Colonialism, Race, and Development: A Critical Bibliography

This assignment is a critical annotated bibliography focusing on the intricate relationships between colonialism, race, and development. It analyzes four key texts: Pailey (2019), Wolfe (2015), Anievas and Nişancioğlu (2015), and Benton (2016). The bibliography provides concise summaries and critical evaluations of each source, examining how they address issues such as the 'white gaze' in development, the historical construction of racism, the geopolitical origins of capitalism, and the impact of race on humanitarian crises. The analysis highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each work, offering insights into the complexities of these interconnected themes. The bibliography also provides a critical reflection on the readings as a whole, synthesizing the key arguments and identifying common threads and divergent perspectives. The sources cover a range of theoretical approaches, including postcolonial and critical race theory, and address the material realities of race and its impact on development, inequality, and global power dynamics.

Running head: COLONIALISM, RACE AND DEVELOPMENT
Colonialism, race and development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. Pailey, 2019
Pailey (2019) is of the opinion that the aspect of development has been categorized in to
various fields such as that of political development, socio-economic development and that of
cultural processes. In the article, the author has argued that certain groups of people, especially
those belonging to the countries of the Global South consist of people who belong to the ‘black’
ethnic population. They face a regressive attitude in the society in the context of the individuals
belonging to the nation states of the Global North. This is due to the existence of the issue of
racism which has its base in the period of colonialism. The main argument of the author in this
respect it that the aspect of de-colonization forms an integral part of the process of development.
It requires the changing of the ‘white gaze’ of the colonial people. In the contemporary society,
certain movements have emerged which tries to protests against the prevalence of the colonial
issues. For instance, the social agitation known as #BlackLivesMatter have sought to bring in
front of the public the different forms of racial segregation that is being done in the society and
the adverse impact that they have on the ‘black’ ethnic population.
A critical reading of the article evidences that the author has sought to find a relation
between the Critical race studies with that of the Critical Development Studies. The author has
attempted to understand how the various policy makers of the society, the scholars and the
practitioners have either succeeded or failed on their endeavor to subvert the ‘white gaze’ of the
colonizers and lead to the path of development. The strength of the article lies in the fact that
Pailey (2019) has been able to understand the issue of racism and its linkage to colonization by
analyzing both the concepts through the critical lens of theoretical perspective. For instance, the
article makes mention about the rise of China in the spheres of both politics and economy. This
is significant because an Asian country belonging to the Global South, an area designated to be

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underdeveloped by the countries of the Global North, has managed to challenge the power of the
hegemon, the United States of America. Furthermore, it has also made reference to several social
and cultural movements brought about by the people of the society such as that of
#BlackLivesMatter. The article has traced its growth and seen the points of failures and success
of the movement so as to make the readers understand about the effectiveness of such social
movements. However, one of the main weakness of this article is that the author has failed to
take in to consideration the psychological aspects that play an important role in determining the
social outlook of the two ethnicities. The ‘black’ ethnicity, as a result of continued oppression,
have started to have an inferior outlook to life. The author has failed to understand that this needs
to be changed in order to bring about effective development in the community.
2. Wolfe, 2015
In the article written by Wolfe (2015), the author has sought to understand the new
approach taken to analyze the aspect of race and racism within the field of comparative colonial
studies. The nature of racism has arisen within the human civilization during the times of
colonialism. The author has sought to understand the historical perspective on the character of
racism that the European and other ‘white’ colonizers have attempted to impose on the
Aboriginal individuals living in the continent of Australia, the United States of America, in
Western Europe and other parts of the world. In this respect, the author has tried to trace the rise
of racism since the times of colonization. The origin of colonialism can be traced to the continent
of Europe where the imperial masters had the intention of expanding their hold over territories
and the resources of the world in order to develop a firm hand over their political security. The
justification of such colorism was based on the concept of racism whereby the idea of racial
superiority and ‘white imperialism’ were advocated. In this respect, the book has tried to show

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how the factor of race has led to the reproduction of various relationship of inequality in which
the people of Europe have been successful to coopt the subaltern population.
A critical reading of the work of Wolfe (2016) reveals that it has been successful in its
understand of the idea of race. The concept of racism is a social construct which means that it
was developed by the individuals of the society during the progress of human civilization. The
idea took a firm foot hold within the community of people and mainly within the psychological
set up of the individuals. Wolfe was competent in dealing with the question of racism through
the use of theoretical lens by representing it with an intense historical detail in his work. He
undertook a survey of the instances of the occurrences of racial discrimination which spanned for
nearly four centuries across four different continents, namely those of the United States of
America, Africa, Western Europe and that of Australia. The strength of the work lies in the fact
that Wolfe was successful in revealing the birth of the idea of racism and its operation in human
civilization as a part of a specific historical process. Furthermore, he has been able to trace its
development in the context of the struggle which existed among the people in their attempt to
control the factors of production like those of land, power, labor and culture. This has allowed
the author to impart a new lens to the field of social construction of race. However, a weakness
of the article can be seen in the context of understanding the present scenario of the idea of
racism. The tracing of the historical development of racism has left the author with limited scope
to make a comparative analysis to understand how racism has changed over the years in it basic
characteristics.
3. Anievas and Nişancioğlu, 2015
The authors Anievas and Nişancioğlu (2015), in their book, have tried to udnertsand the
rise of capitalism in the human society. The book provides the readers with an international and

