During the last lecture for the UCI Humanities Core course, Professor Lazo provided an overview of many of the subjects taught during the three quarters that the course has run. Students were given the option of cheering to show a collective appreciation for each lecturer during the course, and Professor Lazo discussed some of the main themes of the course.

The one thing that stood out to me during Dr. Lazo’s lecture was when he posed a question along the lines of “what do you think the end of empire is?” One student responded that there is a possibility that there is no end to empire. Another student proposed anarchy, or the absence of a government, as the end of empire. Dr. Lazo described anarchy as “the absence of power structures,” and continued to state that the student’s proposal was an interesting one.

The idea that there is no end to empire is, in my opinion, rooted in pessimism. The idea is grounded in the idea that the existence of empires throughout all of sedentary civilization indicates that there will always be empire, it may just assume different forms. It could also entail that the legacy of empire will always be evident in society. During our discussion of Amé Césaire’s A Tempest, the ability for people living in the Caribbean islands to move past a legacy of colonial presence is severely restricted because their culture is so intertwined with their former ruler’s culture.

The trends of the past are not indicative of the trends of the future. Just because empires have dominated human history for about 4000 years does not mean they will always be present. Also, the origin of a new culture being rooted in colonization does not mean that the people are subject to live in the shadow of empire. As new generations of people are born, their culture continues to evolve and what it means to be a part of a culture changes as well.

Concerning the anarchy suggestion, I do not believe that in order to rid the world of empire power structures need to be absent completely. I feel like much of the course tends to imply that the existence of power structures implies that the less powerful party will always be abused. However, this perspective tends to overlook the root cause of injustice in a power structure. Power is not inherently abused, corrupt people who obtain power just use it for to accomplish their own will.

For example, Prospero’s use of magic in Shakespeare’s The Tempest is his source of power; it separates him from everyone else. However, the magic itself isn’t corrupt, it is used by a vengeful Prospero to torture Caliban into submission, enact revenge on the people who conspired against him, and to manipulate his daughter into marrying Ferdinand. The magic itself is not the main evil of the narrative, it is Prospero in this case. Similarly, power over someone else is not evil itself. It is who has power, how they use it, and why they use it that is the difference between empire and a modern society.

I ultimately think that courses like Humanities Core indicate that the end of empire is inevitable. By exposing people to the injustices of the past their perception of a better future can change to benefit everyone in an equal way. The educators of today are ensuring that the leaders and citizens of tomorrow have the background knowledge and perception to make educated, thought-out decisions and move past a pattern of empirical exploitation of those deemed inferior. By giving everyone a chance to speak for themselves the world can move past abusing power structures and move towards coexistence without empires.

During her discussion of United States colonialism in the Philippines, Professor Linda Vo introduced the point that imperial powers justify their own endeavors by creating the notion that colonized peoples benefit from the presence of an empire. This broad idea relates to US imperialism because of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “the White Man’s Burden”. In his poem, Kipling addresses the audience, the United States, and urges them to colonize the Philippines and civilize the savage people. More specifically, Kipling directs the United States to “serve your captives’ need” and describes the colonized as “half devil and half child” (Kipling 4, 8). Kipling’s poem echoes the attitude of the American public: simultaneously dehumanizing and stating a lack of maturity among colonized nations.

            Thanos is a villain in both the Marvel cinematic universe and the Marvel comics. Recently, he has appeared as the main villain in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He is the last surviving member of an alien race who became extinct due to complications that arose from overpopulation. As a result, Thanos travels from planet to planet and eliminates half of the population in order to prevent the same fate of his own planet. His ultimate goal is to collect six powerful stones, each filled with a fraction the power of the cosmos. Once he attained all six of the stones at the end of Infinity War, Thanos wiped half of all life in the universe from existence and retired to isolation.

            Thanos’ situation reflects the United States’ colonialism in the Pacific islands because of his method of self-justification for his actions. The United States created a moral responsibility for colonization by stating that indigenous inhabitants of the Philippines were not able to rule themselves so America was morally obligated to civilize the Philippines through colonization. Similarly, Thanos believed that every inhabitant of the universe is unfit to realize the inevitability of overpopulation and the end of existence, so it is his moral obligation to keep the population of the universe in control.

