Imperial cynicism: on the practices and the character of colonial discourse

Abstract:

This article proposes a rereading of the Blue Book (1918) and the White Book (1919). The first book was written by the British colonial cabinet to denounce the extermination of the Herero people by German troops and the following one was written by the German state to denounce English practices in their colonial possessions. Through the notion of “imperial cynicism”, we seek to clarify the nature of the disputes between the European colonial powers in Africa and Asia, as well as the nature of certain historical sources that recorded massacres, genocides, concentration camps and other colonial abuses.

Keywords: Colonialism; Cynicism; Discourse