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BATTLE OF THE NARRATIVES
“The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” — ALVIN TOFFLER
In justifying the imperial conquest of Africa, Europeans employed the narrative of the “White Man’s Burden,” consisting of the “3C’s of Colonialism: Civilization, Christianity, and Commerce.”
In that sense, the colonialists were doing humanity a favor by stepping out to civilize the purportedly backward peoples of Africa.
In the poem, “White Man’s Burden,” Kipling bemoans that the African people will come “slowly to the light” and would lament their release from “bondage.”
In essence, Kipling believed that these non-white racial groups were so backward that, they would be unable to comprehend the benefits of Europeanization.
It was Kipling’s belief that Africans must be pulled toward the “light” in order to see the error of their, in his view, savage nature.