Critically investigate colonialism and imperialism

Abstract

Since the early twenty first century, scholars stu1dying Roman Britain and other provinces have been looking for alternatives to the term Romanization to frame their examinations of Roman empire. Many of the concepts presented are derived from postcolonialism and globalization theory, two interrelated schools of thought that have arisen as frameworks for making sense of the modern world. Although these methods have been very effective in reinterpreting the ancient Roman world, they have also given rise to some novel issues of theoretical and practical coherence in their uses. These, in turn, highlight critical problems associated with the theory “s function in Roman archaeological excavations, problems that have been avoided until now but which impede cross-disciplinary discussion. The purpose of this paper is to do just that: evaluate and compare the perspectives of postcolonial and globalization theories; assess the strengths and weaknesses of each; and suggest some possibilities for linking the insights of these and other approaches in order to define a more holistic agenda for Roman archaeology.