            Thanos’ belief in a moral obligation can be witnessed in both Infinity War and Endgame. During a conversation in Infinity War with Dr. Strange, a magical sorcerer and defender of one of the infinity stones, Thanos revealed that he first presented his solution to overpopulation when his species was still alive. He states that most people “would not see reason” and his plan was ultimately rejected. The significance of this line is that it reveals that Thanos believes that his solution to overpopulation is the only logical solution, and that anyone unwilling to accept his plan of action is unable to see the reality of the situation. Consequently, Thanos believes it is his duty to take action and commit atrocities to keep the population down. This notion is also seen during an earlier conversation with his adoptive daughter, Gamora. He says that “it is simple calculus. This universe is finite; its resources are finite.” He then finishes his dialogue with “and I am the only person to see that, or at least the only one with the will to act on it.” Similarly to his brief conversation with Dr. Strange, Thanos assumes a position of logical and moral superiority because he is the only being to realize the dire situation of the universe while also having the mental and physical fortitude to carry out a plan to prevent the death of the universe.

Thanos’ justification of killing half of the universe through use of a moral obligation separates him from everyone who opposes him; he is just doing what is, in his mind, the only solution to an inevitable problem. Thanos believes he is the only being to be able to complete the task that will “save” the universe. Similarly, the United States created a used a fabricated moral responsibility to “civilize” people in order to have a reason to colonize new territories.

Works Cited

Avengers: Infinity War. Dirs. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. 2018. Streaming Service.

Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden: The United States & The Philippine Islands, 1899.” Rudyard Kipling’s Verse: Definitive Edition (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1929).

Vo, Linda. “Manifest Destiny in the Philippines.” 23 April 2019.

Steam is one of the game distributing platforms for consumers to purchase games for their personal computers in today’s market. It was created in 2003 by Valve, a game developer. Since that time, the software has grown to be the most common way for companies and individuals to distribute their games to computer users; it reportedly controls 50-70% of all digital sales for computer games.

I believe Steam constitutes the definition of empire because it has a strong hold in the digital market, and it uses its earnings to spread their influence to fields other than games distribution.

Steam’s influence and success can partially be attributed to the time of its creation. Steam was initially created as a way for Valve to update its own games in 2003 and has since grown to include many other services; which includes the distribution of games not created by Valve. In the early 2000s many people were not playing games on their personal computers because it was not economically plausible for many to do so. It also generally required people to buy copies of games from stores and download data from the disks to their computers at home. Valve was one of the first companies to eliminate the need for physical copies of games by allowing people to digitally download them instead.

Empires have a tendency to take the money they generate and distribute it among many fields. For example, the Roman empire used the money it generated from taxes to pay senator’s salaries, go towards the wealth of the emperor, pay for government projects, and pay for any social programs (like providing free bread for plebeians in times of famine).

In a similar sense, Valve has used the profits from Steam to enhance the quality and extent that consumers could experience while playing computer games. Valve has begun to offer support for Mac and Linux operating systems, offers ways to distribute free community mods, has created their own controller to make playing easier, and has licensed their own “steam machines,” computers meant to optimize gaming performance while also being relatively affordable.

However, similarly to traditional empires, Valve’s success has not gone without being contested by other companies. Developers like Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft are just a few examples of video game companies who have created their own distribution programs for computer users. Their intent was to make more money by not having to pay a royalty to valve for distribution (roughly 30% of the transaction) and to make more money by distributing the games published by other developers. However, all of these respective programs have not achieved nearly the same status as Steam.

More recently, Epic Games has begun a campaign to compete with Valve with their Epic Games Store. Epic Games previously used the platform to allow players to download their game, Fortnite, before beginning to persuade game developers to exclusively release their games on the platform. This sparked controversy with the announcement that the game Metro: Exodus would be sold exclusively post-release through Epic Games while being able to be pre-purchased through Steam. Many consumers were upset over the decision because the Epic Games Store is not nearly as consumer-friendly as Steam.

The status of Steam in the digital marketplace and Epic Game’s attempts at usurping that status illustrates a larger trend among empires. Empires survive because of the money that they generate through taxes and conquest. Epic Game’s is one example of an alternative source of economic power in the digital marketplace challenging the established order for digital consumers. Epic Game’s monetary appeal to developers is their way of competing with Steam’s fame and user friendliness. The two company’s economic clash is just a modern day take on economic empires fighting for control of a limited pool of resources.

Works Cited

Chiang, Oliver. Forbes . 9 February 2011. 5 April 2019.

Graft, Kris. Stardock Reveals Impulse, Steam Market Share Estimates. 19 November 2009. 5 April 2019.

