Article contents
The Internal Colonial Concept
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2009
Extract
The use of internal colonial theories to examine racial developments within the United States of America had become almost fashionable by the late 1960s. A decade later, a study of the political economy of Wales described the internal colonial approach which it criticized as a “new variant of a time-worn model.’ Amongst historians, however, the internal colonial concept does not appear to be as familiar as it is to other social scientists. This article is addressed to historians who do not subscribe unreservedly to Alfred Cobban's belief that sociologists are their natural enemies, and amongst whom some might still be considering the implications of Fernand Braudel's contention that a “general history always requires an overall model, good or bad, against which events can be interpreted. ‘No theory, no history.’” The purpose here is to indicate some uses and characteristics of theories that the internal colonial concept has promoted, to comment briefly about some of the methodological issues which these theories present, and to suggest some benefits that the concept might have for certain types of social and historical enquiry.
- Type
- Facets of Colonialism
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1984
References
I wish to acknowledge the bibliographical assistance of Fiona McCay of The University of Sydney Library, and of Hilary Weatherbum.
1 Lovering, John, “The Theory of the ‘Internal Colony’ and the Political Economy of Wales,” Review of Radical Political Economics, 10:3 (Fall 1978), 55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Braudel, Fernand, Capitalism and Material Life, 1400–1800, Kochan, Miriam, trans. (New York, Evanston, San Francisco, London: Harper and Row, 1974), xi.Google Scholar
3 Tait, John, “Interner Kolonialismus und ethnisch-soziale Segregation im Sudan. Nigerian-isch-Westafrikanische Arbeitsmigranten und das Arbeitsmarktsystem in der Gezira,” Afrika Spectrum, no. 3 (1979), 361–82.Google Scholar
4 Gouldner, Alvin W., “Stalinism: A Study of Internal Colonialism,” Telos, no. 34 (Winter 1977–1978), 13–14, 25.Google Scholar
5 Hechter, Michael and Levi, Margaret, “The Comparative Analysis of Ethnoregional Move ments,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2:3 (07 1979), 263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6 Hechter, Michael, Internal Colonialism. The Celtic Fringe in British National Development, 1536–1966 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975), 11, 349Google Scholar
7 Carter, Gwendolen M., Karis, Thomas, and Stultz, Newell M., South Africa's Transkei. The Politics of Domestic Colonialism (London: Heinemann, 1967), 184.Google Scholar
8 London, Bruce, “Internal Colonialism in Thailand. Primate City Parasitism Reconsidered,” Urban Affairs Quarterly, 14:4 (06 1979), 488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 Maldonado, Lionel A., “Internal Colonialism and Triangulation: A Research Example,” Social Service Review, 53:3 (09 1979), 464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10 Lenin, Vladimir I., The Development of Capitalism in Russia (Moscow: Progress, 1956), 269–70, 363.Google Scholar
11 Gramsci, Antonio, “The Southern Question,” in his The Modern Prince and Other Writings, Marks, L., trans. (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1957), 28.Google Scholar
12 Wolpe, Harold, “The Theory of Internal Colonization: The South African Case,” in University of London Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Collected Seminar Papers, no. 18, The Societies of Southern Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries, 5 (1974), 105–20.Google Scholar See also idem, “Capitalism and Cheap Labour-Power in South Africa: From Segregation to Apartheid,” Economy and Society, 1:4 (11 1972), 425–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13 Wolpe, Harold, “The Theory of Internal Colonialism: The South African Case,” in Beyond the Sociology of Development: Economy and Society in Latin America and Africa, Oxaal, Ivar, Bamett, Tony, and Booth, David, eds. (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975), 250.Google Scholar