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interdisciplinary historical perspective of the origin and rise of capitalism. The authors are of the
opinion that the rise of capitalism should not be attributed to the geographical and territorial
location of the nation states. Often, there is a popular opinion that the development of the tools of
production in the countries of the Global North have enabled them to undertake the process of
industrialization before the nation states of the Global South. Furthermore, the book has laid
emphasis on the issue of slavery and how it had contributed to the rise of capitalism in the
countries of Western Europe. The slaves were taken from the under developed and developing
countries of the Global South. Hence, the author has opined that the entire process of
industrialization and capitalism can be linked to the non-European countries as well as they have
played an important and decisive role in the development of the world. Thus, the idea of racism,
colonialism and development has been traced to the issue of slavery and the activity performed
by them as a result of the dictates of their imperial masters.
A critical reading of the book titled “How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical
Origins of Capitalism” shows that the author has been able to harp on the rise of the western
powers of the world as a result of the rise of their financial superiority. The book focuses on the
issue of slavery in order to bring out the idea of racism and colonialism. The strength of the book
lies in the fact that it understood the activities of the imperial masters in the context of their
economic exploitation. The imperial masters sued to indulge in exploiting the natives of the
colonized countries by compelling them to work in their plantations back at home. Cheap labor
was needed since the cost of labor in the western countries were extremely high. Thus, the
natives from the colonized countries would migrate to the land of their colonial masters and
work for them under the force of a contract. However, many times, the colonial masters would
not honor the terms of the agreement and instead keep them bonded and refuse to let them return

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home. It was this scenario, according to the authors, which contributed to the rise of capitalism in
the countries of the western world. The plantations started to yield a lot of profit margin since the
labor cost was extremely low. The economic surplus was sued to increase the standard of living
of the people of the western countries, allowing them to rise in social status as compared to their
counterparts in the Global South. However, one of the main criticisms of the book lies in the fact
that it sought to understand only the economic perspective of the issue of racism while ignoring
the sociological and cultural perspectives.
4. Benton, 2016
In the article written by Benton (2016), the author has sought to lay emphasis on the issue
of racism and the impact it has on the humanitarian life of the people of the world. The concept
of ‘humanity’ usually presupposes an image of collective action of the individuals and the
empathy involved in their interaction. The author is of the opinion that the recent indulges in the
study of humanitarian crisis in the society have failed to take in to consideration the aspect of
racism and how it has brought about a change in the community in an adverse manner. The
author has stated that the humanitarian issues have focused on the ‘humanitarian politics of life’
meaning that a political lens was used to analyze the inequalities and crisis present in a society as
opposed to taking a social and cultural lens. The author has tried to find a resolution to this issue
by stating that a combination of the visual representation and a textual analysis of the evidences
present would enable the readers to understand the issue of race, the risk associated with it and
the idea of humanitarian crisis.
Analyzing the article through the lens of critical reading, it can be seen that the author has
been successful in linking the ideas of racism and racial discrimination with that of humanitarian
crisis. The author has argued that the aspects of humanitarian and heroism are usually conflated

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in nature. Such conflation relies on the racialized observations of risk, within which the ‘black’
ethnicity assumes the center stage. This imparts an advantage to this article in the sense that it
has allowed the author to make a significant comparative study between the occurrences of racial
discrimination and the other humanitarian crisis of the society. One of the most important
critique which is made with respect to a humanitarian narrative is that they are inclined to be
unidirectional in nature. They try to espouse the story of the narrator in such humanitarian
narratives. I this regard, it is significant to understand that it is quite similar from the instances of
racial discrimination which is observed in the present contemporary world order. The ‘white’
individual in the situation is often given more preference and shown in a positive light than the
‘black’ person who is involved. It is instances of such racial discrimination which are regarded as
to be forming a part of the humanitarian crisis. However, one of the most significant weakness
observed in the context of this article is that the author does not make reference to the birth of
racism and how it came about. The understanding of the historical perspective of the idea of
racism is important to examine how they can be treated as instances of humanitarian crisis. The
author has been competent in his efforts to term the occurrence of ‘racism’ as a humanitarian
crisis since it leads to the degeneration of the standard of life of the people.
5. Horne, 2018
Horne (2018) has attempted to analyze the social, economic, cultural and political life of
the people of the United States of America through the lens of slavery. He opined that no
segment of life of the country can be examined without making a reference to the issue of
slavery and the manner in which it laid its foundation in the nation state. To this extent, Horne
(2016) has dug in to the colonial history of Europe, Africa and the countries of the New World.
He talked about the arrival of Columbus to America and the starting of the Civil War.