Statista. “Number of Steam users 2012-2018.” n.d. Statista. 5 April 2019.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a prominent political figure in India before and after it achieved independence from the British empire in 1947. This is evidenced because he was elected as India’s first prime minister.

As India gained independence, a second nation (among several others) formed simultaneously as the northwest corner of the British territory in southern Asia was dedicated for Pakistan. Separating India from Pakistan was a movement known as partition, and was started by Muslims within British-controlled India prior to their independence (Nehru).

In his text, The Discovery of India, Nehru argues against partition because it splits the resources and potential of India into separate political units that cannot be independent political units. While objecting to partition, Nehru also acknowledges that “an enforced unity is a sham and a dangerous affair, full of explosive possibilities” (Nehru 526).

I believe that Nehru is correct, and that the American Civil War and the post-reconstruction era following it is a perfect example of the failure of forced unity.

The American civil war began when Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 and a total of 11 southern states left the union to form the Confederate states of America. President Lincoln acquired approval from Congress to declare war on the Confederate states of America in order to restore the integrity of the American Union. The north was ultimately successful and defeated the south in 1865.

The Era of Reconstruction refers to 1865-1877 where Congress passed multiple pieces of legislation in an attempt to transition former slaves to freedman. New administrations were created specifically to provide assistance to register and vote for black men in the south. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments which outlawed slavery, created “equal protection” of laws, and protected voting rights for freedmen were passed and ratified during this period. During reconstruction, martial law was active into the former Confederate states until they completed a set of requirements to be admitted to the union again.

Reconstruction ended in 1877 with the inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes and the withdrawal of federal troops from the south. Local Republican control had already diminished from its high during reconstruction, and violent, racist paramilitary group the Ku Klux Klan emerged to terrorize black voters and the remaining republican officials.

The era of reconstruction ultimately failed in what it wanted to accomplish because the northern abolitionists forced the south to join the rest of the country for radical social, economic, and political change. These changes were meant to address the exploitation of African Americans during slavery. However, because the changes were enforced with threats and the still lingering tensions of the Civil War were present, the south was determined to circumvent and avoid the standards set by Congress during reconstruction. This determination led to Jim Crow laws, those which enforced segregation in public areas, and voting restrictions which specifically targeted black Americans, like the poll tax, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause.

The failure of reconstruction illustrates that in order to join two separate groups into one unified, functional body both parties must consent to the unity. The former confederate states were resolute in maintaining a society of white supremacy and oppression against African Americans. The only reason reconstruction was successful was due to the presence of the U.S. military in the south before the former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union. As the south was subject to the legislation of Congress without any way to contest, the north did not make any efforts to win over the minds of white southerners and focused their resources on assisting former slaves adjusted to their newfound freedom. With very little effort to convince the south that outlawing slavery and giving African American equal status, the north inadvertently created the atmosphere that fostered white disdain for freedman in the south.

While being critical of the forced unity between the north and south after the Civil War, there was truly no “better” alternative. Changing the minds of men hell-bent to be superior to another based on the color of one’s skin is easier said than done in most cases. The era of reconstruction was a leap in the right direction to equalize the status of freedman to that of white males within America. Following the southern circumvention of reconstruction legislation America as a whole had many new challenges to face in order to create a nation that views all men and women equally. It was not until the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s that the injustices allowed to survive post-reconstruction would be reversed through federal legislation. With that being said, America in the twenty-first century still has more problems to face in order to achieve equal treatment for every citizen within its borders. The only way to achieve this goal of equality without repeating the mistakes of the past is to join together voluntarily as a nation to form itself into a place fair to everyone that lives here.

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Reconstruction. n.d. 13 March 2019.

Moraes, Frank. “Jawaharlal Nehru”. 15 February 2019. 13 March 2019.

Nehru, Jawaharlal. The Discovery of India. The Signet Press, 1946.

In her lecture, Dr. Lewis argued that words are a tool of empire to reaffirm its own authority. However, Dr. Lewis also presented the notion that words can also be used to challenge empire. Her evidence was drawn from Shakespeare’s the Tempest, in which Prospero, a former duke now banished on an island, represents empire while Caliban, a deformed slave, represents indigenous people who challenge the authority of empire.

The power of words exists outside of literary works. The duality of words as a form of imperial authority and that same authority’s antagonist is witnessed throughout communist China. Under its founder, Mao Zedong, China created a successful propaganda conglomerate in order to solidify its unchallenged rule of the country. However, the people of China also began to speak out against the totalitarian regime of the communist party –most notably in the Tiananmen square protest of 1989.