14 Gouldner, “Stalinism,” 6 n. 4, 13, 41, 46.
15 Stone, John, “Introduction: Internal Colonialism in Comparative Perspective,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2:3 (07 1979), 255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16 Anders, Gary, “The Internal Colonization of Cherokee Native Americans,” Development and Change, 10:1 (01 1979), 41–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17 Blauner, Robert, “Internal Colonialism and Ghetto Revolt,” Social Problems, 16:4 (Spring 1969), 396, 398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also idem.Racial Oppression in America (New York: Harper and Row, 1972)Google Scholar; idem, “Colonized and Immigrant Minorities,” in The Third World Within, Blauner, Robert, Duster, Troy, Forbes, Jack, Fujimoto, Isao, and Romano, Octano, eds. (California: Wad-worth, 1973).Google Scholar
18 Furniss, Norman, “Internal Colonialism: Its Utility for Understanding the Development of Higher Education in Scotland,” Development and Change, 7:4 (1976). 464. n. 2.Google Scholar
19 Casanova, Pablo González, “Internal Colonialism and National Development.” Studies in Comparative International Development, 1:4 (1965). 27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20 Stavenhagen, Rodolfo. “Classes, Colonialism, and Acculturation. Essay on a System of Inter-Ethnic Relations in Mesoamerica,” Srudies in Comparative International Development. 1:6 (1965), 53–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21 Epstein, Erwin H., “Education and Peruanidad: ‘Internal’ Colonialism in the Peruvian Highlands” Comparative Education Review. 15:2 (06 1971), 188–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22 Havens, A. Eugene and Flinn, William L., eds., Internal Colonialism and Structural Change in Colombia (New York, Washington, London: Praeger, 1970), 11, 14.Google Scholar
23 Zureik, Elia T., The Palestinians in Israel. A Study in Internal Colonialism (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979).Google Scholar See also Cohen's, Percy S. review of this study in Ethnic and Racial Studies. 3:2 (06 1980), 236–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and that of Hovsepian, Nubar in Journal of Palestine Studies, 9:4 (Summer 1980), 131–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24 Das, Mitra, “Internal Colonialism and the Movement for Bangladesh: A Sociological Analysis,” Contributions to Asian Studies, 12 (1978), 94, 96, 101.Google Scholar
23 Hechter, , Internal Colonialism, 10, 13, 18, 32 n. 2, 166, 344, 348, 350.Google Scholar
26 Alapuro, Risto, “Internal Colonialism and the Regional Party System in Eastern Finland,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2:3 (07 1979), 341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27 Reece, Jack E., “Internal Colonialism: The Case of Brittany,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2:3 (07 1979), 286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28 Palloni, Alberto, “Internal Colonialism or Clientelistic Politics? The Case of Southern Italy,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2:3 (07 1979), 375–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29 Verdery, Katherine, “Internal Colonialism in Austria-Hungary,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2:3 (07 1979), 393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30 Marx, Karl, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Ryazanskaya, S. W., trans., Dobb, Maurice, ed. (New York: International. 1972), 20–21.Google Scholar
31 Ritter, Kathleen V., “Internal Colonialism and Industrial Development in Alaska,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2:3 (07 1979), 319–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32 Turner, James, “The Political Sociology of Racism and Systematic Oppression: Internal Colonialism as a Paradigm for Socioeconomic Analysis.” Studia Africana, 1 (Fall 1979), 294–314.Google Scholar
33 Hechter, , Internal Colonialism, 6.Google Scholar
34 Trimberger, Ellen Kay, “Review Article. World Systems Analysis: The Problem of Unequal Development.” Theory and Society, 8:1 (07 1979), 132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35 Das, . “Internal Colonialism,” 95.Google Scholar
36 Page, Edward, Michael Hechter's Internal Colonial Thesis: Some Theoretical and Meth odological Problems, University of Strathclyde Studies in Public Policy, no. 9 (Glasgow: University of Strathclyde, 1977), 2–7, 10.Google Scholar
