Modernity as a term promulgated in Western arguments signals development and progress, the move from the so-called Dark Ages of medieval Europe into the so-called Enlightenment of modernity. […] This version of the history and meaning of modernity fits a male-controlled, Western interpretation of the introduction of industrial capitalism on a global scale, as well as political arrangements such as slavery in the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil; genocide against Native peoples in North and South America; the colonization of Africa and parts of Asia; and the introduction of imperial relations across the globe (Hill Collins 1999: 274).