After decades of Mao Zedong’s “cultural revolution” vision of China, major economic reforms began following the Third Plenum of the National Party Congress’s 11th Central Committee, where the party decided that the Chinese economy had to be drastically changed in order to compete with competitive western markets and prominent emerging eastern markets like Japan and South Korea.

These economic reforms were a success, and China’s economy grew at a rapid rate. However, this economic reform also lead to an influx of new thought that resonated within the younger Chinese generation. This new thinking tended to criticized the Chinese government for its totalitarianism. The criticism of the Chinese government came to a climax in when students began protesting in Beijing following the death of former general secretary, Hu Yaobong, in April of 1989.. These protests grew in size as people who wanted general economic, political, and social reforms joined the students. The Chinese government initially warned against protesting but would not actively stop them. Following weeks of protest, martial law was declared.

On June 3, tanks and soldiers were dispatched to Tiananmen square in Beijing. They opened fire upon or ran over the crowds of people who attempted to block their advance. This is referred to now as the “Tiananmen square incident” (or massacre).

Nearly a million protestors gathered in Tiananmen square alone in order to speak out against a system that they felt was unjust. In this scenario, the Chinese people themselves are Caliban because were abused and taken advantage of by a government with complete control.

On the other hand, the Chinese government is Prospero. The Chinese government ultimately silenced these protests in order to preserve itself; a single-party state can not possibly survive in a democracy. The brutality committed by the Chinese military was done solely to demonstrate who had authority and who did not within China. The incident is similar to Prospero’s torture of Caliban whenever he does not perform adequately in his daily tasks.

In Anne Marie Brady’s paper, “Guiding Hand: The Role of the CCP Central Propaganda Department in the Current Era,” she states that the Chinese communist party has a “central, guiding role over the whole of Chinese society (58). She also compares the communist party to the Catholic church in medieval Europe, stating that China’s propagandists “are like priests guiding their flock” (59). She outlines that following the “crackdown on the student democracy movement” in 1989 that the Chinese government placed an equal emphasis on economic reforms and a “renewed emphasis on propaganda and political thought work” (59).

China radically changed the information that was available to its citizens following Tiananmen square. The communist party realized that while it can use words (in the form of propaganda) to sway support –or at least compliance– for the government, words can also be used by the people to criticize and test the previously unchallenged authority of the Chinese government.

Bibliography

Brady, A.-M., 2006. Guiding Hand: The Role of the CCP Central Propaganda Department in the Current Era. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 3(1), pp.58–77. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.15

Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Tiananmen Square Incident.” Encyclopedia Britannica . 16 January 2019. <https://www.britannica.com/event/Tiananmen-Square-incident&gt;.

Often it is said that history is written by the victors. This timeless saying has relatively recently manifested itself in memes –usually, images (although they can be bodies of text, videos, or gifs) that are meant to be comedic. They’re almost like global inside jokes spread throughout the internet.

A plethora of popular memes circulated within recent years that spread the notion that France has a weak military and resolve. Consequently, it is proposed that France is prone to surrender.

Although lighthearted, the memes surrounding France during wartime illustrates the larger concept discussed in humanities core that history can be rewritten if views contrary to the popular “truth” are suppressed.

During Winter quarter, Dr. O’Toole argued that the Incans were “ass-kickers” and did not simply allow the Spanish to conquer their empire. Dr. O’Toole elaborates by emphasizing the unfortunate timing of Spanish arrival; which followed a large-scale smallpox outbreak and an Incan civil war. She also counters several generally accepted myths about the Spanish invasion that stem from misconceptions and a lack of context when analyzing primary sources.

Similarly to the Incans, modern perspectives about France’s military relevance have arisen from misconceptions and a lack of context for the circumstances that the country faced in the second world war.

The idea that France is a weak military power is largely a modern one. France has historically been a major empire in Europe and throughout the world. Many of France’s military experience has been gained through their wars and feuds with England, a long-time rival. However, the most influential French victories include the Napoleonic Wars, the Franco-Austrian War, and the Crimean War.

These victories exemplify the immense power of the French military because of their ability to compete with other large and powerful European empires at the time. Napoleon was specifically known for his ability to wage fast-paced, decisive battles in his favor; a talent that allowed him to expand the French empire to grand heights of wealth and power. In fact, the French army was so capable under Napoleon that a coalition of Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish troops were gathered in order to defeat him at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813.

