A Multidimensional Theory of Colonialism: The Native North American Experience

Year 1996, Issue: 3, 3 - 14, 01.04.1996

Duane Champagne

Abstract

Theories of colonialism emphasize materialistic domination and analyze from the point of view of the colonizer. The primary focus is on the powerful forms of political, economic and cultural domination, and sometimes the effects of disease. Yet the views of the colonized deserve greater attention. In North America, Native communities survived 500 years of colonialism. How? Why? In what ways? Theories that emphasize colonial domination cannot answer such questions. This article presents a theory and a method that place the colonized at the center and view them as historical actors with pliable cultures and communities. The theory also incorporates the processes of cultural exchange between colonized and colonizer. Such a multidimensional theory provides a more accurate and powerful understanding of the processes of colonization and of social change in general.

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