Book contents
- Colonial Internationalism and the Governmentality of Empire, 1893–1982
- Global and International History
- Colonial Internationalism and the Governmentality of Empire, 1893–1982
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 “More Beautiful than the Nationalist Thought”?
- 2 A Transcolonial Governmentality Sui Generis
- 3 Politics of Comparison
- 4 Cultivating the Myth of Transcolonial Progress
- 5 The Adatization of Islamic Law and Muslim Codes of Development
- 6 Creating an “Anti-Geneva Bloc” and the Question of Representivity
- 7 Inventing Fascist Eurafrica at the Volta Congress
- 8 False Authenticity
- 9 “That Has Been Our Program for Fifty Years”
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Cultivating the Myth of Transcolonial Progress
The ICI and the Global Career of Buitenzorg’s Agronomic Laboratory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2022
- Colonial Internationalism and the Governmentality of Empire, 1893–1982
- Global and International History
- Colonial Internationalism and the Governmentality of Empire, 1893–1982
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 “More Beautiful than the Nationalist Thought”?
- 2 A Transcolonial Governmentality Sui Generis
- 3 Politics of Comparison
- 4 Cultivating the Myth of Transcolonial Progress
- 5 The Adatization of Islamic Law and Muslim Codes of Development
- 6 Creating an “Anti-Geneva Bloc” and the Question of Representivity
- 7 Inventing Fascist Eurafrica at the Volta Congress
- 8 False Authenticity
- 9 “That Has Been Our Program for Fifty Years”
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 4 challenges the legend that ICI members initiated a global reform of colonial agronomy by combining transfers of improved cash crops with the encouragement of small-scale indigenous agriculture. ICI members claimed to replace the “South American” model of neo-slavery plantations with the “East Indies’” model of scientifically improved small-scale farming. Around 1900, the research institute for tropical agriculture at Buitenzorg in Dutch Java represented the “East Indies’” model. Colonial administrations around the world imported improved plants and planting techniques from Buitenzorg to “develop” their colonies. What is more, ICI members transferred the Buitenzorg model to other colonies. Yet, while they promoted the individual freedom of indigenous farmers as a tool of encouragement, they used coercive measures to make them participate in the “liberal” Buitenzorg schemes. The transfer of the Buitenzorg model ultimately failed because it neglected local plants and autochthonous traditions. While the ICI portrayed the ecological engineering at Buitenzorg and the subsequent technology transfers as rational and scientific operations, this chapter reveals the failure of its allegedly progressive schemes of transcolonial and technocratic governmentality.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022