37 Taylor, Rosemary C. R., “Michael Hechter, Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British National Development, 1536–1966,” Contemporary Sociology, 9:1 (01 1980), 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
38 Sloan, William N., “Ethnicity or Imperialism? A Review Article,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 21:1 (01 1979), 118, 123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
39 McRoberts, Kenneth, “Internal Colonialism: The Case of Quebec,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2:3 (07 1979), 299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40 Bader, Thomas M., “The Historian and the Cheshire Cat: A Study of the Views of Sir Keith Hancock towards the Empire-Commonwealth and the Principles of Historiography,” Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies, 7:1 (03 1969), 27CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Curtin, Philip D., “The Black Experience of Colonialism and Imperialism,” Daedalus, 103:2 (Spring 1974), 20.Google Scholar
41 Braudel, , Capitalism and Material Life, 6–7.Google Scholar For a cynical view of the value of an original document, acquired while in governmental service in British Central Africa, and wry amusement at the thought of a “stupid old historian taking infinite pains to get to the original Foreign Office despatches and thinking that at last he had hit on the truth, the plain and uncontroverted truth,” see Cairns, H. Alan C., Prelude to Imperialism. British Reactions to Central African Society, 1840–1890 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965), 237.Google Scholar
42 See Adam, Heribert, “Perspectives in the Literature: A Critical Evaluation,” in Adam, Heribert and Giliomee, Hermann, The Rise and Crisis of Afrikaner Power (Cape Town: David Philip, 1979), 50–60,Google Scholar for reservations about the validity of the colonial analogy, and also about the “conceptualization of white rule as domestic colonialism,” so far as South Africa is concerned.
43 Horvath, Ronald J., “A Definition of Colonialism,” Current Anthropology, 13:1 (02 1972), 45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
44 Rimmer, Douglas, “Review Article. The Economics of Colonialism in Africa,” Journal of African History, 19:2 (1978), 265–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Ratcliffe, Barrie M., “The Economics of the Partition of Africa: Methods and Recent Research Trends,” Canadian Journal of African Studies, 15:1 (1981), 3–31.Google Scholar
45 See, for instance, Ernesto Laclau(h), “Feudalism and Capitalism in Latin America,” New Left Review, no. 67 (05–06 1971), 19–38Google Scholar; Legassick, Martin, “Review Article. Perspectives on African ‘Underdevelopment’,” Journal of African History, 17:3 (1976), 435–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar: Trimberger, , “Review Article. World Systems Analysis,” 127–37Google Scholar; Veltmeyer, Henry C., “A Central Issue in Dependency Theory,” Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 17:2 (1980), 198–213CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Uchendu, Victor C., “Dependency and the Development Process: An Introduction,” Journal of Asian and African Studies, 14:1, 2 (1979), 3–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar. and subsequent papers; Senghaas, Dieter, ed., Imperialismus und slrukturelle Gewalt: Analysen über abhängige Reproduktion (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1972)Google Scholar; idem, ed.. Peripherer Kapitalismus: Analysen über Abhängigkeit und Unterentwicklung (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1974)Google Scholar; Emmanuel, Arghiri, Unequal Exchange: A Study of the Imperialism of Trade, Pearce, Brian, trans. (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972)Google Scholar; Frank, André Gunder, On Capitalist Underdevelopment (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1975)Google Scholar; idem.Dependent Accumulation and Underdevelopment (London: Macmillan, 1978)Google Scholar; idem.World Accumulation, 1492–1789 (London: Macmillan, 1978)Google Scholar; Amin, Samir, L'impérialisme et sous-développement en Afrique (Paris: Anthropos. 1976)Google Scholar; idem.Accumulation on a World Scale: A Critique of the Theory of Underdevelopment. Pearce, Brian, trans., 2 vols. (New York: Monthly Review Press. 1974)Google Scholar; idem.L'impérialisme et développement inégal (Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1976)Google Scholar; “Dependency and Marxism,” Latin American Perspectives, 8:3, 4 (issues 30, 31) (1981), 3–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
