereotypes (e.g. with Halloween costumes), or even oppresses the marginalized original culture further.[20]
The term becomes even broader, since “culture” has many definitions and can describe anything from shared ideologies and beliefs to lifestyles, food and cultural production, i.e. fashion, art, literature etc.[19] Though for example the westernization of Yoga or British Chefs publishing cookbooks on Indian cuisine have also been under scrutiny[21], most discussions on CA have been focused on cultural production.
Examples of problematic practices of CA
One of the most blatant examples of problematic CA are Halloween costumes; practices in which traditional fashion of one culture is used completely out of context by another for purposes of entertainment and ridicule (e.g. Native American Headdresses).[20]
The use of cultural elements for their aesthetic value by fashion brands is another example of CA that has made headlines in the past years: Marc Jacobs faced scrutiny, after white runway models walked in colorful dreadlocks in 2016, Valentino put on a show titled “Wild Africa” in 2015, which featured white models walking in traditional African prints and clothes, Victoria’s Secret has faced multiple scandals including white models wearing Native American Headdresses or wearing Maori Tribal Tattoos.[23] In all of these instances, fashion brands (belonging to the dominant culture) have used elements for their aesthetic value, outside of their original context or without any considerations to their spiritual value, without giving credit to their sources while profiting monetarily.
More controversial examples are hairstyles, such as cornrows, braids or dreadlocks. All of these are styles originated in BIPOC (a term describing Black, Indigenous and People of Color) communities centuries ago, connected in different extents to those cultures’ spirituality and / or histories of oppression. To this day members of BIPOC communities face discrimination for wearing their hair in these traditional styles. When a non-BIPOC person wears their hair in braids / cornrows / dreadlocks, not only do they not face discrimination, they are often praised for it and profit monetarily from these styles.
Traditional Indian Mehndi (Henna) tattoos
When are we participating in, appreciating and appropriating other cultures?
Not all mixing of cultural elements can be described as harmful appropriation. A member of a dominant culture can participate in a different culture (e.g. by being invited to an event) and not appropriate said culture. It is also possible to appreciate other cultures by respectfully borrowing elements with the goal of sharing experiences as well as furthering and celebrating diversity. The action becomes appropriative or even denigrative (an element of another culture is used with the purpose of humiliating and oppressing said culture) when a lack of understanding or a dismissal of a cultural element’s original meaning as well as the historical context behind imbalanced cultural power dynamics disrespects or insults another culture.[22]
The discourse on CA is not meant to discourage cultural exchange, only to underline cultural inequalities and power dynamics that are behind some cultural practices of dominant cultures.[19]
As members of a privileged culture, how should we act?
The discussion on CA can be overwhelming, especially if we are members of a privileged society (in post-colonial dynamics), since western culture “borrows” cultural elements from other cultures on a daily basis.[20] How do we then act
in a compassionate manner without further inflicting pain onto members of marginalized cultures?
Most importantly, we have to get informed. We cannot grow unless we educate ourselves on issues that we were not exposed to previously. You can find a selection of videos on specific topics regarding CA on below.
While gathering more information, we have to realize our own bias, our position in the cultural power dynamics and assess which issues we can and cannot pass judgement on. We should listen to the discussions being held by members of other cultures and evaluate our own every-day choices with compassion.
Realizing that every situation can be different, we have to stay open. For example, if we get an invitation to our Indian friends’ wedding where it is customary to wear a sari, we are in a different situation from a white singer wearing a bhindi on stage, completely outside of its original cultural context. The only way to navigate every-day decisions is by continuously actively listening, acting with compassion and being open to criticism, taking accountability and readjusting if necessary.