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Rich white bringer of good things — 2 Comments

  1. Africans would stand back until the white people had been served

    Not that I’m planning any philanthropic trip to Africa in the near future but this would give me the shits. I would be so politically incorrect and upset my host by insisting that they were served first, or at least along side. Then easy to say from the comfort of my middle class existence. Why is this still tolerated? Why don’t you all muck in? Have a barbie . . build a barn . .Why is a visit by a sweet and compassionate Vicar considered a formal event? I don’t know but it all sounds very formal and Empire vs the black dude.

  2. That is Dowden’s point. The European ideals of egalitarianism and democracy espoused by tired old liberals like myself have not found root in African culture – wealth, status and the influence of spiritual powers are things held dearly. If imperialism is imposing oneself and one’s way of doing things upon others, then to have insisted on doing things our way would have been the imperialist attitude, albeit a cultural imperialism.

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