A common example of French failure in modern times is the Maginot Line. It was a stretch of modern, technologically advanced fortifications along the French-German border. It was constructed in the 1930s in order to deter a border invasion of Germany. A common misunderstanding of the Maginot Line was that it served to stop a German invasion altogether. However, the line was meant to cause the German forces to deter their course of invasion and allow the French military enough time to garner enough resources to counterattack.

The real fault of the Maginot line was a lack of forces along the Ardennes Forest, which is previously famous for a battle during the Great War within the forest. France believed that German tank divisions would be unable to navigate the dense forest and consequently devoted fewer resources and troops there. While the German tanks did invade through the forest, the overall notion that France was unprepared or unable to fight Germany is an oversimplification of what truly happened. With the given context of influential French politicians and military leaders at the time, the Maginot line and planned counterattack were strong contingency plans but poorly implemented due to an underestimation of the agility of modern German armor.

As Dr. O’Toole highlighted in lecture, the Incans were not simply letting the Spanish conquistadors conquer them. Tito Cusi Yupanqui was a descendent of the last legitimate Sapa Inca and led armed resistance to the Spanish empire for several decades spanning from 1632 to 1671 when he died of natural causes.

Similarly, the French also had armed resistance towards their Nazi occupants. The French resistance was an underground movement that sabotaged German supplies and equipment and provided valuable military intelligence to the British and US military. In fact, French spies played instrumental roles in preparing for the Normandy invasion in 1944. The French resistance also saw combat once the invasion began, which was not limited to Normandy alone. Pockets of resistance fighters also slowed down German reinforcements to the beaches. This coalition of forces attacking occupied France marked the beginning of the Allied retaking of Europe on the Western Front.

Ultimately, historical analysis –no matter how informal– requires multiple perspectives and an adequate amount of context to allow someone’s audience to understand a relatively accurate account of history. History is a subject that is meant to be debated; having a strong argument advances the conversation and avoids oversimplifying and downplaying the roles, power, and contributions of civilizations/empires that are not as imposing as they once were.

Works Cited

Jebbe, Jason. “Revision and “Rebirth”: Commemoration of the Battle of Nations in Leipzig.” German Studies Review. October 2010.

David, Saul. “Is This the Finest Biography of Napoleon Ever Written?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 10 Mar. 2018, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/finest-biography-napoleon-ever-written/.

“The Maginot Line – 11 Fascinating Facts About France’s Great Wall.” MilitaryHistoryNow.com, 9 Apr. 2018, militaryhistorynow.com/2017/05/07/the-great-wall-of-france-11-remarkable-facts-about-the-maginot-line/.

 Alejandro Inarritu’s movie The Revenant follows the life of Hugh Glass, a fur trader in the early 19^th century as he survives a bear attack and sets out for revenge against a fellow fur trader who left Glass for dead and killed his son. The movie highlights the struggles of many concepts, including race and how empires use race as a justification for conquest.

Fur trapping was an economic empire because of the amount of profit each empire was making from trade with its colonies and natives. Both the British and French empires were trying to expand their spheres of influence within the western hemisphere into the Ohio river valley because of the abundance of beavers residing within the area. The French had established several forts in the area and both parties had other forms of military presence. The French, British, and their native allies raided one another for valuable furs in small skirmishes. These small raiding skirmishes can be compared to the opening scene of The Revenant when the Arikara attack the fur trapping expedition that Glass is a part of. These tensions surrounding the fur trade and the Ohio river valley eventually led to the French and Indian war following General George Washington’s attack on aFrench reconnaissance team in 1754. The war ended in 1763 with the Peace of Paris.

Following escaping from their Arikara attackers, the remaining trappers stash their salvaged furs on a river bank.   As everyone is bringing the furs onto shore and Glass is mapping out a route to a fort, a fellow trapper, Fitzgerald, berates Glass with derogatory remarks directed at him for having a native son and blames the company’s misfortune on Glass and his “savage son.”

Fitzgerald’s attitudes reflect a broader problem with empire: subjects of an empire tend to discriminate against people who don’t match their appearance. Often, agents of the empire enforce racist practices to create this “us versus them” mindset. This is apparent in J.M. Coetzee novel “Waiting for the Barbarians.” In the novel, the magistrate of a small settlement is accused of “treasonously consorting with the enemy” by a member of the empire’s Third Bureau after he returns from returning a native woman to her people. The magistrate is used as an example of what happens when a citizen helps people who aren’t members of the empire. The situation also illustrates the mindset of many empires regarding non-citizens: if you aren’t a member of the empire, you must be an enemy of an empire.

