Primitivism is Colonialism
By: Charz
Tags: Ageha Yoshina, Edward Said, Exoticism, Nemesis Q, Orientalism, Paul Gauguin, Primitivism, Toshiaki Iwashiro
Anti-Primitivism – Psyren
Primitivism is, in short, the opinion that life was better or more moral during the early stages of mankind or among primitive peoples and has deteriorated with the growth of civilization. It is a response to the perennial question of whether the development of complex civilizations and technologies has benefited or harmed mankind.
Paul Gauguin and the Construction of the “Other”
To these critics, primitivism such as Gauguin’s demonstrates fantasies about racial and sexual difference in “an effort to essentialize notions of primitiveness” with “Otherness”. Thus, they contend, primitivism becomes a process analogous to Exoticism and Orientalism, as conceived by Edward Said, in which European imperialism and monolithic and degrading views of the “East” by the “West” defined colonized peoples and their cultures. In other words, although Gauguin believed he was celebrating and defending the Tahitians, to the extent that he allegedly saw them as “other”, he participated in the outlook of his time and nationality to a greater extent than he realized and in the guise of celebrating them victimized the Tahitians all over again.
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