The Colonizer and the Colonized

            In Albert Memmi’s (2003) most astounding book entitled ‘The Colonizer and the Colonized’, the person who reads it will get a clear and vivid picture of both the colonizer and the colonized from the point of view of the realist and mythologist.  As Part I presents Memmi’s (2003) view that there are two kinds of colonizers—the one who refuses and the one who accepts—it appears that Memmi (2003) is putting the world into a small cup and assumes that it is made out of coffee and cream alone.  Of course, there are other forms of matter that are available in that cup of coffee; yet the writer tries to simplify things by revealing only the most basic entities that are available—and distinguishable—to his sight.  Thus, the book would appear to be very simple to any reader… and this makes it very readable and understandable to almost any kind of reader.

            In Part II, when Memmi (2003) describes the colonized based on the psychological situations they are more likely to experience, I feel that the book is actually a psychological interpretation of his thoughts and his state of mind.  He tries to simplify things in order that he may know where he truly stands.  In his desire to “identify (his) place in the society of other men” (Memmi, 2003, p.4), he focuses on things that are most common among his type of world colored by both the colonizers and the colonized.  He accepts the world as a place where merely two types of people—colonizers and colonized—form an interactive relationship that creates ‘colonial mythology’, ironically, under a place of reality.

            On the other hand, even though Memmi’s (2003) words are tapered and very far from the truth (i.e., world is complex), there is a side that can be described as infinitely true.  He stated, “The colonial relationship which I had tried to define chained the colonizer and the colonized into an implacable dependence, molded their respective characters and dictated their conduct” (p.5).  From here it is clear that, out of the relationship that forms between the colonizer and the colonized, dependence is being born and revitalized.  He sees ‘dependence’ as being formed and decomposed, while what has been called colonial mythology is being born and then rotten again.  With this, I feel that Memmi (2003) is right on the track… that dependence starts when admiration starts to occur, especially on the side of the colonized.  This is based on my experience that, as I admire a person almost to the point of being stunned by the things and characteristics that s/he possesses, I tend to depend on the person, hoping that I would get the privileges that this person is capable of giving me.  It is the psychological tendency next to admiration.  However, as this admiration turns to hatred—usually because a certain expectation does not end up to be settled over a span of time—then dependence is being destroyed, and this brings out fierce outrage on the side of the anticipator.

This is true even when we talk of education and the contexts of language learning.  Whatever the social, cultural, and political context of the learners, the relationship between the teachers and learners starts and ends with the word ‘dependence’.  Students depend on teachers, as the former admires the knowledge and personality that are shown by teachers.  Thus, students find themselves depending on them, believing that they, too, will get the privileges of having to spend the day with someone whose characteristics are so amazing and captivating.  On the side of the teachers, however, finding themselves alone in a class where everyone else is younger or more naïve, they experience isolation and ambiguity… just as Memmi (2003) interpreted in his text: ““I understand only too well their (the colonizer’s) inevitable ambiguity and the resulting isolation; more serious still, their inability to act” (p.11).  This ends up the feeling of dependence on the side of the teachers, especially when students are not precisely their friends, or when they have not developed a certain bonding with their students.  This isolation cuts off the state of being amazing, which turns admiration to hatred, and then cuts off the dependence of the learners to the teachers.  Therefore, teachers should fill up this strong, undeniable dependence set to them trustingly by the learners.

Reference

Memmi, A.  (2003).  The colonizer and the colonized.  London: Earthscan Ltd.