46 Chilcote, Ronald H., “Dependency: A Critical Synthesis of the Literature.” Latin American Perspectives, 1:1 (Spring 1974). 4–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rogerson, Christian M.. “Internal Colonialism. Transnationalization and Spatial Inequality,” South African Geographical Journal. 62:2 (09 1980), 103–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47 Wallerstein, Immanuel M., The Modern World-System (New York: Academic Press, 1974)Google Scholar; idem, The Capitalist World-Economy (Cambridge, Paris: Cambridge University Press, 1979)Google Scholar; Gutkind, Peter C. W. and Wallerstein, Immanuel, eds., The Political Economy of Contemporary Africa (Beverly Hills, London: Sage, 1976).Google Scholar
48 Mandel, Ernest, Late Capitalism, de Bres, Joris, trans. (London: New Left, 1976)Google Scholar; Cardoso, Fernando Henrique and Faletto, Enzo, Dependency and Development in Latin America, Urquidi, M. M., trans. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979).Google Scholar
49 O'Brien, Philip J., “A Critique of Latin American Theories of Dependency,” in Beyond the Sociology of Development, Oxaal, Barnett, and Booth, eds., 19.Google Scholar
50 von Albertini, Rudolph, “Colonialism and Underdevelopment: Critical Remarks on the Theory of Dependency,” Itinerario, 4:1 (1980), 42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
51 Hopkins, A. G., “Review Article. The Burdens of Empire-Building,” African Affairs, 77:306 (01 1978), 118–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
52 Manning, Patrick, “Analysing the Costs and Benefits of Colonialism,” African Economic History Review, 1 (1974), 15–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
53 Etherington, Norman A., “Theories of Imperialism Revisited in Southern Africa” (paper delivered at South African Historical Association Conference, University of Durban-Westville,06–07 1981), 1–5.Google Scholar
54 Miège, J.-L., “The Colonial Past in the Present,” in Decolonisation and After: The British and French Experience, Morris-Jones, W. H. and Fischer, Georges, eds. (London: Cass, 1980), 43.Google Scholar
55 Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, Deutsche Kaiserreich, 1871–1918 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1973), 173Google Scholar; idem, Bismarck und der lmperialismus (Köln: Kiepenheuer and Witsch, 1969)Google Scholar; idem, “Bismarck's Imperialism, 1862–1890,” Past and Present, no. 48 (08 1970), 119–55.Google Scholar
56 Eley, Geoff, “Defining Social Imperialism: Use and Abuse of an Idea,” Social History, no. 3 (10 1976), 265–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
57 McCormick, Richard P., “The Comparative Method: Its Application to American History,” Mid-America, 56:1 (01 1974), 241, 246.Google Scholar See also Fredrickson, George M., “Comparative History,” in The Past before Us. Contemporary Historical Writing in the United States, Kammen, Michael, ed. (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1980). 457–73Google Scholar; articles by Hammel, E. A., Bonnell, Victoria E., Skocpol, Theda and Somers, Margaret. Cohn, Bernard S., Wright, Henry T., and Lang, James, collected under the rubric, “Approaches to Historical Comparison.” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 22:2 (04 1980), 143–233Google Scholar; Mandeìbaum, Maurice, ”Some Forms and Uses of Comparative History,” American Studies International, 18:2 (Winter 1980), 19–34Google Scholar; Grew, Raymond, “The Case for Comparing Histories.” American Historical Review, 85:4 (10 1980), 763–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
58 Geyl, Pieter, Napoleon: For and Against, Renier, Olive, trans. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976), 8.Google Scholar
59 Dray, W. H., “Concepts of Causation in A. J. P. Taylor's Account of the Origins of the Second World War,” History and Theory, 17:2 (1978). 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
60 Charlton, Kenneth. “History and Sociology: Afterthoughts and Prior Questions.” in History of Education Society. Hislorx, Sociology and Education. Cook, T. G.. ed. (London: Methuen, 1971). 49–59.Google Scholar