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Furthermore, he also wrote about the thirteen million Africans and five million Native
Americans who were compelled to cultivate and build a society disregarding the essence of the
ideas of liberty and justice. This is due to the reason that such individuals were forced to be
slaves for their imperial masters and work for the increase of production in their plantations. The
slaves had to leave their homeland and work in the cultivated fields of the colonizers. It was such
activities which led to the rise in the aspect of capitalism within the United States of America
and contributed to its development in the different fields of human civilization.
A critical reading of the article written by Horne (2016) reveals that the author has been
successful in tracing the impact of racism to the aspect of slavery and rise of colonialism. The
article has emphasized on the fact that the United States of America owes its development to the
issue of slavery. In other words, it was through the concerted efforts of the slaves taken from
Native America and that of Africa who were able to push the United States on the path of
progress of development. The article found the linkage between the aspects of white supremacy,
slavery and capitalism which occurred since the dawn of the seventeenth century. They became
tangled in an inextricable complex history which involved the occurrence of revolt and war in
the continent of Europe. The territorial conquest of England of Scotland and Ireland and the
development of the weapons of destruction led to the rise in the colonial dominance of the
continent in the context of the entire society. The merchants from Europe migrated to the land
mass of America and settled there for a better standard of living. This led to the creation of the
United States of America out of a free landmass. However, in order to sustain their standard of
living, they needed people who would work in their plantation field. This led to the emergence of
the concept of slavery where the people from the colonized territories were required to work for
the welfare of the imperial masters. This, in turn, led to the rise in the aspect of racism and the

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subsequent degradation of the living standards of the people belonging to the ‘black’ ethnicity of
the nation states belonging to the Global South.
Overall Evaluation
The analysis of the readings which have been annotated in the paper points to the rise in
racism as a result of the presence of colonial features. The history of colonialism has been traced
by Wolfe (2015), Horne (2018) and by Anievas and Nişancioğlu (2015). They have examined
the development of the colonial roots in the world, especially within the continents of Europe
and that of North America. The imperial masters of Europe wanted to expand their hold over the
territories of the world and control their natural resources. The main intention behind such
desires was to increase their political dominance vis-à-vis the other nation states of the world.
Furthermore, the imperial masters also wanted to expand their market place in the sense that they
wanted to increase the profit shares earned by them. It was in this context that the idea of
colonization arose.
The European countries sought to establish their control over the under developed
countries of the world since they did not have the necessary military power or the weapons to
fight against the superior weapons of the colonizers. With the onset of colonization, the imperial
rulers felt the need to justify their rule. They espoused the idea of ‘white supremacy’. In this
ideology, the colonizers stated that the ‘white’ skinned people fo the world were civilized and
had an idea to execute responsible government. They led their lives with the aid of rules and
regulations and had a proper way of life which contributed to the rise in their standard of living.
On the other hand, the ‘black’ ethnic population of the world did not have such civilizing
manners. They did not have an idea of how to carry out responsible mode of governance and

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therefore, were deemed to be incapable of forming their own governments under the guidance of
regulations and laws.
Thus, the aspect of racism arose. A distinction was made between the ‘white’ individuals
of the society and the ‘black’ ethnic population. They were differentiated as a result of their
physical features and such differences were sought to be internalized among the wider human
population. In other words, everyone in the community started to look down at any ‘black’
individual and regarded the ‘white’ race to be superior on the account of their skin tone. Thus, it
can be seen that racism is a sociological concept that has its base in the mindset of the
individuals.
The aspect of development can therefore be traced to the historical progress in the ideas
of colonialism and that of racial discrimination. The western part of the world is seen to be more
developed that the eastern hemisphere. This is due to the reason that most of the colonial powers
came from the countries of the global north. They could exploit the man power of the under
developed countries and take away their resources. This, in turn, allowed them to walk on the
path of progress by undertaking those measures which contributed to the increasing welfare of its
people.

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References:
Anievas, A. and K. Nişancioğlu., 2015. How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical Origins
of Capitalism, London: Pluto Press, pp. 152-162
Benton, A., 2016. Risky Business: Race, Nonequivalence and the Humanitarian Politics of Life,
Visual Anthropology, 29:2, 187-203
Horne, G., 2018. The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White
Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean New York:
Monthly Review Press
Pailey, R., 2019. 'De-centring the "White Gaze" of Development', Development and Change
early online view
Wolfe, P., 2016. 'Introduction' in Traces of History: Elementary Structures of Race, London:
Verso, pp.1-31