The problem regarding the mindset of empire inherently having enemies is illustrated in the real world by the various waves of immigrants to America throughout its history. United States citizens generally adopt a xenophobic mindset when introduced to foreign immigrants.

For example, Irish, German, and Italian immigrants were all discriminated against for decades before they were properly integrated and accepted into society. During the Second World War, Jewish refugees were denied entry at Ellis Island because the US was still neutral in the war at the time. In the modern day, immigrants with Hispanic and Middle Eastern origins are discriminated against for their association with threats to the American way of life. Many citizens fear that Hispanic immigrants will “take” American jobs. Select Americans strongly stereotype people that appear to be from countries with a dominant Muslim population as being synonymous with terrorism.

The truth about empire is that it does not require to separate “us” from “them” and apply racist divisionism to remain in control. In fact, the quality of life of Americans after accepting that immigrants are going to stay in the country raises for multiple reasons. The different immigrants provide new cultures and ways of thinking that enter the melting pot of “American” culture. These ideas and traditions then take on new meanings that are blended with the old ways of life and enter American popular culture. Saint Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo are two famous examples of foreign holidays that are popular in the United States.

Immigrants also enter the workforce and to help expand the economy. For example, Italian immigrants initially began working in many factories in the northeast during the 19^th century. In the modern day, many Mexican immigrants work in construction, landscaping, and restaurant industries. Contrary to (un)popular belief, Hispanic immigrants do not take American jobs but take jobs with an underrepresentation of native citizens employed.

Removing xenophobia from empire can remove the initial struggle for acceptance and accelerate the empire receiving the benefits of an influx of immigrant entering the empire’s culture and economy.

Bibliography

Coetzee, J.M. Waiting for the Barbarians. New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

Digital History. 2018. 10 December 2018.

“Here’s Everyone Who’s Immigrated to the US Since 1820.” 3 May 2016. Metrocosm. Photo. 10 December 2018.

Oxford University Press. The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Oxford University Press, 2000. Electronic Copy.

The Revenant. Dir. Alejandro Inarritu. Perf. Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hardy. 2015. Amazon Video.

J. M. Coetzee’s novel “Waiting for the Barbarians” follows a magistrate in a relatively small frontier settlement during the visit of a Third Bureau officer, Colonel Joll. The novel deals with various dark topics and oppositions. One of the major motifs throughout the novel is representation, and Coetzee is ultimately arguing that in order for an empire to be successful it must represent its “enemies” in a way to have its subjects support the empire’s authoritarian rule.

The cover for Coetzee’s novel “Waiting for the Barbarians”

The first major scene that discusses representation is four days into Colonel Joll’s first expedition to find barbarians that are planning an attack against the empire. He returns local fisher-people, which infuriates the magistrate. He exclaims “Did no one tell him these are fishing people? . . . You are supposed to help him track down thieves, bandits, invaders of the Empire! Do these people look like a danger to the Empire?” (Coetzee, 17).

The magistrate’s initial reaction illustrates the disconnect between local administrations and the empire as a whole. Empires thrive on the ability to have an enemy to blame and attack, while the local administration would like to keep peace with the local people in order to encourage interaction and trade, and also because the small settlement does not have the resources to fight a war with the local barbarians. To the magistrate, the captives he sees are the people who have traded at the settlement for years, and whose culture he has gotten to know some parts of. As a result, he finds them familiar. However, to Joll, if they are not a part of the empire, they are surely against the empire.

The response to the magistrate is that Colonel Joll had them captured because they hid as the military convoy was approaching. The local fisher-people are well aware that the empire thrives on brute force and unwavering cruelty towards barbarians because the barbarians serve to directly oppose and destroy the empire in the minds of its inhabitants. It would be natural for the fisher-people to hide when they see the military, even if they have done nothing wrong because they are afraid of what may happen if the military deems them a threat just for being different from their own citizens.

The soldier also adds that Joll did not bring someone who spoke the native language on the expedition, and as a result, he could not question them in the field and had to send them back as prisoners. This illustrates that Joll did not actually intend to peacefully clarify any rumors that had spread through the empire. Instead, Joll was looking to capture as many barbarians he could, regardless of them being hostile or not, and take the time he needed to torture the answer he wanted out of the barbarians.

