In class this week, we've mostly been looking at the whys and hows of imperialism, but also justification. That European governments would see their mission as a civilizing one and still treat native Africans as brutally as they did shocks us: how could they be so hypocritical? Nate's post on cognitive dissonance brings this up as well. Though it seems that imperialism was not universally supported at home, it was supported enough for the governments to continue. Imperialists lived with conflicting world views, driven by nationalistic and moralistic superiority, which Jonathan mentions as well. This gave the colonizers separation from their actions; they could do things "for the greater good," perhaps, because they felt themselves to be so unlike the ones they subjugated.

Also, I look forward to reading Leigh's next post on pan-Africanism and its origins in Ethiopia.