Farish Ahmad-Noor : Why is colonialism (still) romanticized?

Farish Ahmad-Noor·TEDxNTU

Why is colonialism (still) romanticized?

Summary

The speaker said that he encountered the limits of history, thus, he needed to engage with sociologists, anthropologists, political economists, above all, people in the arts and the media.

History is so important and going beyond history is more important.

We are all social beings and historical beings.

We carry history in us. For example, it’s in the language we use, in the fiction we write, in the movies we choose to watch and in the image that we conjure when we think of who and what we are.

We carry history with us, history carries us along, and we are determined by history. It has tough and serious parts, on the other hand, it has great and beautiful parts.

We are determined by history, though, we don’t need to be trapped by history and be victims of history.

While reading the story, l was thinking where the speaker was coming from. The title is why colonialism is still romanticized, l was wondering which country was colonized but is it romantic?

He comes from Southeast Asia and a historian.

Southeast Asia has many countries that were colonized by various countries and those countries were independent. However, being independent, creating own countries, without military power, governing is so hard, furthermore, people had many dreams that after independence, they must be happy soon, though, it’s difficult.

We are trying to do many things that don’t get better results immediately. It must create histories, we cannot see results, though, we live. It’s not related to which country we live in.

I think that the story has to be read by not only Asian countries but also all countries. Studying something means to encounter the limits and then overcoming it and it’s repeating.