Empire Watch

This article asks: Are the islands that experienced European colonization for a longer period of time richer today? And concludes that they are.

The academic rewriting of the negative effects of colonialism continue.

Which country is the best colonizer? - By Joel Waldfogel - Slate Magazine

Apart from the questionable methods through which the 'research' is carried out crucial questions must be asked. Such as: 'Could a few formerly colonised countries which were colonised longer have better living standards today because of the longer period they had global capitalist infrastructure forced down their throats, an infrastructure which is the only means to survive in today's capitalist world?'

Posted by Mukti at 5:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

For centuries both women have been reviled as collaborators in Spanish conquests of the new world that verged on genocide. La Malinche was an Aztec turncoat who helped Hernán Cortés conquer Mexico; Inés Suárez was a Spanish seamstress who joined another conquistador, Pedro de Valdivia, in slaughtering the inhabitants of Chile.

Now two of Latin America's female literary giants, Laura Esquivel and Isabel Allende, have written novels casting them as misunderstood heroines who could be role models for today's women.

Conquistadors' women pardoned in paperback | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

This speaks to an unfortunate phenomenon I have come across in some of my classes whereby a certain political goal is sacrificed for the elevation of another. Here feminism is being elevated above the goals of anti-imperial ideology. In one of my classes anti-imperial ideology was elevated above feminist ideals; the professor refused to recognize the misogynist, sexist elements of a native american work, simply because criticizing an element of native american culture would somehow undermine the anti imperial project of his teaching.

Posted by Mukti at 5:02 AM | Permalink | Comments