Savage Constructions: The Myth of African Savagery

(Paperback)

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Savage Constructions composes a critical examination of the popular assumption that violence is an essential quality of certain ethnic or racial populations. Wendy Hamblet challenges the supposition, all too common in the West, that darker-skinned peoples are inherently violent. To challenge this myth, Savage Constructions offers a theory of subjectivity transformed by historical violence. It rethinks how African peoples, once living in simple neighborly communities more democratic and egalitarian than modern states, have come to the condition of abjection, misery, and fierce aggression, in which we find them today. This rethinking she argues that Western affluence is built upon slaughter, slavery, and colonial oppression, and suggests that prosperous nations of the West owe a great debt to the societies they trampled en route to their prosperity.
This work is important because Nnewly independent nations of Africa are a primary example of a much vaster phenomenon. Western powers continue to sack poorer, weaker countries through covert intrigue, outright war, crippling debts, and unfair global labor and trade policies. The violences continue because many Westerners still harbor metaphysical assumptions about the supremacy of white Christians over less "civilized," darker-skinned peoples. These assumptions depress the possibilities of ethnic minorities within the West, continue to influence foreign policy and frustrate global relations, and ensure that the overwhelming collateral damage of modern wars is color conscious. Savage Constructions will appeal to all levels of scholars and students.

Reviews

A groundbreaking, thoroughly engaging study that plumbs the breath and depth of Western enthnocentricism. Hamblet's telling account of rebounding violence reveals the terrible legacy afflicting emerging African nations. -- Ron Hirschbein, Past President, Concerned Philosophers for Peace
Hamblet offers an important addition to any library that wishes to remain on the cutting edge of postcolonial studies. Her book is an important reexamination of Western prejudicial myths involving the cultures and beliefs of precolonial Africa....It should appeal to all students interested in understanding the difference between precolonial and postcolonial knowledge and truth issues. Faculty and students involved in multicultural studies should also find it helpful. Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *
Without a doubt this is a significant contribution to the field. It is a thorough and thoughtful analysis of the current state of Africa from the perspective of the influence of the colonial period. For those who agree with the main premise it will provide many additional arrows to their quiver, for those in a different camp it sets a high standard for their rebuttal. -- Jay D. Glass, author of The Animal Within Us, Soldiers of God, and The Power of Faith: Mother Nature's Gift

Author Bio

Wendy Hamblet is an assistant professor in the Department of University Studies / Liberal Studies at North Carolina A&T State University.