61 Etherington, . “Theories of Imperialism.” 29.Google Scholar
62 Liebenberg, B.. “Eric Walker's Interpretation of Recent South African History.” Hisloria. 11:3 (1966). 183.Google Scholar
63 O'Neil, Daniel J., “Being Skeptical about ‘Internal Colonialism,’” World View, 2:6 (1980), 23–24.Google Scholar
64 [The Reverend Joseph Townsend], A Dissertation on the Poor Laws, By a Well-wisher to Mankind ([London?]: n.p., 1786), 73.Google Scholar
65 Roberts, William, Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More (London: n.p., 1834), II, 221Google Scholar; Roberts, Arthur, ed., Mendip Annals; or, a Narrative of the Charitable Labours of Hannah and Martha More … Being the Journal of Martha More (London, Edinburgh: n.p., 1859), 43.Google Scholar
66 The Lindfield Reporter, or. Philanthropic Magazine (Lindfield, England), 1:4 (April 1835), 60–66.Google Scholar
67 Hall, Helena. William Allen, 1770–1843 (Haywards Heath, England: Charles Clarke, 1953), 151.Google Scholar William Allen appears to have visited colonies of German Mennonites on the banks of the Dneiper. See The Tract Association of the Society of Friends, William Allen; His Life and Labours, Friends' Tract Association, vol. 473 (London, 1865), 49.Google Scholar
68 Fayle, Joshua, The Spitalfields Genius. The Story of William Allen (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1884), 78.Google Scholar
69 Kay-Shuttleworth, James, “The Condition of the Working Classes of Manchester in 1832.” in his Four Periods of Public Education as Reviewed in 1832, 1839. 1846, 1862 (Brighton: Harvester, 1973). 50.Google Scholar
70 Reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor, (London: n.p., 1808), V, 7–8.Google Scholar
71 Williams, Eric, Capitalism and Slavery (London: Andre Deutsch, 1964), 19.Google Scholar
72 Sir Grey, Edward did not consider the growth of the “Imperial idea” in Britain “so remarkable; it was rather that the expression of it had been more remarkable than it had ever been before.” Newcastle-upon-Tyne Daily Chronicle, 6 02 1899.Google Scholar
73 Weber, Eugen, Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976).Google Scholar The viability of a “colonial image” in the French context is considered; see pages 486–93.
74 Gouldner, , “Stalinism,” 14, n. 23.Google Scholar
75 Townsend, Peter. Poverty in the United Kingdom. A Survey of Household Resources and Standards of Living (London: Allen Lane, 1979)Google Scholar; Halsey, A. H., Heath, A. F., and Ridge, J. M., Origins and Destinations: Family, Class, and Education in Modern Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 200.Google Scholar “Our evidence holds no comfort for those who believe that class differences in educational attainment reflect a fair distribution of opportunities to those with the intellectual ability or cultural capacity to profit therefrom.”
76 Macdonald, D. F., “The Great Migration,” in Britain Pre-eminent: Studies in British World Influence in the Nineteenth Century, Bartlett, C. J., ed. (London: Macmillan, 1969), 68.Google Scholar
77 Hancock, W. K., Problems of Economic Policy, 1918–1939, Vol. II of Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs (London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1964), pt. 2, p. 42.Google Scholar
78 Bradley, Ian, “William Wilberforce, ‘The Saint,’” History Today, 33 (07 1983), 41–44.Google Scholar
79 Gladstone, W. E. to Stead, W. T., 18 December 1885Google Scholar, W. E. Gladstone Papers, Add. MS. 44303 fo. 364, British Library, London.
80 Galtung, Johan, “A Structural Theory of Imperialism,” Journal of Peace Research, 8:2 (1971), 81–117CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Gidengil, Elisabeth L., “Centres and Peripheries: An Empirical Test of Galtung's Theory of Imperialism,” Journal of Peace Research, 15:1 (1978), 51–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8l Stearns, Peter N., “Toward a Wider Vision: Trends in Social History,” in The Past before Us, Kammen, ed., 206–11.Google Scholar
82 Abrams, Philip, “History, Sociology, Historical Sociology,” Past and Present, no. 87 (05 1980), 10.Google Scholar
83 Braudel, Fernand, Afterthoughts on Material Civilization and Capitalism. Ranum, Patricia M., trans. (Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press, 1977), 117.Google Scholar
- 67
- Cited by