Friday, May 23, 2014
Progress, Coloniality, Which Is It?
Yesterday in class during the Maury Show at Kalamazoo College, someone on the panel talked about how colonial is now considered modern or progress, yet it is still colonial. This was really interesting to me because I never really think about the ways in which we are living today. I look around and yes, there is the constant joy that we our ways of living are progressing, that technology is becoming more and more complex, and that’s what makes it progress. We, or at least I, flow with the river of progress and feel that I have less to worry about in life as we move forward. However, I started thinking after that was said--what is actually progressing and improving here? Sure, technology is making several new inventions possible, but it comes with drawbacks, such as its effects on global warming. Who is becoming happier with this supposedly called progress? The animals are losing their natural habitats, trees are sacrificed daily to create paper and currency bills, etc. We’ve become so blinded by the flow of first world things that we lost sight of what is really important--the planet, the land, our natural resources. The fact that scientists are already trying to find life on Mars for future humans to migrate to in case Earth becomes too polluted infuriates me. If we’re supposedly progressing, why not focus on improving this planet instead running away from the problem and seeking a hide-out? Again, who is progressing? Moreover, it seems that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This is not progress. This is coloniality in disguise, eaten up by the kids who are taught that progress is good, progress is not coloniality--when in fact, we now see that it is.
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I enjoyed reading your post and I’ve been thinking about progress a lot recently. I think the question ‘progress for whom?’ is very important. What is this so-called progress for? Who does it benefit? Progress comes in many different forms, but one thing I personally think of if nicer infrastructure. Part of progress can be the development of technology and architecture, the accessibility to and increased knowledge of different resources for this infrastructure. I think of progress, I think of futuristic sci-fi movies where cars float, buildings are all made of glass, and fountains spew purple water that glows. This is sort of a stereotypical fantasy progress, but the idea of beautiful, futuristic cities and cityscapes as an indicator of progress I think is ingrained into our view of what makes a nation progressive. But then I think to myself, who are these beautiful buildings for? There are beautiful, “progressive,” and futuristic buildings in the US. There are well-made, earthquake protected, energy efficient buildings. But who do these buildings belong to? Who uses them? Let’s be honest, they’re for those who can contribute most to them. They are not for new immigrants, struggling to survive in this new nation. These are the people who build the beautiful buildings. These buildings, this progress is for the people who will be able afford to use them, whose presence will not dirty and smudge the spotless grass. A simple yet important example that comes to mind is grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteThere are some beautiful grocery stores out there. Full of fresh fruit and red meat, the stores have white floors and spotless walls. They have colorful and fancy labels for everything, and brand-new carts: you can have the large, smooth-gliding carts, or the smaller arm-basket size ones that come with wheels and a handle so you can roll it around like a puppy on a leash. These grocery stores have fresh, clean, and chilled food, they are beautiful, and they only appear in certain neighborhoods. You can drive fifteen minutes from this beautiful grocery store in this affluent neighborhood into a low-income neighborhood and the grocery store there is completely different. Fruit is bruised, carts yank to the side because the wheels are broken, meat is greying, the milk has nearly reached its expiration date. It does not reflect the progress that sweeps through other parts of town. I think progress is dependent on coloniality. There is no way to make progress for all, so let’s make progress for a select few. Let’s make progress for the ones who are already ahead. Let’s make progress for the ones who historically have more power. Have all the progress you want. I don’t really care about progress anymore because I don’t know what it means. What does it mean to progress, to evolve, to develop, when only a select few can do so? When the word itself is cloaked in exploitation and coloniality? I don’t really know. So I’m going to throw progress away and look for something else.