Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- The Cambridge History of Violence
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Contributors to Volume IV
- Introduction to Volume IV
- Part I Race, Religion and Nationalism
- Part II Intimate and Gendered Violence
- Part III Warfare, Colonialism and Empire in the Modern World
- 11 Frontier Violence in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire
- 12 Genealogies of Modern Violence: Arendt and Imperialism in Africa, 1830–1914
- 13 Religious Dynamics and the Politics of Violence in the Late Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Levant
- 14 Violence and the First World War
- 15 Witnessing and Fighting Nazi Violence during World War II
- 16 Violence and the Japanese Empire
- Part IV The State, Revolution and Social Change
- Part V Representations and Constructions of Violence
- Index
- References
12 - Genealogies of Modern Violence: Arendt and Imperialism in Africa, 1830–1914
from Part III - Warfare, Colonialism and Empire in the Modern World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2020
Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- The Cambridge History of Violence
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Contributors to Volume IV
- Introduction to Volume IV
- Part I Race, Religion and Nationalism
- Part II Intimate and Gendered Violence
- Part III Warfare, Colonialism and Empire in the Modern World
- 11 Frontier Violence in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire
- 12 Genealogies of Modern Violence: Arendt and Imperialism in Africa, 1830–1914
- 13 Religious Dynamics and the Politics of Violence in the Late Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Levant
- 14 Violence and the First World War
- 15 Witnessing and Fighting Nazi Violence during World War II
- 16 Violence and the Japanese Empire
- Part IV The State, Revolution and Social Change
- Part V Representations and Constructions of Violence
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter interrogates Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) to better understand the violence of European imperialism in Africa and its impact on later developments, including the Holocaust. It argues that most readers have failed to properly understand Arendt’s own views of temporality and causation in popular appropriations such as the so-called “boomerang thesis.” Instead, the insights of African historiography and critical theory are used to propose a new reading of Arendt that reveals the contingency and counterintuitive turns of modern violence.
Keywords
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- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Violence , pp. 246 - 262Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020