ABSTRACT

COLONIALISM IS THE SYSTEM by which a country or other central powermaintains foreign colonies, especially in order to benefit economically from the relationship to the colony. However, the self-appointed right to maintain colonies is often justified by moral, not economic arguments. This moral aspect of self-justification brings us to the heart of our question: how does colonialism involve and affect art? There is often a linkage between ethics and aesthetics. The moral selfjustification of colonialist rhetoric will often have an aesthetic component. How are aesthetic systems tied to colonialist economic relationships and especially to the justificatory rhetoric of colonialism? The relevance of this question for art created during the height of European colonialism is obvious and that period was lengthy. But the question of colonialism is also relevant to art created today. Whether in the guise of globalism, post-colonialism, or neo-colonialism, the impact of the colonial period remains strong. In addition, with respect to the status of today’s indigenous peoples, questions remain whether a latent form of colonialism, internal colonialism, continues to this day.