From Classificatory Theories to Social Darwinism and Western Manipulation in the World

Year 2012, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 97 - 106, 30.06.2012

M. Önder Göncüoğlu

Abstract

In order to understand how the expansion of an empire means more than geographical expansion, the whole process of both the eighteenth century classificatory system and nineteenth century Social Darwinism should be taken into account. We must therefore consider how the European viewed the non-European as the wild and ‘the other’; how they legitimised the idea of the white man’s superiority over ‘the other’. Only then can some certain texts written under the influence of such thinking be perceived in a wider scope with certain causes and results as well. Such thinking regarding ‘the other’ related both to the scientific classification system of the eighteenth century and to Social Darwinism as the prevailing ideology of the late nineteenth century milieu. Therefore, the primary goal of this article is to clarify how such western thinking was first moulded and then galvanized through scientific proofs to make the idea of the inferiority of the non-European “other” common among Europeans

Keywords

Classification, Social-Darwinism, empire, ‘the other’

Sınıflandırma Teorilerin’den Sosyal Darvinizm’e Dünyada Batı Hegomanyası

Abstract

Bir imparatorluğun genişlemesinin coğrafi yayılımının ötesinde bir olgu olduğunu anlayabilmek için on sekizinci yüzyıla ait sınıflandırma sisteminin ve on dokuzuncu yüzyılda ortaya atılan Sosyal Darvinizm teorisinin dikkate alınması gerekir. Bununla beraber Avrupa’lının Avrupa’lı olmayanı nasıl ‘yabani’ ve ‘öteki’ olarak gördüğü ve buna paralel ‘beyaz adam üstünlüğü’nü nasıl ‘öteki’ üzerinde meşrulaştırdığı da göz önüne alınmalıdır. Ancak o zaman, bu düşünce biçiminin etkisi altında kaleme alınmış metinlerin bağlamları, sebep ve sonuçları bakımından daha iyi analiz edilebilir. Bu sınıflandırma sistemi ve Sosyal Darvinizmin on dokuzuncu yüzyıla gelindiğinde ‘öteki’ni değerleyen baskın ideoloji biçimini oluşturduğu görülmektedir. Bu nedenle, bu makalenin temel amacı batı merkezli böyle bir ideolojinin nasıl şekillendiğini göstermek ve batılı olmayan ‘ötekiler’in daha aşağı türler olduğu zemininin bilimsel çarpıtmalarla nasıl oluşturulduğunu kanıtlamak olacaktır.

Keywords

Sınıflandırma, Sosyal-Darvinizm, imparatorluk, ‘öteki’

References

• Blake, A. (1989). Reading Victorian Fiction: The Cultural Context and Ideological Context of the Nineteenth-Century Novel. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd.
• Blanchard, P. (2005). “From human zoos to colonial apotheoses: the era of exhibiting the Other”. Africacultures, October 28, 19-26.
• Burke, G. J. (1994). The Wild Man’s Pedigree. Oxford: Oxford UP.
• Canny, N. (1998). The Origins of Empire: British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century. The Oxford History of the British Empire. Ed. Louis, W. R. (Vols. 5).. Oxford: Oxford UP.
• Curtin, P. (1975). The Image of Africa. Madison: Wisconsin UP.
• Deirdre, D. (1995). Rule Britannia: Women, Empire, and Victorian Writing. Ithaca: Cornell UP.
• Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth. Trans. Constance Farrigton. New York: Grove.
• Grafton, A. (1992). New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and The Shock of Discovery, Harvard UP.
• Leech, J. (1846) Catalogue Reference: csl2296. Retrieved 19 Feb 2010 from http://www.cartoonstock.com/vintage/cartoonview.asp start=&search=vintage&catref=csl2296&VC_Category=Not+Selected&AN Dkeyword=evolution&ORkeyword=&TITLEkeyword=&NEGATIVEkeyword=
• Lorimer, D. (1988). “Theoretical Racism in late Victorian Anthropology, 1870-1900”. Victorian Studies, 31, 89-96.
• Marshall, P. J. (1998). “The British in Asia: Trade to Dominion, 1700-1765. The Eighteenth Century”. The Oxford History of the British Empire, 2. Ed. Louis, W. R. Oxford: Oxford UP.
• Partridge, J. B. (1893) Catalogue Reference: csl3572. Retrieved 19 Feb 2010 from http://www.cartoonstock. com/vintage/cartoonview.asp start=4&search=vintage&catref=csl3572&VC_Category=Not+Selecte d&ANDkeyword=man+served+pig+foot&ORkeyword=&TITLEkeyword=&NEGATIVEkeyword
• Perry, M., & Jacob, M. (2008). Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics and Society: Since 1400 (9th ed.). Boston, Wadsworth Pub. Co.
• Poliakov, L. (1974). Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalist Ideas in Europe. New York, NY: Basic Books.
• Porter, A. (1999). Introduction. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford UP.
• Pratt, M. L. (1992). Imperial eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London and New York: Routledge.
• Tucker, W. (2002). The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund. Urbana, IL: Illinois UP.
• Rodney, W. (1982). How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, DC: Howard UP.