Colonel Joll’s actions can be compared to the events that led to the Mexican-American war. Texans and Mexico had several disputes over the boundaries of Texas/Mexico, namely which river served as the natural border. A US patrol went onto Mexican land and was promptly attacked by Mexican forces. However, the US used this as a way to depict Mexico as bloodthirsty and a justification for war. In both scenarios, the empire (US) went into land that was not theirs looking to cause an altercation and used it as a justification to further their own agenda. In reality, the barbarians were hiding from an oppressive and brutal regime and the Mexicans were defending their land. These events were skewed to serve the empire’s needs because an empire needs an enemy in order to further its conquest against people who “deserve” it.

Land added following the Mexican-American war. The president at the time, James K. Polk was an advocate for rapid geographical expansion for the US.

     The magistrate understood the conflict that Joll instigated by attacking the peaceful locals. He attempted to rectify the damage dealt by Joll for interrogating and torturing the fisher-people and the damage he dealt by keeping the barbarian woman for his own personal desires by returning the woman he was peacefully holding captive to other barbarians. However, negotiating with the empire’s constructed enemy upsets the enemy description that the empire created, and the magistrate was imprisoned, starved, and tortured as a result. In fact, he was accused of “treasonously consorting with the enemy” for simply returning a woman to her people (77). The empire did not truly mean to put him on trial for his actions, but to actually make an example of anyone who “aids” their “enemies.”

The magistrate was subject to multiple forms of torture, including a form that can be compared to waterboarding, which was used by the US in modern day until the Obama administration banned its use. 

The magistrate was depraved and reduced to a shell of a human because he refused to believe that the barbarians were his enemy, and by criticizing the empire for being cruel to people who did not truly deserve it. In some ways, the magistrate admits that the empire is the truly barbaric force because of their habits of torturing and abusing the people it comes into contact with, including its own.

Coetzee ultimately outlines the necessity for an empire to have a force to villainize and conquer in order to keep expanding and to be successful. In reality, the empire wanted to create the notion that the barbarians would attack them in order to be able to aggressively remove the “threat.” The plan fails because the barbarians would not fight Joll’s company, but instead led them into the marsh, desert, and mountains were many died or went missing.

Bibliography

Basoglu, Metin. “Waterboarding is a Severe Form of Torture: Research Findings.” 25 December 2012. Mass Trauma, Mental Health & Human Rights. Image. 11 December 2018.

Coetzee, J.M. Waiting for the Barbarians. New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

“Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World.” 2008. Oxford Reference. Subject Reference. 10 December 2018.

Penguin Books. “Waiting for the Barbarians: A Novel.” n.d. Amazon. Image. 10 December 2018.

Thought Monkey. “The Mexican American War in 5 Minutes.” 12 January 2016. Youtube. Video. 10 December 2018.

 

An empire is a symbol of power. The entire process of forming and maintaining an empire involves one powerful entity ruling over other smaller, subjugated entities. An emperor is the highest physical embodiment of the empire itself. They must command respect and obedience from the entities that they have power over, and even those they do not directly rule. Marion “Suge” Knight certainly fits this description of an emperor, and his record label company, Death Row, adopts the title of an empire astonishingly accurately. Death Row created its own subgenre –or “culture”– within the rap industry and used intimidation and thuggery to dominate its competitors.

Knight’s defacto place as emperor of Death Row was facilitated largely by his initiative to make a profit in the music industry, but also by his personality and presence. Knight is 6’2”, and his weight exceeded over three-hundred pounds in the early 1990s, and had played football throughout high school, college, and a short, two-game career professionally for the Los Angeles Rams. Suge’s physical stature combined with his reputation for violence was truly what propagated him as a force to be reconned with.  In fact, Knight already had a criminal record following a plea deal after being charged with attempted murder and grand theft auto in 1987 (“Original Gangstas,” Ben Westhoff).

Suge Knight (left) and Tupac Shakur (right). Knight had a terrifying presence due to his physical size and tendencies to become violent.

