Robert Rydell's Criticism Of Imperialism

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Although imperialism is thought of as an international political practice, such a characterization of imperialism neglects the significance of domestic events in imperial ambitions. Cultural historian Robert Rydell postulated that the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition ushered in an era of American political and social imperial policy. The organizers of the 1893 Exposition, Rydell argued, created conflicting exhibitions to highlight the technological achievements of white civilization, but in contrast, featured non-White, specifically Native Americans, as barbarous and incapable of civility. Rydell’s argument gave readers useful insight into the intentional contrast between civility and savagery that the organizers displayed. However, the argument …show more content…

Rydell’s argument claimed that all the organizers of the 1893 Exposition complied in the deliberate dehumanization of Native Americans. However, Dorchester appeared genuine in his disgust at the organizers’ exploitation of Native Americans. He referred to the cannibal dance as a part of the “degraded phases of the old Indian life”, an old life that needed to be portrayed as distant and long forgotten. Unfortunately, this negative depiction was the centerpiece of amused and frightened intrigue at the Exposition. The images of civility through industrialization that preceded the succeeding images of ferocity through the cannibal dance disappeared as memories of horror filled the minds of Exposition goers. Dorchester also condemned the Buffalo Bill Wild Indian Shows as a contradiction between the aim of assimilation and entertainment for Exposition goers sanction by the government. Reducing Native Americans for entertainment, Dorchester argued, neglected the advancements that many Native Americans made through Indian schools. Rydell’s failed to examine this perception amongst Exposition organizers and only sought to prove that organizers, like Dorchester, were complicit in presenting America’s ascension into industrialism, while only presenting the barbarity of Native Americans. His argument did not go far enough to determine that amongst the organizers of the Expositions, the sentiment amongst the organizers that Rydell posited was not entirely

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