As Suge began to create a name for himself in the rap industry, he also set his plans of forming his own record label to dominate the industry. Suge night was introduced to NWA member DOC through mutual friend Andre Bolton and met Dr. Dre through him (Westhoff). Knight understood that if he wanted to launch a highly successful company, having a highly successful and experienced producer like Dr. Dre would almost guarantee the prosperity of the label. Knight first tried to intimidate Eazy-E, and following several legal issues involving Eazy-E signing under duress, negotiated Dre’s and DOC’s release from Ruthless Records with its new security director, Mike Klein, who reportedly was a member of Isreali security forces (Westhoff). Following their official departure from Ruthless, Dr. Dre and DOC formed Death Row Records with Knight and a fourth partner, Dick Griffey (Westhoff). Following the formation of the label, artists like Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Warren G, DJ Quik, Daz were recruited to make music for Death Row. Every artist was specifically chosen because of Knight’s plan to create a label that perpetuates a gangster culture. Most of the artists that Death Row signed were associated with either the various Crip or Blood gangs in the greater LA area. This association with ruthless gangs gave the artists subject matter and gave them a hardcore edge to their persona. Aligning with certain gangs also gave artists a sense of “credibility” because of the dangerous lifestyle that they live.

Photo of the Death Row logo with Snoop Dogg (left), Dr. Dre (top), Suge Knight (bottom), and Tupac Shakur (right)

A successful empire has a strong sense of culture, and Death Row was no difference. The company, and, more specifically, Dr. Dre, Warren G, and DJ Quik were instrumental in creating the genre of music that is now known as G-Funk. The genre is distinguishable by its deep, rough bass and the high-pitched, “whiny” synthesizer beat. It was inspired by  Parliament/Funkadelic, two sister groups who were both led by George Clinton. DJ Quik is regarded as the father of G-Funk, but Dr. Dre’s The Chronic introduced the genre to the mainstream after its explosive release, and Warren G’s song “Regulate” is almost universally considered the genre’s most widely known anthem. Beyond the genre itself, Death Row wanted to propagate a gangster lifestyle to its audience. Throughout The Chronic and Snoop Dogg’s 1993 album Doggystyle reference gang culture, illegal activity, the neighborhoods and projects that each respective artists grew up in, and “hustlin.” Further cementing Death Row’s legacy of idealizing gang culture is the fact that Suge Kight would hire various convicted gang member of both the Blood and Crips, the two most infamous gangs of Los Angeles (and the United States) at the time (Westhoff). G-Funk separated Death Row, and West Coast rap, from its East Coast predecessors and gave them a niche that is easily recognizable from listeners. This sense of culture was the type of music that Death Row made exclusively during its prime. Listeners understood that the sound created by the label was theirs, and the public could not get enough of it.

Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” Album cover

Two objections to the classification of Death Row as a music industry empire are that the company could not have been an empire if it had competitors just as big as the label itself, and because the record label simply isn’t an empire to being with; that is, it was not a nation-state that conquered and ruled over other political entities. However, both of these claims are invalidated after understanding the power relationship between Death Row and its competitors, specifically its rival, Ruthless Records. To simply state that Suge Knight sought to compete with and outsell Ruthless records does not truly do his business vision justice. Knight didn’t just want to make more money than everyone else, Knight wanted to dominate everyone else. Suge made extra provisions to humiliate and make an example of anyone who he believed to be his competition. Three instances specifically stand out, one of which was when he allegedly hung rapper Vanilla Ice from a balcony in order to have him sign over a percentage of royalties from his number one song, “Ice, Ice, Baby.

Another instance is when Suge Knight signed Tracy Jernagin, a mother of one of Eazy-E’s child, to Death Row in order to humiliate Eazy (Westhoff). Undoubtedly the most heinous act of Knight was when he forced an associate of one of his rivals, Sean “Puffy” Combs, to drink urine while Knight’s posse intimidated him.

His over-the-top aggression is perhaps comparable to Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, in which he decimated most of what is now modern day France, Belgium, and Holland. In the battle of the Sabis, Caesar’s forces reportedly left only 500 Nervian warriors alive out of an army with an estimated size of 60,000. Although not literally, and perhaps without knowing, Suge Knight wanted to embody the meaning of what it means to be an empire by dominating his competition in the rap industry.

Death Row’s aggression and culture allowed the label to dominate its competitors in a way unseen before in the music industry. The label was not only successful, they practically owned the industry by setting status quos for what music will be made and successful, and how rap artists present themselves and develop their gangsta rap persona.

Westhoff, Ben. Original Gangstas. Hatchette Books, 2016.

The Biography.com Website. A&E Television Networks. April 2, 2014. https://www.biography.com/people/suge-knight-21371211

Allmusic.com. https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/g-funk-ma0000011824

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Website. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/parliament-funkadelic

Vanilla Ice. Interview by Brian Ross. ABC News. 

Livius.org. http://www.livius.org/articles/person/caesar/caesar-04/